How to watch the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight this weekend


It’s time to lock in those brackets. The 2026 NCAA basketball tournaments, affectionately known as March Madness, begin this week. In fact, some of the action on the men’s side starts tonight. Both the men’s and women’s tournaments are available to stream through various apps and services, but navigating the web of broadcasters and TV channels can be confusing. We’ve broken down when all the games are happening, where to watch and the best options for saving some cash doing so.

What does the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight start?

The men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament Sweet 16 begins on Thursday, March 26 with four of the eight games. The first game begins at 7:10PM ET with the others following at 7:30PM ET, 9:45PM ET and 10:05PM ET. A similar schedule is expected for the second slate of Sweet 16 games on Friday, March 27. The Elite Eight will then follow on Saturday, March 28 and Sunday, March 29 with two games each day. Start times haven’t been announced for those just yet.

On the women’s side, everything is offset by a day. The first four Sweet 16 games take place on Friday, March 27 at 2:30PM ET, 5:00PM ET, 7:30PM ET and 10:00PM ET. The second set of matchups follows on Saturday, March 28 at 12:30PM ET, 3:00PM ET, 5:00PM ET and 7:30PM ET. The Elite Eight matchups are on Sunday, March 29 and Monday, March 30 with two games each day, but start times haven’t been announced for those.

Here’s the full schedule for each tournament:

2026 Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament

  • Second round: March 21-22

  • Championship game: April 6

2026 Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament

  • Second round: March 22-23

  • Championship game: April 5

How to stream the 2026 Men’s NCAA Tournament

Jacob Kupferman via Getty Images

CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery share the broadcast rights to the men’s tournament, so TV coverage will be spread across four networks. During the course of March Madness, games will air on CBS, TNT, TBS and truTV, with the final rounds and championship game landing on TBS.

If you already have a paid TV plan (such as traditional cable), a good way to watch the men’s tournament is with the March Madness Live app or website. There’s a big catch though: CBS games aren’t available in the app. That means this is really only a good option through the Elite Eight. Once you log in with your TV provider credentials, you can watch games on the other networks in one spot with features like multiview (up to four games at once) and a Fast Break stream that covers all the in-progress games in one spot.

The app also offers ways to follow your bracket, if you filled it out on MarchMadness.com. And when you’re watching on desktop, the crucial Boss Button will throw up a fake work screen to keep your job safe. In addition to your laptop or phone, March Madness Live is also available on Amazon devices, Fire TV, Apple TV, iOS, macOS, Google Play, LG smart TVs, Roku and Xbox consoles.

The most affordable option to watch every game is to actually use two services. It’s not ideal, I know, but it will save you a lot of money. HBO Max’s Basic plan is $11/month and gives you access to live games from TNT, TBS and truTV with three-game multiview (46 games total). That includes the Final Four and National Championship as those three games are on TBS this year. If you splurge for a pricier plan ($23/month), you can stream games in Dolby Vision with Dolby Atmos surround sound. For the CBS games, you’ll need a Paramount+ Premium subscription that costs $14/month ($6 for two months for new users). So, with this best price scenario, streaming all of the men’s tournaments will cost $25 across two apps.

A live TV service like YouTube TV or Hulu + Live TV is over $80 more per month at full price, but they would offer you all the games in the men’s tournament in one place. YouTube TV is currently on sale for $60/month for the first two months after a free 10-day trial. Hulu + Live TV now includes Disney+ and ESPN Select, hence its higher price.

How to stream the 2026 Women’s NCAA Tournament

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While Warner Brothers Discovery owns the rights to the men’s NCAA Tournament, ESPN has the women’s bracket locked down. Every game of the women’s tournament will be spread across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNEWS, including the First Four matchups. The Final Four will be on ESPN, but the championship game will air on ABC. All three of those culminating games will stream on ESPN+ (and in the ESPN app) as MegaCast feeds.

ESPN says the MegaCasts are available in two options. First, Beyond the Rim provides an aerial camera angle with the main commentary and replays, plus the addition of enhanced stats. On the Rail shows you game action the full length of the floor. This feed will offer “natural” sound and replays.

