March Madness Sweet 16: How to watch the men's NCAA tournament, where to stream games and more

March Madness — AKA the 2025 NCAA tournament — is more than halfway done — how is your bracket holding up? The men’s tournament Sweet 16 games tip off today, with Alabama vs. playing BYU, Florida facing Maryland, Duke playing Arizona and Texas Tech closing out Thursday night with a game against Arkansas. This year’s tournament is airing across CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV on the men’s side. Here’s the full Sweet 16 schedule, where to stream games and anything else you should know about March Madness 2025.

Dates: Mar. 18 – Apr. 7

TV channel(s): CBS, TBS, TNT, TruTV, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews

Streaming: Paramount+, Max, DirecTV, Fubo

The men’s NCAA tournaments has reached the Sweet 16 round.

Thursday, March 27

(2) Alabama vs. (6) BYU, 7:09 p.m. | CBS, Paramount+
(1) Florida vs. (4) Maryland, 7:39 p.m. | TBS, Max
(1) Duke vs. (4) Arizona, 9:39 p.m. | CBS, Paramount+
(3) Texas Tech vs. (10) Arkansas, 10:09 p.m. | TBS, Max

Friday, March 28

(2) Michigan State vs. (6) Ole Miss, 7:09 p.m. | CBS, Paramount+
(2) Tennessee vs. (3) Kentucky, 7:39 p.m. | TBS, Max
(1) Auburn vs. (5) Michigan, 9:39 p.m. | CBS, Paramount+
(1) Houston vs. (4) Purdue, 10:09 p.m. | TBS, Max

Games in the men’s NCAA tournament will air across CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV. Don’t have cable? Don’t worry. You can stream the men’s games easily with a subscription to Paramount+ and Max, or a live TV streaming service like DirecTV, Fubo or Sling.

Stream 2025 NCAA tournament games

Max Standard plan

Max, AKA “the one to watch,” has select live sports available through its Bleacher Report Sports add-on, which is included free of charge for ad-free Max subscribers. (If you currently subscribe to Max’s ad-supported plan, you should be able to access the B/R add-on content until March 30).

On top of March Madness games on TBS, TNT and TruTV, Max has buzzy shows including The White Lotus, The Last of Us, House of the Dragon, Dune: Prophecy and more.

Ad-supported Max starts at $10/month. The Standard plan (which includes B/R Sports free of charge) costs $17/month.

$16.99/month at Max

Watch March Madness live on CBS

Paramount+ with SHOWTIME

Paramount+ has two tiers available: an $8/month ad-supported tier and a $13/month premium tier that’s ad-free and includes live access to your local CBS channel (and access to Showtime) — which you’ll need to stream select March Madness games.

Right now, Paramount+ is still offering a free trial — so new subscribers could sign up to watch Selection Sunday and the First Four, plus check out the rest of the Paramount+ library free for seven days.

Try free at Paramount+

Watch TBS, TNT and TruTV

Sling Orange + Blue and Sports Extra add-on

While Sling doesn’t offer a free trial these days, since March Madness lasts longer than your standard trial would, anyway, it ends up being a solid option to catch most games in the tournament. Emphasis on most, because one big blindspot for Sling is that it doesn’t carry CBS. However, if you subscribe to Sling, you can authenticate within the March Madness Live app to watch all games, even those on CBS, (including the Final Four and National Championship) on your mobile phone and computer.

That being said, for $45 for your first month of Sling Orange + Blue + (Sports Extra add-on), you can catch all the games on TBS, TNT, TruTV, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNU, ESPNews and ABC.

$48 for your first month at Sling

The tournament will kick off with Selection Sunday, but we won’t see any action on the court until Mar. 18.

Selection Sunday: 8 p.m. ET, Sunday, March 16 (ESPN)
First Four: March 19-20 (ESPN2, ESPNU)
First round: March 21-22 (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS)
Second round: March 23-24 (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS)
Sweet 16: March 28-29 (ESPN, ESPN2)
Elite Eight: March 30-31 (ESPN)
Final Four: Friday, April 4 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida (ESPN, ESPN+)
NCAA championship game: Sunday, April 6 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida (ABC2, ESPN3, ESPN+)
Selection Sunday: 6 p.m. ET, Sunday, March 16 (CBS)
First Four: March 18-19 (TruTV)
First round: March 20-21 (CBS, TBS, TNT, TruTV)
Second round: March 22-23 (CBS, TBS, TNT, TruTV)
Sweet 16: March 27-28 (CBS, TBS)
Elite Eight: March 29-30 (CBS, TBS)
Final Four: April 5 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas (CBS)
NCAA championship game: April 7 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas (CBS)