NCAA Tournament: Final Four tip off times released

Chandler Vesselsby:Chandler Vessels•03/26/23•

ChandlerVessels

Following a wild first two weeks of NCAA Tournament action, the tip off times for the Final Four have been released. Florida Atlantic, Miami, San Diego State and UConn are all on the way to Houston to compete for a national championship in what has been a tournament filled with upsets.

The No. 4 seed Huskies are the highest-seeded team of that group as all No. 1 seeds were eliminated in the Sweet Sixteen or earlier. UConn has won each of its tournament games by 15 points or more, including a dominant 82-54 victory against three-seeded Gonzaga on Saturday. They are set to take on Miami, which is appearing in its first Final Four in program history. The Hurricanes defeated Texas 88-81 on Sunday after coming back from a double-digit deficit in the second half.

Florida Atlantic is also making its first appearance in the Final Four. The No. 9 seed Owls had close calls in all four of their wins, including a narrow 79-76 victory against Kansas State in the Elite Eight. They will take on San Diego State, which escaped Creighton 57-56 on Sunday after a controversial foul was called with just 1.2 seconds remaining.

Below are the tip times for both matchups. All times are Eastern.

Final Four tip off times

  • No. 5 San Diego State vs. No. 9 Florida Atlantic — April 1, 6:09 p.m. (CBS)
  • No. 4 UConn vs. No. 5 Miami — April 1, 8:49 p.m. (CBS)

Recap of the road to the Final Four

This season’s NCAA Tournament has been highlighted by upsets, with all four No. 1 seeds losing by the Sweet Sixteen or earlier. Florida Atlantic’s path to the Final Four was made much easier after Purdue became just the second one-seed in NCAA Tournament history to lose to a 16-seed, falling to Fairleigh Dickinson in the opening round.

San Diego State and Miami each took out one seeds Alabama and Houston, respectively, in the Sweet Sixteen. Arkansas defeated defending national champion Kansas in the second round before going on to lose to UConn by a score of 88-65.

Every team except UConn is making its first Final Four appearance in program history. That makes this the first year since 1970 where three out of the four teams will be making their first trips to this round of the NCAA Tournament.

It’s definitely a big change from last year’s Final Four, which featured blue bloods in Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, and Villanova. But now it seems like there’s a very good chance we could watch one of the teams from this year’s group win a national championship for the first time ever.