2011 NCAA Bracket Update: Sweet 16 Game Times

The game times for the Sweet Sixteen have just been released this morning. It appears that the West and Southeast Regions will play on Thursday, while the East and Southwest Regions will play on Friday.

The first game each day will begin at 7:00 PM, with the second game staggered slightly thereafter at 7:15 PM. The final two games are scheduled for 9:30 PM and 9:55 PM. All games will be broadcast on either CBS or TBS.

Thursday, March 24

7:00 PM — No. 2 SDSU vs. No. 3 UConn
7:15 PM — No. 2 Florida vs. No. 3 BYU
9:30 PM — No. 1 Duke vs. No. 5 Arizona
9:55 PM — No. 4 Wisconsin vs. No. 8 Butler

Friday, March 25

7:00 PM — No. 2 UNC vs. No. 11 Marquette
7:15 PM — No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 12 Richmond
9:30 PM — No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 4 Kentucky
9:55 PM — No. 10 Florida State vs. No. 11 VCU

For full coverage of every March Madness game, check out SB Nation’s NCAA Tournament hub. For more coverage on FSU and Florida, check back frequently with SB Nation Tampa Bay.

2011 NCAA Bracket Update: Third Round Game Times For St. Pete Times Forum

With yesterday's second round games in the bag, attention now turns to the third round of the NCAA Tournament. While there were some close games on Thursday at the St. Pete Times Forum - notably Kentucky's 59-57 win in the final seconds - all the higher seeds came out on top. This means that Saturday's action will likely be close and intense, as all four teams are well matched.

Here's the schedule of NCAA Tournament games for Saturday, March 19 at the St. Pete Times Forum:

Noon, CBS -- No. 4 Kentucky vs. No. 5 West Virginia 

2:30 p.m., CBS -- No. 2 Florida vs. No. 7 UCLA

As you would expect, both of the higher seeds are also favored to win in this round. According to statistician Nate Silver, Kentucky has a 61 percent chance of winning against West Virginia and Florida has an 82 percent chance of victory against UCLA. Florida is a stronger team than UCLA, and they also receive a slight boost due to playing so close to home.

The winner of these games moves on to their regional semifinals. The winner of Florda/UCLA will go on to play the winner of Gonzaga/BYU (also scheduled for Saturday), while the winner of Kentucky/West Virginia will face one of Ohio State, UTSA, George Mason, or Villanova.

Click here to download a printable 2011 NCAA Tournament bracket from SBNation.com.

2011 NCAA Bracket Predictions: Who Will Thrive At The St. Pete Times Forum?

With second-round games for the NCAA Tournament set to open at the St. Pete Times Forum tomorrow, there are many marquee teams coming into Tampa Bay. For those that are still trying to desperately fill out their brackets – or trying to decide which games would be working the trip to Tampa – let’s take a brief look at which teams are favored going into tomorrow.

12:15 p.m., CBS — No. 5 West Virginia vs. No. 12 Clemson

Clemson is coming off an easy win last night, but doesn’t have much time to prepare or recover before their game tomorrow. They’re the underdogs in tomorrow’s game against West Viriginia, but not as much as you’d expect based on their seeding: WV is only favored by a 55/45 margin. This game is about as close as you’ll get to a toss up in the second round.

2:45 p.m., CBS — No. 4 Kentucky vs. No. 13 Princeton

Kentucky is the large favorite in this game, and are ranked as having around a 90% chance of moving on to the next round. They simply have a much stronger team than Princeton, and with key players Brandon Knight and Terrence Jones, they should roll past Princeton without much trouble.

6:50 p.m., TBS — No. 2 Florida vs. No. 15 UC Santa Barbara

Not only is Florida the stronger team here, but they also get lucky and get to play their first two tournament games very close to home. Home field advantage definitely exists in the NCAA Tournament, and Florida is a huge favorite tomorrow night against UC Santa Barbara (95% chance of winning).

9:20 p.m., TBS — No. 7 UCLA vs. No. 10 Michigan St.

Similar to the West Virginia/Clemson game, this match figures to be a close contest between two evenly matched teams. While UCLA is the slight favorite (66% likelihood of winning), the teams are closely ranked in talent and both are playing far away from home. This should be a fun game.

Need help picking your bracket? Check out SB Nation’s full 2011 NCAA Tournament bracket predictions, picking every game of March Madness.

2011 NCAA Tournament Update: Clemson Beats UAB 70-52, Earns Trip To St. Pete Times Forum

From the very beginning, there was no doubt who was the better team in last night’s game of Clemson (22-11) versus UAB (22-9). While UAB actually had the better regular season record, Clemson was the favored team and played as such. UAB only led for 51 seconds in the game, as Clemson’s players led them out to an early lead and kept them there for the entire game. After going on a 21-2 run early during the first half, Clemson took a commanding 25-7 lead and never looked back.

Many of Clemson’s key players all had big games, including Milton Jennings (11 points), Tanner Smith (10 points), and Devin Booker (10). As they stated postgame, they were out to prove something to the NCAA selection committee, showing them that they truly belonged in the tournament.

After winning their game, Clemson boarded a charter flight to Tampa late last night. With only a little over 36 hours to prepare for their next game against West Virginia – Thursday, 12:15 PM at the St. Pete Times Forum – Clemson is going to need all the time they can to prepare. West Virginia is currently considered the favorite, with Clemson having around a 45% chance of winning the game, but as we’ve seen in March Madness, anything is possible.

2011 NCAA Tournament: Game Times Announced For St. Pete Times Forum

The 2011 NCAA Tournament field is set, and we now know who will be playing who, and where and when they'll play. There will be games played in the second and third rounds in Tampa at the St. Pete Times Forum, the home of the USF Bulls.

The first two matchups are from the East Region of the NCAA Tournament, the other two from the Southeast Region.

Here are the game times for the second round.

Thursday:

12:15 p.m., CBS -- West Virginia vs. UAB/Clemson (Ian Eagle/Jim Spanarkel)

2:45 p.m., CBS -- Kentucky vs. Princeton (Ian Eagle/Jim Spanarkel)

6:50 p.m., TBS -- Florida vs. UC Santa Barbara (Ian Eagle/Jim Spanarkel)

9:20 p.m., TBS -- UCLA vs. Michigan St. (Ian Eagle/Jim Spanarkel)

The winners of these four games will advance to face each other in two games that will be played on Saturday. You can find ticket information for these games here, and make sure to follow all of the latest news and notes about these tournament games being played in our back yard right here in this StoryStream.

Click here to download a printable 2011 NCAA Tournament bracket from SBNation.com.