NCAA to start releasing partial March Madness rankings in February

The NCAA tournament will be a getting a round of hype even earlier than usual this year. The NCAA has announced the March Madness Bracket Preview, a made-for-TV special that will unveil the selection committee’s current top 16 teams in the field on Feb. 11. The show will air on CBS on 12:30 p.m. ET.

The show debuts 29 days before Selection Sunday, which falls on March 12. The rankings shown in the bracket preview will not have any impact on what happens on Selection Sunday, but it is a new way to get people excited/make people angry ahead of March Madness.

The show should provide a clear view of the teams vying for No. 1 seeds entering the end of the regular season and the start of conference tournaments. Of course, you could also just read Chris Dobbertean’s fine work on this very website and get a similar picture.

The only thing better than March Madness? More March Madness.