March Madness: how to watch the 2024 NCAA Tournament in Asia, and the teams and players to look out for

The beloved annual tradition in American sport that is officially the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament starts this week

Defending champions UConn are the favourites, while among the Asian players to feature are China’s Li Xinyi and Japan’s Keisei Tominaga

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Every game of the men’s tournament will be aired on various streaming platforms, and fans in Hong Kong looking to tune in will need to gain access to one of those. Photo: TNS

Published: 3:09pm, 18 Mar 2024Updated: 6:38pm, 18 Mar 2024

The countdown to March Madness, the tournament to find US college basketball’s top team, is on.

The beloved annual tradition that is officially the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament begins this week. Thousands of fans will fill out those brackets, or tournament draws, in hopes of winning the office poll or at least a bit of respect now that the matchups have been set on what is known as Selection Sunday.

Who will win it all? UConn, or the University of Connecticut, are the No 1 overall seeds and the trendy pick to claim a sixth overall title and become the first team to repeat as NCAA champion since Florida in 2006-07.

Hassan Diarra celebrates with the crowd as Connecticut win the Big East tournament final. Photo: TNS

Other top seeds are Houston, Purdue and North Carolina.

But there are no obviously dominant teams this year and it could be a wild ride again; last year’s Final Four, remember, included two fifth seeds (Miami and San Diego State), the fourth-seeded Huskies and No 9 seeds Florida Atlantic.

Get ready: the tournament tips off with the First Four on Tuesday and the first round begins on Thursday.

Who is playing?

Defending national champion UConn are the No 1 overall seeds after sweeping the Big East regular-season and tournament titles. The other top seeds are Houston, Purdue and North Carolina.