It’s March. The teams have been selected, the office pool brackets submitted, and your excuse to call in sick sort of believed by your boss.
You wake up, grab a quick breakfast, and take a seat on your favorite sofa in the house. You better get comfortable because you’re going to be here all day. The 47 inch television calls out to you. Watch me.
The first few games of the NCAA tournament are about to begin. You’re excited, loving nothing more than a day full of watching quality basketball. Then the unthinkable occurs. You reach for the remote and nothing happens. Cable is having issues and “will fix the problem as soon as possible.”
You’re now stuck in the dark, bathrobe and all, waiting desperately for the repairman up the road to hurry and get the issue straighten away. While the minutes and seconds of the games tick by.
All you wanted to do is watch NCAA games live and now it appears ruined. Or is it? A few years ago you would have been screwed. CBS was the only network to carry the NCAA games live and if it was out, you were out. Now, however, several other options exist needed to watch NCAA games live.
Yes, technology has been good to us. College basketball fans may now log-on to CBSsports.com and watch every single tournament game in it’s entirety on demand. We’re talking about watching NCAA games live, any time of the day, from your home computer.
If you’re “more than just a tournament guy,” ESPN360.com has you covered. The live sports broadcast site offers the occasional live college basketball game. Sites like ESPN.com and FoxSports.net, among others, may not provide means to watch NCAA games live, but they do feature up-to-the-minute highlights and news.
If the above options are simply not enough, one can subscribe to premium on demand web sites and VIP memberships. As always, there are also the standard national television games during the weekend on CBS and NCAA coverage throughout the week on ESPN and ESPN2. ESPN’s “Big Monday” is an especially exciting night as it often pairs bitter conference rivals with marquee matchups.
If you want to follow your local team or alma mater, more and more of the major conferences are beginning to incorporate a “conference station” or other network that solely focuses on regional and/or conference teams. Some of the bigger colleges also provide highlights and/or live coverage of their games.
If you are concerned about the future of college basketball broadcast and the role of online coverage, do not be afraid. College basketball is as strong as ever, and it’s really hard to foresee a day in which there would be little to no coverage of key events like preseason tournaments, rival games, postseason tournaments, and March Madness.
The Big Dance is one of the biggest sporting events in the United States and will continue to remain so. Thankfully, CBS and other web sites are offering a chance to watch the games live or at a later date in case you missed them the first time around.
Or say you want to revisit the classic 2010 National title game between Butler and Duke. MMOD in association with NCAA.com has you covered. They’ve provided HD coverage on demand of every single game from this past 2010 NCAA Tournament.http://mmod.ncaa.com/video/std?ts=1274112684&t=d4fc3b1fdf23f441d92e7434c816b838&w=90
The NCAA has also promised fans that they will broadcast all games from the 2011 tournament on demand, through MMOD as well. For more information:http://mmod.ncaa.com/
Watch NCAA Tournament Online: Important Dates
Selection Sunday March 13
Opening Round Game March 15
First Round March 17-18
Second Round March 19-20
Sweet Sixteen March 24-25
Elite Eight March 26-27
Final Four April 2
National Championship April 4