March Madness for 2020 may have been wrecked by COVID-19 but the NCAA has laid out a schedule to a return of the March Madness tournament in 2021. The 2020 tournament was scrapped as college and professional sports shuttered when the pandemic started.
Hopes of a modified tournament this season quickly faded earlier this spring and summer when it became clear that no college basketball was going to take place.
That allowed the NCAA time to prepare the schedule for next season.
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ACC Plan Rejected
The ACC announced plans to submit a modified tournament format and schedule that would have completely revamped March Madness as we know it. It would have added to the “Madness” as the plan would have included every division one basketball team.
In case you are wondering, as of 2020, there are 350 Division one teams. According to reports, the plan would have trimmed down the teams from 350 to a more manageable number around 60 within a week. Check out which teams are on the rise in college basketball for 2020-21.
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Issues brought up throughout the last few weeks included how many officiating squads would be needed, travel budgets during COVID-19 where funds are growing tight for many colleges, and – simply where to play. One solution was to incorporate conference championship tournaments into the NCAA Tournament as the opening round.
The NCAA has since rejected the ACC plan and now released the official schedule for the 2021 version of March Madness.
2021 NCAA March Madness Tournament Schedule
The schedule will include fourteen host cities starting with Dayton, Ohio for the play-in games and ending in Indianapolis, Indiana for the Final Four and Championship games. The tournament schedule opens with Selection Sunday on March 4th and ends with the Championship game being played on April 5, 2021.
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Selection Sunday: March 14
Number of Teams: 68
First Four Play in Games: March 16 and 17, Dayton.
First Round: March 18 and 19
Second Round: March 20-21
First/Second Round Cities: Boise, Dallas, Detroit, Providence, Lexington, Raleigh, San Jose, Wichita.
Sweet 16: March 25-26
Elite Eight: March 27-28
Sweet 16/Elite Eight Cities: Denver, Minneapolis, Brooklyn, Memphis.
Final Four (semifinals): April 3, Indianapolis.
National Championship: April 5, Indianapolis.
