The road to March Madness starts with the 2023 NCAA men's basketball conference tournaments. Championship Week, which spans close to two weeks, is when all 32 men's basketball conferences compete in their conference championships to determine which team punches an automatic bid to March Madness.
The 2022-2023 college basketball season has seen its share of ups and downs. Currently, Houston and Alabama top the AP Top 25 polls with Marquette climbing the ladder and Pitt closing in. Northwestern also broke into the AP Top 25 in the final week, and perennial WCC powerhouse Gonzaga fought back to the top 10 after a big win against No. 17 Saint Mary's.
We're here to help you keep tabs on all of the 2023 NCAA men's basketball conference tournaments.
How to watch the 2023 NCAA men's basketball conference tournaments
Unlike March Madness, which airs on CBS, TNT and TBS, the NCAA men's basketball conference championships are found around almost all of the networks. Generally speaking, you can find many of them on ESPN, ESPN2, CBS, CBS Sports, Fox and Fox Sports 1.
CBS and Fox are broadcast networks, so they will be available to you in your cable TV package, but if you've cut the cord you can watch them on a number of live TV streaming services including FuboTV, Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV.
ESPN is a cable TV channel that's included in many cable TV subscriptions or in one of the streaming services listed above, as well as on Sling TV. Certain games are also available to stream on ESPN Plus.
You can also watch CBS and CBS Sports on Paramount Plus.
You can use the guide below to find the championship you want to watch and see where it's playing.
2023 NCAA men's basketball conference tournaments schedule
America East
- America East Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Vermont
American Athletic
- American Athletic Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Memphis
Atlantic 10
- Atlantic 10 Bracket
- Automatic Bid: VCU
ACC
- ACC Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Duke
ASUN
- ASUN Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Kennesaw State
Big 12
- Big 12 Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Texas
Big East
- Big East Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Marquette
Big Sky
- Big Sky Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Montana State
Big South
- Big South Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: UNC Asheville
Big Ten
- Big Ten Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Purdue
Big West
- Big West Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: UC Santa Barbara
CAA
- CAA Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: College of Charleston
Conference USA
- Conference USA Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Florida Atlantic
Horizon League
- Horizon League Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Northern Kentucky
Ivy League
- Ivy League Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Princeton
MAAC
- MAAC Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Iona
MAC
- MAC Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Kent State
MEAC
- MEAC Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Howard
Missouri Valley
- Missouri Valley Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Drake
Mountain West
- Mountain West Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: San Diego State
Northeast
- Northeast Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Championship: March 7, 7 pm ET/4 pm PT
- Automatic Bid: Fairleigh Dickinson (in by default, as Merrimack is not eligible for tournament)
Ohio Valley
- Ohio Valley Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Southeast Missouri State
Pac-12
- Pac-12 Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Arizona
Patriot League
- Patriot League Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Colgate
SEC
- SEC Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Alabama
Southern
- Southern Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Furman
Southland
- Southland Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
SWAC
- SWAC Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Texas Southern
Summit League
- Summit League Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Oral Roberts
Sun Belt
- Sun Belt Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Louisiana
West Coast
- West Coast Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Gonzaga
WAC
- WAC Bracket (opens in new tab)
- Automatic Bid: Grand Canyon
2023 NCAA men's basketball conference tournaments FAQs
How many conference tournaments are there?
There are 32 NCAA men's basketball conference tournaments. The winners of the tournaments help to shape the field of teams that will compete in March Madness.
How do conference tournaments and automatic bids work?
The winners of the conference championship automatically advance to the NCAA men's basketball tournament.
March Madness consists of 68 teams, which means that the conference tournament automatic qualifiers make up just under half of the teams in the field. The remaining 36 teams are at-large selections by the tournmanet committee based on their rankings, win-loss records and strength of schedule.
When does March Madness begin?
The 2023 Selection Sunday show where March Madness teams are announced is on Sunday, March 12. From there, the First Four games are March 14-15, with the First Round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament taking place March 16-17.
The NCAA national championship game is April 3.
You can print a blank March Madness bracket here (opens in new tab).
