NCAA Tournament Facing Blowback For Sweet 16 Game Schedule

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NCAA Tournament Facing Blowback For Sweet 16 Game Schedule

Originally posted on The Spun | By Andrew Holleran | Last updated Mar 23, 2026 2:10 PM ET

The NCAA Tournament has announced its tipoff times for the Sweet 16 games on Thursday and Friday evening.

We'll get four games on Thursday followed by four more on Friday. The winners will advance to the Elite Eight, which will take place on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. The Sweet 16 games will feature some late tipoff times, though.

The schedule for Thursday: Purdue vs. Texas at 7:10 p.m. E.T., Nebraska vs. Iowa at 7:30 p.m. E..T, followed by Arizona vs. Arkansas and Houston vs. Illinois at 9:45 p.m. and 10:05 p.m. E.T., respectively.

Friday's games will be the same, tipoff time wise.

Sweet 16 court. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)Steph Chambers/Getty Images

But while the game times are set, some college hoops fans are not very happy about them.

Is starting games after 10 p.m. E.T. too late for a Thursday or Friday night (or any night, for that matter)?

College basketball fans sound off on Sweet 16 game schedule

College basketball fans think that the Sweet 16 game times are too late.

"These tip times are insane. Overlapping games is great if you start them earlier," one fan wrote.

"Wow Houston vs Illini 9pm cst and not on CBS???" one fan added.

"How on earth do the they not separate Illinois-Houston and Arizona-Arkansas. Clearly the two best games of the night," one fan added.

"Spacing the games out only 25 minutes while making us wait all day between games today is baffling," one fan added.

"The schedule timing this year is not good. 945 and 1010 eastern???? Not like they’re playing west coast," one fan added.

"Nearly half the U.S. population live in the Eastern Time Zone (and only 16% in Pacific), yet we set games at 9:45PM & 10:05PM on a work night. (And you know tip-off always get delayed.) Set the start times at 6PM & 8:30 on Thursday at least," one fan added.

Should the NCAA Tournament make changes?

This article first appeared on The Spun and was syndicated with permission.

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