Here is what you know about Selection Sunday: NPR

March Madness is almost at the door.

The 68-team fields for the NCAA basketball tournaments of NCAA Division I for men and women will be presented on Sunday, March 16.

Around half of the tournament loungers are automatically locked up when teams win their conference tournaments. These tournaments will continue in the next few days. The teams in the bubble try to achieve enough victories to excite their résumés, while smaller schools desperate to dance after their only shot.

All of this will be completed by Sunday afternoon and only the brackets in selection shows reveal that evening.

You need to know the following:

When will the brackets be published?

The men's bracket will be published during a selection show that begins at 6 p.m. Eastern Time on CBS. The women's holder will have its own selection show at 8 p.m. Eastern Time at ESPN.

Who is expected to be the top seeds?

Schools in the men's class dominate in the south this season. The top seeds are expected to include Auburn, who have only reached the last four in school history once. Two other SEC schools, Florida and Alabama are also in the mix for No. 1 seeds. The conference has not won a basketball title since Kentucky in 2012 – and only two other SEC schools have ever won a title.

The multi -year competitor Duke is probably again in a top slot. A big concern about her was made on Thursday when Star Freshman Cooper Flagg asked his ankle and had to be rolled into the changing room in a wheelchair.

In the women's holder, the top name could go to the UCLA. This is a name with a lot of history in the men's game, in which the Bruins won 11 national titles and achieved the last four 19 times. But ucla Ladies Basketball was far from successful: they have never reached the Final Four. Will this be the first time?

South Carolina and head coach Dawn Staley seem to be a castle for another seed number 1. Look for the stars Juju Watkins and Paige Bueckers to lead USC or Uconn to other high seeds.

Who could be this year's Cinderella team?

Top seeds were more and more successful in the women's tournament, where the inequality between the Haves and have emerges is much wider than in the male game. In other words, no team that is worse than a No. 3 seed, the networks have ever shortened.

A candidate who creates this story could be iowa. Yes, the Hawkeyes have been second in the past two years in a row. But that was Megastar Caitlin Clark, who graduated last year and went to the WNBA. This year Iowa has no resume for a higher seed, but the Hawkeyes were still grumpy and switched off at the time. 4 USC in February on the day that Clarks was retired.

On the side of the men there is a trendy selection of a different Iowa school: the Drake Bulldogs, led by head coach of the first year, Ben McCollum. McCollum won in his former school, the state of Northwest Missouri, four national titles of Division II.

And a note about this year's men's tournament: many of the so-called “blue blood” of the college basketball-the most historical and decorated programs of the Sports-Sind than usual. The Kansas Jayhawks and Uconn Huskies, the two schools who recently won a title, seem to be on the right track for No. 6, 7 or 8. The North Carolina Tar Heels are in the bladder, which means that you may not qualify at all, unless you can search one or two more victories in the current ACC tournament. And two other youngest champions, Villanova and Virginia, are probably completely left out.

When do the tournaments start?

The men's tournament taps the opening games “First Four” on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then the madness begins next Thursday and Friday with the 64th round.

First four men
Tuesday, March 18 and Wednesday, March 19

Men's round of 64
Thursday, March 20 and Friday, March 21st

Men's round of 32
Saturday, March 22nd and Sunday, March 23rd

Men sweet 16
Thursday, March 27th and Friday, March 28th

Men's elite eight
Saturday, March 29 and Sunday, March 30th

Men Final Four
Saturday, April 5th

National championship game of men
Monday, April 7th

The women start a day later with their tournament, with the first four games on Wednesday and Thursday, followed by the full round of 64 next Friday and Saturday.

The first four women
Wednesday, March 19 and Thursday, March 20, 20

Women's round of 64
Friday, March 21st and Saturday, March 22nd

Women's round of 32
Sunday, March 23 and Monday, March 24th

Women sweet 16
Friday, March 28th and Saturday, March 29th

Women's elite eight
Sunday, March 30th and Monday, March 31st

Final women four
Friday, April 4th

National championship game of women
Sunday, April 6th