collegebasketball
Latest
March Madness is back in VR, but it will cost you
Last year, the NCAA streamed the Final Four and championship game in virtual reality for free as March Madness came to a close. For the 2017 tournament that's already in progress, the college sports governing body is teaming up with Turner Sports and CBS Sports to offer VR streaming of not only those final three games, but of the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 as well. Those two rounds begin this Thursday, March 23rd and run through the weekend.
2K is reportedly bringing college basketball back to its games
For the first time in years, college basketball teams may soon be playable in a video game. ESPN's Darren Rovell reports that 2K Sports has licensing deals in place with ten schools and plans to include them in an upcoming title. That list of teams includes Arizona, Kansas, Louisville, Michigan, UCLA and more according to SB Nation -- some of college basketball's big-name programs. If you'll recall, EA cancelled the 2014 installment of its college football title after a lawsuit over the use of player likenesses and the NCAA pulling its licensing deal. When it comes to college hoops, though, there hasn't been a game in several years, so this would be a welcome release for folks who've been waiting.
Get your March Madness highlights and analysis on YouTube
While you'll want to venture over to CBS Sports to stream the March Madness live action, YouTube is gearing up for the Big Dance, too. The video library will provide highlights, pre/postgame shows and more on the March Madness channel during the postseason schedule. Of course, those who prefer to catch the action on live television can watch on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV when the tournament begins on March 17th. NCAA tournament highlights will arrive on YouTube just weeks after Google and the NFL agreed to circulate pro football clips on the site. No matter how you plan on watching, though, it'll be interesting to see which team will be this year's Mercer. My money's on North Carolina Central.
March Madness Live 2014: new apps, redesigned brackets and more social features
It's about that time again. That time for NCAA Division I schools to battle it out on the court during the month of March, all in search of men's basketball glory. Naturally, the NCAA, in partnership with CBS and Turner Sports, couldn't have kicked things off without revamping its beloved March Madness Live, both on the desktop and mobile apps. For the most part, however, the streaming service remains largely unchanged -- and we'd say that's a good thing. That said, there are a few new things coming to March Madness Live this year, such as apps for Kindle Fire, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8 (we'll come back to the latter two in a bit).
DirecTV adding TruTV HD ahead of March Madness again, will let it stick around this time
Last year, DirecTV temporarily added TruTV HD to its lineup just during March Madness so its fans could catch all of the games, and it's bringing Turner-owned network back again this year. This time however, the satellite company has promised on Facebook (if a relationship is Facebook official, you know it's real) it's sticking around this time. This means not only can customers get all the college hoops this month, they can also later tune into all manner of reality TV programming. You're welcome (c) Kobe Bryant.
March Madness streams to more platforms in 2012, but not everything is free
Last year CBS and Turner Sports brought every game of the NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball Tournament home in HD on four cable channels, and streaming for free to PCs and iOS devices. While the broadcast plans remain the same this year, if you want to stream the 41 games broadcast on cable networks then you'll need to subscribe to an affiliated TV provider (all the major guys except Time Warner) and log into the TNT, TBS, or TruTV website on your Windows PC or Mac. For the other 41 games broadcast on CBS, CBSSports.com is your (free) online resource. Live streaming on mobiles (over WiFi or 3G) has been extended to the Android platform for the first time, however after being offered for free last year the rebranded March Madness Live app will cost $3.99 this time around, which is still less than the $10 it cost in 2010. Check out the press release after the break for all the details on what's viewable where -- cord cutting sports fans will want to make some alternate arrangements.
CBS & Turner Sports are streaming all the March Madness games to PCs, iPhones & iPads for free
Every year CBS has enhanced its March Madness On Demand experience, from HD VOD on cable boxes to HD streaming on PCs before adding PiP and paid mobile access last year. For 2011, a new deal has brought in Turner Sports to not only provide enough channels to air all the games in high definition (we figure you'll find CBS, TNT and TBS on the channel guide with no problem, but with some of the games diverted to lesser known TruTV HD check the HDSportsGuide link below to see if it's in your area yet) but also expand the streaming experience by promising higher quality video, personalized channel lineup and social tie ins. If you're on the go, the mobile client for iOS devices (sorry, no Android or other mobile OSes) is free this year so you can keep that fiver in your pocket this time. There's another pic of the iPad client, a video trailer and all sorts of details waiting after the break, so click through to find out more or just wait for the free apps to hit iTunes March 10th.