Since ESPN+ won’t get every game, it’s not an option if you want to watch the entire tournament. However, since last year’s March Madness, Disney debuted standalone offerings for ESPN. The most affordable option here is ESPN Select which includes women’s college basketball and costs $13/month.

You could also opt for a live-TV streaming service like Sling, YouTube TV or Hulu + Live TV for a comprehensive experience. Sling is the cheapest of these, with the requisite Orange and Sports Extra plan costing $57 (Sling is currently offering a discount on the first month of Orange). YouTube and Hulu live TV options are both more expensive at over $80/month (YouTube TV currently discounted to $60 for the first two months), so it’s a matter of which set of content and features you like best. YouTube TV offers a handy multiview tool so you can watch up to four games at once, but Hulu + Live TV comes with Disney+ and ESPN Select for that cost.

Once you have a TV plan that includes the ESPN family of networks, the ESPN app is the best place to watch the tournament. The mix of scores and info, along with multiview streaming for up to four games at a time on Apple TV and Xbox, make the app a well-equipped conduit for the women’s tournament.

The March Madness website only shows scores and news for the women’s tournament. None of the women’s games will be available for streaming live on the website.

Are any of the March Madness games available to stream for free?

Michael Reaves via Getty Images

Without a TV provider login, you can watch all of the games broadcast on CBS on the March Madness website and mobile apps. Sure, it’s a small sample of the tournament, but it’s completely free and a good option for casual fans who don’t have a paid TV plan they can exploit for more of the action. It’s also a good way to watch the first round at work, if your company hasn’t blocked streaming sites, or if you can discreetly watch on your phone.

For the women’s tournament, there aren’t any games available for free. Unless you have an old-school OTA antenna, that is, in which case you can watch women’s games on ABC (and men’s games on CBS) without any kind of streaming plan. Of course, as this is a streaming guide published in 2026, I’d consider an antenna an extraordinary move.

If you were hoping to use a free trial period to watch March Madness, I’ve got bad news. None of them will last long enough to cover the entire tournament. Some services don’t offer a free trial at all, but the longest is YouTube TV at 10 days. Sadly, that won’t even get you through the second weekend.

What if I want to stream both the men’s and women’s tournaments?

If you’re hoping to stream all of the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments, I hope you ordered Samsung’s eight-TV bundle. In terms of streaming services, just jump straight to a live-TV option like YouTube TV or Hulu + Live TV. I prefer the former because of its multiview feature. At times when there are multiple games that you want to watch, especially during the first two rounds, you’ll want multiview in order to keep tabs on all of the action.



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Groovy is a subset of the java language and shares a good market in recent times. If any of the java programmers are looking out for a career change, here you go. We are going to design Groovy interview questions and answers under the guidance of the SEO team and Groovy experts. In this Groovy interview questions and answers post, you will be learning the very important questions which are asked by top companies. Kick start your Groovy professional career with the help of frequently asked Groovy interview questions and Answers. 

Most Frequently Asked Groovy Interview Questions

What do you know about JVM (java virtual machine)?

Ans : JVM stands for Java virtual machine and they are considered to be an important component of Groovy runs. So Groovy needs the JVM to perform many java-based tasks. 

What do you mean by Groovy?

Ans : Groovy is basically an object-oriented programming language and it has been a top choice for many programmers to write and execute their Java codes. The reason behind its popularity is its customization features to any extent. And also last but not the least, the best user interface services. So it is very easy to develop applications with the help of the Groovy user interface.

What are the true reasons behind Groovy popularity?

Ans : Here we would like to mention a few reasons behind its popularity among other java programming languages.

  • Groovy can be used for scripting like log configuration.
  • It is not a fully object-oriented programming language.
  • It mainly uses Java libraries and multiple inheritance.
  • It offers native support for various markup languages like HTML (hypertext markup language) and XML (extended markup language). 
  • It has a public modifier.
  • It supports tools like Gradle and Spack 
  • It also consists of tools that support other programs to run. For example Grails and Java

Could you please mention the benefits of using Groovy?

Ans : Below are the primary advantages of using Groovy;

  • Compile and execute with all the java libraries that include a part of the COAT JAVA installation.
  • It offers very light syntax while writing a program
  • Offers several examples in the software center.
  • Less work is required during the time of processing HIPO files as input.

What are the limitations of the Groovy language?

