2014 NCAA Tournament: March Madness Day One TV Schedule, Open Thread

Welcome to March Madness and BN's open thread for today's games. UCLA will play tomorrow night in San Diego against Tulsa, but today has lots of fun action featuring some Pac-12 teams and some coaches to keep an eye on when Indiana comes hunting for TIARA.

I have been watching the tournament in some forms since I was 10 (46 years ago) and I always get a lump in my throat when the tourney begins. This has been a tough year for many of us, watching our beloved program being handed over to a man that many of us do not feel is suited to guide Coach's program and represent the greatest university in the world. So this year's tournament feels a bit different than usual to me. I have, however, come to really enjoy the play and skill of our players. Jordan, and Norman have really brought a determination to their play. The Wears are playing their best ball ever, and Kyle has shown his unique talents. I am looking forward to watching them this weekend and, like many of you, look forward to finally beating those gators. But that is for Friday.

Today's action begins at 9:15 am Pacific time when Dayton takes on the Ohio State on CBS. Later Colorado will be taking on Pitt. Tad Boyle is arguably the best coach in the Pac-12 and in my opinion would definitely be an upgrade (for many reasons) for Coach's program. He has done an incredible job, especially after losing star player Spencer Dinwiddle. This game will begin at 10:40 and air on TBS.

Some other games of interest: At 11:10 TIARA's nemesis Harvard will take on Cincinnati (TNT). Oregon will play BYU at 12:10 (TBS). At 1:10 Florida will begin its journey to a rematch with UCLA playing 16 seed Albany (TBS). Billy Donavan is a coach many thought Dan would have gone after last year. Well, Dan didn't and here Donavan is again, with what many feel is the top team in the nation. If UCLA can get through the weekend, we will have a chance to finally beat those gators. It still makes me sick every time they show Noah doing that obnoxious arm thing after they defeated a great UCLA team. I really don't want to see anything like that ever again!

Today will also feature a hot Michigan State team (okay, how many have them in their final 4?), at 1:10 on TNT; Michigan in the evening (4:10, TBS); ASU going against Texas (6:40, CBS); and another coach to keep our eye on: Jay Wright's Villanova (6:25, TBS).

The full schedule for today's games can be found here and you can see the brackets here . I hope you have all submitted your brackets in the BN pool. You might want to take a look at the conversation about possible coaching replacements here and here and check out previews of the Bruin's match up with Tulsa by Chrissor and Patroclus. BN's full coverage of March Madness can be found here, with full updates, previews, and commentary.

What games will you be watching? How many of you are taking the day off? What coaches do you think we should be keeping a close eye on as we look for TIARA's replacement? Are any of you organizing watch parties for Friday?

To get my juices flowing I decided to watch this tribute to our 2006 warriors. It always gets to me. Enjoy.

This is your March Madness day one open thread. See the full schedule below Enjoy the madness!

And, of course, Go Bruins!

Thursday's Game Schedule