March Madness has finally arrived. The men’s NCAA basketball tournament starts today, and 64 teams will battle to see who is the best in the country. The first game tips off at 12:15 p.m. ET on CBS as Michigan takes on Colorado State. The first round of games will take place throughout today, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and will air on CBS, truTV, TNT and TBS. The entire schedule can be found here.
Several storylines make this year’s tournament interesting. But the storyline that stands out is Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski participating in his last NCAA tournament as he is set to retire. Coach K has been at Duke since 1980 and has led to team to five national championships. PopCulture.com recently caught up with former Duke star Carlos Boozer who shared his thoughts on Coach K.
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“We’re going to lose one of the best basketball minds and best leader ever to walk the earth,” Boozer said. “But at the same time, he’ll be around. His legacy will live on forever, not just at Duke basketball, but basketball in general. He was one of the advocates for the NIL for players to get paid with for their likeness. So he was a big advocate at pushing that forward because a lot of players get taken advantage of, and he wasn’t of that. So definitely proud of what he’s able to accomplish. And he’ll be around.”
Another interesting March Madness storyline is Gonzaga, the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament. The Bulldogs have always been a strong program but have never won a national title. The closest they have come to cutting down the final net was in 2017 and 2021 when they reached the national championship game. Last year, Gonzaga lost to Baylor in the national title game, and the two teams could face each other again in April.
“Well, it’s awesome to be back to another NCAA Tournament, and especially one that we’ll have fans at,” Gonzaga head coach Mark Few told reporters this week. “It’ll be great to walk out on the floor and see the real — and feel the real — March Madness environment. I think all of us are so excited and feel so blessed to be able to get back to that.”
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