Ans : Here are the few disadvantages of using the Groovy language:

  • Having to use GROOT means not having all the plotting and fitting power associated with ROOT as GROOT is a smaller subset of the ROOTs plotting and fitting.
  • Need to know JAVA which is less common for psychic-based analysis

Explain the concept of thin documentation in Groovy?

Ans : This is a very common issue in almost all object-oriented languages. The real problem behind this inaccuracy is that Groovy doesn’t provide detailed documentation on the projects or code. Therefore you will get limited documentation with no information regarding programming codes or run-time errors

How can you run the script in Groovy?

Ans : Running script is a nit a big deal for many programmers. All the plain scripts are very easy to run on a Groovy, and one good thing is that there is no need for programmers to declare any class or methods which consume extra time. At the beginning of any script, that enables the programmers to use import values. This process is very similar to implementing them in a class. In case you want to declare a function outside the class, you can make use of the command “def

Name a few infrastructures that can be used along with Groovy?

Ans :The following are the name of a few infrastructures that can be used along with Groovy;

  • App servers
  • Servlet (java servlet) containers
  • Databases having JDBC drivers
  • All other java based programs. 

Do you really think that Groovy is a simple language than others if so give reasons?

Ans : Yes, most of the developers agree that Groovy is a simple language to use and code. The reasons are as follows;

  • Users can enjoy a simple declaration of all the arrays, maps as well as ranges. 
  • This makes programmers proceed with multiple tasks and they can expect effective outcomes s

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. Is it possible for you to integrate with other applications that are not based on Java?

Ans : Yes, this is possible. However, only one problem with Groovy integration is that it offers limited features that cannot be used to handle complex programming.

. What are the basic requirements for Groovy?

Ans : The primary requirements that are needed for Groovy are as follows:

  • The Java 1.4 version.
  • The Groovy. Jar 
  • The ASM libraries

. What do you mean by Groovy applications?

Ans : Apache Groovy is one of the powerful approaches used in the different modules. The very first thing that comes to mind is adjoining the different modules of java. It doesn’t matter the size but they can be easily combined with the different Java modules. In addition to this, all the existing java applications can be extended through Groovy very simply. This process also makes it easier to develop java-based applications without any error. There are several other applications available, but they are quite common.

. What are the features Groovy JDK equipped with?

Ans : Below are the common features that Groovy JDK (java development kit) is equipped with;

  • Using Groovy is simple as it does not require any complex things to implement the applications.
  • It doesn’t matter which operating system you are using and what are the components of the server, it is easily made up to perform various tasks as per the requirements.
  • In addition to this, there are other features available to run the application smoothly based on Java. 

. Compare the old version of the Groovy with the new version?

Ans : When it comes to the new version, there are a lot of advanced features that are quite simple to use when compared to the older version. With the help of the new version, it is also possible to stream arrays and objects of object-oriented methods used in the older version. In addition to this, a lot of run time errors have been eliminated at various stages and commands also have been improved for smooth operations.

. Suppose you are running something on Groovy, is it possible for you to add any data or for the classpath?

Ans : The answer would be yes it is possible. To perform this task, a $classpath variable can be considered. Some programmers also build the $HOME- -> a.groovy – ->lib directory for this. It can simply be defined in the $HOME and users can keep up the pace at every stage

. What do you know about listeners and closures in Groovy?

Ans : Groovy does not support all types of asynchronous inner classes. Users need to be more conscious about the class that they are going to use while defining the functions. In the Groovy also, you will get to see two different types of classes, firstly listeners. In the listeners, the closures can be considered as an adapter for the listener that offers no limit for the inner class implementations. Whereas the closures are nothing but a process of determining the actions that are extremely easy to use.

. Is there any limit on appending the jars that are available in the groovy?

Ans : No there is no such limit, programmers can make them available in any number whenever they need them.

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. What is the importance of using ExpendoMeta class in Groovy?

Ans : Expendometa class is a powerful option available in Groovy. With the help of this class, the programmers can able to add and consider properties, constructors, methods, and operations to perform various tasks. By default, ExpendoMeta cannot be inherited and users need to call it whenever they required it. 

The following command is used to declare ExpendoMeta class;

ExpandoMetaClass.enabledglobally()”.