Final Four basketball in 3D is the closest thing to being there
What a difference a year can make. The first time we got our eyes on 3D sports, we saw a lot of promise during the 2009 BCS Championship -- but it was marred by technical glitches and a lack of onscreen information during the game. This weekend we settled into a local movie theater to check out a presentation of semifinal round games from the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament in our lengthiest experience with 3D yet. Not a lot has changed in the theater with the same passive RealD glasses, but the quality of what's on screen has gone way, way up. For basketball, most of the camera angles were similar to a videogame, mostly using sideline shots that seemed lower than we're used to on HDTV broadcasts. For the price of a $25 ticket for both games, it was a reasonable approximation of seats 10-15 rows up in Indianapolis; Lucas Oil Stadium that would have cost considerably more. Other angles included a skycam view that we probably liked the best, which was supplemented by cameramen positioned under each basket for a front-row view of the action and a couple of views from over each basket and behind the student section that varied in quality depending on what was going on in the game. The picture was sharp and the motion was easy to keep track of, though there were still a few times when it seemed to lose focus, especially during the first game. We've never had a problem keeping track of the ball during a match, but spying passing lanes and the aim of long jump shots was far easier than viewing in 2D. There's no mistake about it, 3D brought us closer to the action -- even from hundreds of miles away -- than we were previously used to.
CBS Sports to present the Final Four in 100 3D theaters
There's no bigger sport in March than College Basketball and CBS is once again stepping up its coverage of March Madness by covering the last three games in 3D. With some help from Cinedigm Digital Cineman Corp, 100 movie theaters throughout the nation will present the games in 3D for your viewing pleasure, but If you don't live near a theater -- or just want to find content for your new 3DTV -- you might be in luck as CBS is also reaching out to cable and satellite providers about sharing the love. This is yet another live 3D broadcast to add to the others this year, which will hopefully be just the beginning of live 3D sports for years to come.
CBS announces new PiP, stat overlay features for 2010 March Madness On Demand
The much loved (to the tune of 6.5 million hours of video or so streamed last year) March Madness On Demand Player on CBSSports.com is returning for 2010 with enough new features to make another run at the championship. Still powered by Microsoft's Silverlight for the high quality video stream (Adobe Flash for the low bandwidth version), this year viewers can also see picture-in-picture highlights of other games without leaving the one they're watching, and pull up stats in realtime over the video, including tourney and game leaders in various categories. If you're watching at work, CBS is also promising an improved "Boss button," but you'll have to wait for March 14 for that to be unveiled... and hope the folks you work with don't see it.
The best HD sports on TV this week
NFL Indianapolis Colts at Jacksonville Jaguars NFL Network Thurs 8:20 PM Dallas Cowboys at New Orleans Saints NFL Network Sat 8:20 PM Green Bay Packers at Pittsburgh Steelers FOX Sun 4:15 NCAA Basketball Michigan at Kansas ESPN Sat Noon Gonzaga vs. Duke CBS Sat 4:00 PM NBA Orlando Magic at Miami Heat TNT Thurs 8:00 PM Cleveland Cavaliers at Phoenix Suns NBATV Sun 9:00 PM NHL Buffalo Sabres at Toronto Maple Leafs VS. Mon 7:00 PM
U-verse TV subscribers score interactive college basketball app
Make no mistake -- legions of cube-dwellers will be tuning into March Madness On Demand this Thursday, but those lucky / unlucky enough to be sitting at home in front of their U-verse TV DVR can enjoy one other luxury: an interactive application. AT&T has partnered up with Yahoo! Sports in order to add in a free college basketball U-bar app that will give March Madness fans the ability to view tournament brackets, their personalized completed bracket, game summaries and box scores, and video clips of game analysis / commentary with a simple remote click. Nah, it's no DirecTV-like four-screens-in-one, but it's definitely better than anything offered up on cable. Check out a simple video demonstration here.
HDTV Listings for March 9, 2007
What we're watching: College basketball tournaments continue on, where Georgetown and Notre Dame tangle in a Big East semifinal tonight on ESPN-HD. Still, new episodes of Close to Home and Numb3rs should keep us over on CBS.Our traditional high definition listings continue below.
Gators fans: Relive the championship in iTunes
Here's one for you Florida Gators fans. You can relive your team's (or maybe your school's) first ever march to the NCAA men's championship via iTunes. The Florida Gators 2006 Championship Journey [iTunes link] is a collection of highlights from their last eight games. The episodes range in duration from just over eight minutes for the first game, to the final, which is broken into two episodes, each over an hour. You can buy all eight episodes for $11.99US.
