Villanova is the top seed ine East Region. (Getty)
The round of 64 in the March Madness 2015 Tournament kicks off Thursday, March 19 in various arenas across the nation. It’s 32 games in 48 hours and when it’s all said and done the field of 64 will be cut in half. The evening game for the East bracket is No. 1 Villanova and No. 16 Lafayette.
Whether through an automatic bid or a committee selection, Villanova was expected to go dancing. Instead of leaving their tournament fate in the hands of the selection committee, the Wildcats secured their automatic bid to the dance by knocking off Xavier, 69-52, to win the Big East Conference Tournament.
Villanova finished with a No. 4 ranking in the nation’s top 25 and is heading into the NCAA Tournament with a 32-2 (16-2) record and will face-off against Lafayette first.
Unlike Nova, Lafayette was not supposed to be dancing this March. After finishing the Patriot League schedule with a 9-9 record, the Leopards received the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament. Lafayette bypassed fifth-seeded Boston U., regular-season winner Bucknell and clinched the automatic bid with a 65-63 victory over No. 6 American. The Leopards are heading into play with an overall 20-12 mark.
The game starts at 6:50 p.m. Eastern and will be covered by TBS. The announcers for the game will be Brian Anderson, Steve Smith and Lewis Johnson.
The winner between Villanova and Lafayette will move on to face the winner of the No. 8 NC State vs. No. 9 LSU game. That game will take place on Saturday, March 21.
But before that happens, here’s how to watch Villanova vs. Lafayette online and on mobile:
Watch Villanova-Lafayette Online
Watch Villanova-Lafayette on Mobile
Ryan Arcidiacono and Villanova are the top seed in the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden. (Getty)