. What factors do you need to take care of while declaring Groovy strings?

Ans : Below are the important factors you need to take care of them;

  • All the expressions which are used in Groovy must be declared using the ${}.
  • The next step is, it should be joined by double-quotes. 
  • However, if the strings are regular, you can use a single quote.
  • The Square bracket [] in the Groovy can be applied in a very general manner.
  • Also, users need to remember one thing that is Groovy string is also known as Gstring.

. In Groovy, from the database how can you derive a single class?

Ans : This can be done with the help of the following command;

Println “Row; ColumnA = $”.

There is another option that is also available to do so manually but it is a complex one and there are certain sets of modifications required which will never be performed by programmers

. What is querying in Groovy? Why there is a need for it?

Ans : Querying in Groovy is basically an approach that is used to detect whether the set of commands is compatible with the required operations or not. Also, it can be considered when users need to verify or cross-examine something. The Groovy is an approach that has support for the various queries and the same thing can be handled. The primary task of Querying in Groovy is to ensure error-free outcomes under every situation.

. What does the AST stand for?

Ans : AST in Groovy stands for Abstract syntax trees.

. Explain the AST builder in Groovy?

Ans : In DSL (data syntax language), the codes, as well as strings, are extremely useful factors. This type of task is reliable and there is nothing much that the users need to do. While building AST, sometimes this process might take several hours that depend on the exact number of tasks that are under a tree structure and how they are to be handled.

. Can we include one Groovy script into another Groovy?

Ans : Yes, it is possible. To perform this operation, you need to follow the below codes.

Evaluate(new file (“../tools/Tools.groovy”))

Always remember one thing, place the code on the top of the script for copying the contents.

. What do you mean by Groovysh?

Ans : Many a time while developing codes programmers have to go through a complex when it comes to evaluating classes, expressions, as well as running the experiments. Groovysh is considered to be a powerful command-line application that makes sure of easy access to the same. Groovysh is used at many stages and the good thing is programmers can call it directly. 

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. How could you retrieve a single value from a database using the Groovy?

Ans : The following are the command is used to retrieve a single value from a database using the Groovy;

row = sql.firstRow ('select columnA, column from tableName')

println "Row: columnA = $ {row.columnA} and column = ${row.columnB}"

wing are the command is used to retrieve a single value from a database using the Groovy;

. Explain how you can query in Groovy with code example?

Ans : Let’s have a look into a simple example where we can query the database in Groovy:

import groovy.sql.sql

sql = Sql.newInstance ('jdbc: jtds: sqlserver://serverName/dbName-Class;domain=domainName','username','password','net.sourceforge.jtds.jdbc.driver')

sql.eachRow ('select * from tableName') {print "$it.id--${it.firstName} –"  }

. Explain GroovyDoc comment?

Ans : Like other multiline comments, Groovydoc comments are multiline but it starts with a /** and ends with */. These comments are related to

  • Type definitions (classes, interfaces, enums, and annotations).
  • Fields and properties definition.
  • Methods definitions.

. Explain the bitwise operators in Groovy?

Ans : Bitwise operators in Groovy can be implemented on a BYTE or an INT a return and INT. There are four types of bitwise operators in Groovy;

  • &: bitwise “and”
  • I : bitwise “or”
  • A : bitwise “xor”
  • ~ : bitwise negation

. When “propertymissing(string) “ method is called?

Ans : The propertymissing(string) method is called when no getter method for a given property can be detected by the Groovy runtime.

nal thoughts:

As per the latest reports, an average salary for any Groovy developer earns Rs. 8, 00, 000, and the salary will increase for an experienced Groovy developer. Groovy is the popular choice of Java program due to its less complexity and coding. In this post, we have listed very important Groovy interview questions with Answres under the supervision of Groovy experts. The companies like PWC, IBM, TCS, Amazon, Facebook, and Instagram are showing keen interest to hire Groovy developers 

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As a Senior Writer for HKR Trainings, Sai Manikanth has a great understanding of today’s data-driven environment, which includes key aspects such as Business Intelligence and data management. He manages the task of creating great content in the areas of Digital Marketing, Content Management, Project Management & Methodologies, Product Lifecycle Management Tools. Connect with him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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