Will St. Patrick’s Day offer more March Madness surprises?

Welcome to the happy confluence that is the first Friday of March Madness and St. Patrick’s Day.

This promising day of freshness and fun features 16 men’s NCAA Tournament games on the Round of 64 roster. Will there be more big surprises? On Thursday, No. 15 Princeton upset No. 2 Arizona and the 13-seeded Paladins of Furman upset No. 4 Virginia.

The first game on Friday is at 12:15 p.m. TCU advising at 10:05 p.m. ET (truTV).

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Winners and losers from Thursday’s action

This is what we want on the first day of Madness: supports break across the country and double-digit seeds shock everyone (except themselves, at least if you’re Princeton).

But other top seeds looked dominant, which is what they’re supposed to look like, especially in their first-round games. It all comes together to provide an intriguing second round. But first, we have one more full day of first-round games, which may lead to even more chaos.

—Lindsay Schnell

Classification of the parties of Friday

Interestingly, the second day of March Madness features all four No. 3 seeds in action, and by extension, all of the often compelling No. 6 vs. No. 11. That’s the area of ​​the pool where chaos often occurs in the first and second rounds.

Here’s the list of Friday’s games ranked by how visible we think they’ll be. But then again, keep that remote handy in case unexpected situations arise.

1. No. 6 Kentucky vs. #11 Providence

2. No. 8 Memphis vs. No. 9 Florida Atlantic

3. No. 5 Saint Mary’s vs. No. 12 Virginia Commonwealth

4. No. 6 TCU vs. No. 11 Arizona State

5. No. 7 Michigan State vs. No. 10 Southern California

the story continues

—Eddie Timanus

Houston ruins title hopes by playing Marcus Sasser before he was ready

That failed spectacularly.

Just five days after Marcus Sasser injured his groin in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament, he returned to the Cougars’ starting lineup Thursday night. For a first round game against a No. 16 team.

To almost no one’s surprise, Sasser didn’t even make it to halftime. Now, top-seeded Houston might not make it to the second weekend, let alone the Final Four in his hometown.

— Nancy Armor

Alabama’s biggest opponent may be exhaustion from endless chaos

The athletic director issued a statement at halftime. The most scrutinized 20-year-old in basketball couldn’t make a shot before going to the bench to rest a sore groin. The walk-on that no one had heard of before Wednesday night threatened to sue the New York Times. And the coach is losing his mind with every dribble for two straight hours of a game he didn’t come close to losing.

In other words, it was just another day at Alabama basketball.

—Dan Clouds

What is a paladin?

Princeton might have pulled off the biggest upset Thursday, but 13-seeded Furman’s knockout of No. 4 Virginia was a fun start (unless you’re a Cavaliers fan, of course) to the Men’s Tournament. the 2023 NCAA.

It’s been a long wait for Paladins men’s basketball fans. It’s been over 40 years since Furman last entered the tournament, and over 45 years since his last March Madness victory.

— Jordan Mendoza

How to watch the first round games of the NCAA Tournament

Whether at home, in a bar or at work, millions of Americans will tune in to see how teams win or break their league.

CBS and Turner Sports hold the broadcast rights to the NCAA Men’s Tournament, airing games on four channels. You may know three of them, CBS, TNT, and TBS, from airing dozens of other sporting events each year, but the remaining channel, truTV, always eludes basketball fans each year.

Here’s where to find TruTV, based on your cable provider or streaming service, and what games will be on the network:

What channel is truTV?

TruTV can be found on several cable providers and has the same channel number nationwide on some of the providers. Here are the channels:

For streaming, truTV is also available on: YouTube TV, iOS App Store, Google Play, Amazon App Store, Chromecast, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Android TV.

What March Madness games will be on truTV?

Four games will air Friday on truTV during the early rounds of March Madness. These are the games that will be on truTV, as well as the warning times (on ET):

► No. 3 Xavier vs. No. 14 Kennesaw State (Friday, 12:40 p.m.)

► No. 6 Iowa State vs. No. 11 Pittsburgh (Friday, 3:10 p.m.)

► No. 3 Gonzaga vs. N° 14 Grand Canyon (Friday, 7:35 p.m.)

► No. 6 TCU vs. No. 11 Nevada/No. 11 Arizona State (Friday, 10:05 p.m.)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: March Madness live support updates: USC-Michigan State advisory on Friday