Alabama players celebrate on the court after an NCAA college basketball game against Texas A&M in the finals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, Sunday, March 12, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/John Amis)
The stage is set for the most important tournament in college hoops after the 2023 March Madness bracket was revealed.
CBS and the NCAA held their annual Selection Sunday this week, and, in what wasn't much of a surprise to those that are tapped into men's college basketball this season, Alabama, playing out of the Southern region, landed the No.1 overall seed for the first time in the university's history.
Purdue, Kansas, and Houston were also named No. 1 seeds in the East, Midwest, and Western regions respectively.
On the women's side, South Carolina once again snatched the No. 1 overall seed as coach Dawn Staley and her Gamecocks look to not only return to the Final Four for the fifth time in seven years, they're looking to repeat as champions after winning in 2022.
Stanford, Indiana, and Virginia Tech were also named No. 1 seeds in their respective regions.
In the men's bracket, the Final Four is set to tip off on April 1 with a champion to be crowned on April 3 at NRG Stadium in Houston. The women's championship game is scheduled for April 2 at American Airlines Arena in Dallas.
Brandon Marcello, National College Football Reporter for 247Sports, breaks down each of the two semifinal matchups and explains why the smart money is on the two SEC teams.
Sponsored by BetMGM
Mark Drumheller, betting analyst for Yahoo Sportsbook and The Sharp App, dives into an icy matchup between the Vikings and Packers, as well as other must-watch games including a potential trap in Baltimore.
Sponsored by BetMGM
Trysta Krick, Host of 'BetMGM Tonight' helps clear up a very crowded playoff picture by making selections for Week 17's top games while pointing to to an AFC West matchup for her lock of the week.
Sponsored by BetMGM
Trysta Krick and Mark Drumheller give viewers their winning picks ahead of Week 17 of the NFL season, while Brandon Marcello dissects each of the College Football Playoff semifinal matchups.
Sponsored by BetMGM
The National Women's Soccer League is partnering with Voyager Digital as its first-ever cryptocurrency brokerage in a multi-year deal. Marla Messing, interim CEO of the NWSL, and Steve Ehrlich, CEO of Voyager Digital, joined Cheddar to discuss benefitting the league and educating players and fans as a way of democratizing cryptocurrency. Messing explained that the players themselves will own half the assets as part of how the deal is structured. "My hope is, just in terms of the expectations of crypto over the long term, that I hope a lot of them are able to just let it sit there," she said. "And that one day this will be a nice retirement account for them."
Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini joined Cheddar's Kristen Scholer to discuss plans for the future even as COVID-19 upended Barstool's sponsorship of the Arizona Bowl featuring the Boise State Broncos and the Central Michigan Chippewas due to the spreading omicron variant. "In our case as a company, coronavirus has been a big boom for us," she noted. "We've been able to create a lot of new programming, launch a lot of different personalities, and frankly take share from traditional media, and that's what we've done the entire pandemic." While she admitted to taking a hit on the canceled Bowl game, live events aren't completely off the table for Barstool in 2022. Nardini also talked about potential sports betting expansion following its partnership with Penn National Gaming.