Thursday Round 1 NCAA Tournament bracket, schedule, and open thread

There are few secular holidays that engender quite the excitement as the opening week of the NCAA Tournament. Admittedly, the excitement has been watered down with gimmicky First Fours and the like, but for most, Thursday and Friday are 12 hours a day of call-in-sick appointment viewing.

So, let’s wash the foul taste out of our mouth, and move along to some actual good basketball with teams that play hard and are well-coached.

Here’s your bracket via CBS Sports, the broadcasting partner of the NCAA.

And, for today, here is your complete television and streaming schedule, broken down by graphical bracket — a/k/a when everyone tries to remember where TruTV is on their cable box. Games can be found on CBS, TNT, TBS, TruTV, and can be streamed via CBS Sports’ March Madness app.

Of particular note to SEC fans, here are Thursday’s games of regional import (all times Central):

UPDATE:

No. 3 LSU 79 No. 14 Yale 74 - F
No. 5 Auburn 78 No. 12 New Mexico State 77 - F
No. 19 Florida 70 No. 7 Nevada 61 - F
No. 2 Kentucky 79 No. 15 Abilene Christian 44 - F

For those who want to do some comparison coach-shopping, ETSU’s Steve Forbes lost last night; Thad Matta is a spectator this year — his health permitting; and Belmont (Rick Byrd) and NKU (John Brannen) play today. Tomorrow, Buffalo (Nate Oats) and Iowa State (Steve Prohm) tip off. Feel free to add your own names to watch and games below.