The NCAA Tournament field is set and ‘First Four’ games will start on Tuesday, March 15th at the University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, Ohio. On Tuesday, the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles will face the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights and the nightcap will feature an interesting matchup between the Wichita State Shockers and Vanderbilt Commodores. On Wednesday, the Holy Cross Crusaders will square off against the Southern Jaguars in the opening game and the nightcap will feature a match-up between the Michigan Wolverines and Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. Michigan fans traveling to Dayton can find great travel deals and flights on Hipmunk. After each of the ‘First Four’ games are decided, fans will look forward to all-day slates, which start on Thursday afternoon and continue through Sunday evening. According to TiqIQ, Opening Round games in Des Moines, Iowa, currently boast the highest resale prices on TiqIQ on the secondary ticket market.
3/15/16 First Four Session 1 | University of Dayton Arena | Get-in: $69
Fans hoping to attend First Four games on Tuesday, March 15th will only need one ticket to watch both games. Florida Gulf Coast (20-13), winners of the A-Sun Tournament, are no strangers to the NCAA Tournament while Farleigh Dickson (18-14), winners of the NEC Tournament, will look to make a name for themselves. The winner of this game will play North Carolina on Thursday. In the nightcap, Wichita State (24-8) will look to catch fire after a rocky regular season. Wichita State features a number of experienced players, namely seniors Fred Van Vleet and Ron Baker, so expect a spirited effort. Vanderbilt (19-13) engineered several big wins during the regular season, but enter the tournament as losers of two straight. The winner of this game will play Arizona on Thursday. According to TiqIQ, Session 1 tickets start at $69.
3/16/16 First Four Session 2 | University of Dayton Arena | Get-in: $131
Alike Session #1, fans attending Session #2 will only need one ticket to watch both games. Holy Cross (14-19) caught fire during Patriot League Tournament and knocked off Lehigh in the championship game. Southern (22-12), the SWAC Tournament champion, also used a big effort to win its bid into the NCAA Tournament. The winner of this game will play Oregon on Friday. In the nightcap, Michigan (22-12) will look to get on a roll after a rocky showing in Big Ten play. Tulsa (20-11), alike Michigan, has had an inconsistent season, but has shown glimpses of strong play during the regular season. The winner of this game will play Notre Dame on Friday. According to TiqIQ, Session 2 tickets start at $131.
3/17/16 Des Moines, Iowa Region (All Sessions) | Wells Fargo Arena | Get-in: $630
Fans attending the Des Moines Region will enjoy East and South region games. On Thursday, in South Region, early slate action, the 8th seeded Colorado Buffaloes (22-11) will face the 9th seeded Connecticut Huskies (24-10) and the top seeded Kansas Jayhawks (30-4) will face the 16th-seeded Austin Peay Governors (18-17). Colorado-Connecticut has the makings of a top opening round game. In particular, Connecticut has been red hot and a second round match-up against Kansas will be a must-watch for all fans.Thursday’s nightcap will feature East region match-ups between the 5th seeded Indiana Hoosiers (25-7) and the 12th seeded Chattanooga Mocs (29-5) and 4th seeded Kentucky Wildcats (26-8) and the 13th seeded Stony Brook Seawolves (26-6). A potential Indiana-Kentucky match-up will surely drive up ticket prices on the secondary ticket market. The winners of the South region and East region games will square off in 3rd Round action on Saturday afternoon. A Kansas-Connecticut, Indiana-Kentucky slate will rival any slate in the country and that excitement has translated on the secondary ticket market. According to TiqIQ, ticket prices for the Des Moines region start at $630 for all six games. Fans attending the Des Moines region games can find great hotel deals on Hipmunk, On Hipmunk, hotel prices in Des Moines for Thursday through Saturday start at $80.
