2026 NCAA Tournament: The First Four Begins Tonight - Here’s the Schedule

The 2026 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is here. Tonight begins three weeks of twists and turns ending with one team cutting down the nets in Indianapolis on April 6.

The 68-team bracket was revealed Sunday, and now its time to pare it down to 64 teams for the first round, which begins Thursday. The First Four gets underway Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio with a pair of games followed by two more on Wednesday.

What is the First Four?

Implemented in 2011 when the tournament expanded from 65 to 68 teams, the First Four consists of two games between the four lowest-ranked teams in the field, typically automatic qualifiers from low major leagues, along with two games featuring the last four at-large teams selected.

The winners of these four games will move on to the first round of the Big Dance. In the past, several programs have advanced out of the First Four and gone on to win additional tournament games, with two--VCU in 2011 and UCLA in 2021--making it all the way to the Final Four.

Who is playing in the First Four tonight?

The First Four tips off at 6:40 p.m. ET with a matchup for the No. 16 seed in the Midwest Region. UMBC and Howard will square off for the right to face No. 1 seed Michigan Thursday night.

In the nightcap, Texas and NC State will meet in a battle for the 11th seed in the West and a first-round date with BYU. The Longhorns, who participated in last year's First Four, and Wolfpack are tentatively scheduled to play at around 9:15 p.m. ET.

Both games are on truTV, with Jordan Kent, Jim Spanarkel and Jenny Dell calling the first contest and Brian Anderson, Dick Vitale, Charles Barkley and Dell working the second game.

The First Four will continue in Dayton Wednesday night with two more games on truTV.