Duke, Arkansas, and Houston headline Men’s Sweet 16
With the Sweet 16 upon us, USA Today Sports’ Mackenzie Salmon previews a few of the top matchups we’re most looking forward to.
Sports Seriously
Thursday, March 27 is a big day in the sports calendar.
A huge day.
The Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament begins with four games: BYU vs Alabama, Maryland vs Florida, Arizona vs Duke and Arkansas vs Texas Tech.
That would be a big, perhaps even monumental day on the sports schedule in and of itself.
But we’ve also got 26 baseball teams playing in their MLB season openers on MLB Opening Day 2025, creating a logjam of sports.
Can you have too much of a good thing, or in this case, can you have too many sporting events on one day?
According to one site, the answer to those questions is a definitive yes.
March Madness Sweet 16 picks: BYU vs Alabama | Maryland vs Florida | Arizona vs Duke | Arkansas vs Texas Tech | Ole Miss vs Michigan State | Kentucky vs Tennessee | Michigan vs Auburn | Purdue vs Houston | Win probabilities | The Republic’s predictions
Watch Sweet 16 games on FUBO today (free trial)
MLB slammed for opening season on same day as March Madness Sweet 16
Awful Announcing recently took the MLB to task for having MLB Opening Day on March 27, instead of earlier in the week in a story suggesting that everyone would have been better off with baseball opening its season on March 25, leaving the NCAA Tournament regional semifinals in the spotlight tonight.
It called it “an own goal of epic proportions.”
Drew Lerner wrote: “Letting Opening Day get overshadowed by college basketball is a strategic blunder that should never happen in this age of hyper-optimized live sports scheduling. And to make matters worse, there’s a clear alternative. Tuesday, March 25, would have been a perfect day to start the baseball season. Let’s look at what MLB would have been competing with on the schedule if it had decided to have Opening Day today. TNT has an NBA doubleheader: Golden State Warriors–Miami Heat at 7:30 p.m. ET and Oklahoma City Thunder–Sacramento Kings at 10 p.m. ET. ESPN is airing Games 2 and 3 of the TGL Finals at 7 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. ET (if necessary). ESPN2 has some NIT quarterfinals action, while ESPNU is airing the CBI. That’s not exactly a murderer’s row of sports programming. Certainly not as daunting as the competition MLB will face on Thursday. But instead, MLB has chosen to put the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers’ Opening Day game directly opposite of Maryland-Florida and BYU-Alabama in March Madness. That, itself, is madness.”
March Madness Sweet 16 schedule: How to watch | When does Sweet 16 start? | Announcers | TV channels | BYU vs Alabama | Maryland vs Florida | Arizona vs Duke | Arkansas vs Texas Tech | Ole Miss vs Michigan State | Kentucky vs Tennessee | Michigan vs Auburn | Purdue vs Houston
Has MLB Opening Day and NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 always been on same day?
The 2024 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 and MLB Opening Day 2024 were interestingly on the same day last year as well, March 28, but it hasn’t always been that way.
MLB Opening Day 2023 was on March 30. The 2023 March Madness Sweet 16 began on March 23.
MLB Opening Day 2022 was on April 7 after being pushed back from March 31 because of a late CBA agreement between the league and the players. The NCAA Tournament regional semifinals that year began on March 24.
The Awful Announcing story, written on Tuesday, lamented the fact that fans had to choose between baseball and March Madness.
“Sure, there’s an argument that Tuesday is not as ideal for fans attending the game in person as Thursday,” Lerner wrote. “But we’re long past the illusion that leagues make scheduling decisions with any regard for the in-person attendee. Those who can afford to take off work for Opening Day on Thursday are likely able to do the same on Tuesday. And the national attention MLB would get by moving Opening Day up a couple of days far outweighs any ill-will generated from fans that could no longer go in person.
“For a league desperate to market its biggest stars and gain mainstream appeal, it’s baffling that they let a prime opportunity slip away. Baseball should be there to fill the void when nothing else is going on. Nothing else is going on today, which means baseball has failed.”
More March Madness: Sweet 16 team breakdown | Sweet 16 game odds | NCAA Tournament winner odds | Final Four information | Printable bracket
Watch March Madness games today on Sling TV
Do you watch March Madness or go to MLB Opening Day 2025 today?
The busy sports day could lead to some hard decisions for sports fans.
For example, the Arizona Wildcats are scheduled to play the Duke Blue Devils at 6:39 p.m. MST in the Sweet 16, while the Arizona Diamondbacks are scheduled to host the Chicago Cubs at 7:10 p.m. MST.
Which game do you choose to watch? That could be a very difficult decision for a sports fan to make.
And if the 2025 Sweet 16 and MLB Opening Day 2025 weren’t on the same day, it would be a choice they never would have to make.
Here’s today’s Sweet 16 March Madness schedule and today’s MLB Opening Day 2025 schedule, to help you decide what to watch (or attend) on an extremely busy day on the sports calendar today.
It didn’t have to be this way.
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