Google, today announced that you can now listen to the NCAA Tournament games on your Google Home smart speaker or smart display. Simply say “OK Google, play NCAA March Madness” and it’ll start playing the game that is currently taking place.
The only caveat here, is that with smart displays like the Google Home Hub or Lenovo Smart Display, you won’t be able to actually watch the game. You can only listen to the game. The NCAA March Madness app itself does not work on smart displays, maybe next year.
There are a few commands that you can give to the Google Assistant, including “When’s the next March Madness game?” or asking when the next game is for your favorite school, and of course you can ask “What’s the latest March Madness news”. So if you didn’t stay up to watch the late games, you can still find out what happened. This is a great way for those that aren’t super into basketball, to stay up-to-date with what’s going on in the NCAA Tournament.
When you are streaming these games, it’ll be coming from Westwood One. That’s the largest audio broadcast network in the US. You’ll get commentary during the game, as well as in-depth analysis later on, from some of the biggest basketball experts out there. Like Hall of Famer John Thompson and four-time NBA World Champion Will Perdue.
This is a good option for getting score updates, and listening to the game in real-time. Whether you’re at work and can’t watch the game, or just want to check in on the scores and see what’s happening. This is a really good way to keep up with the tournament. This weekend, the 16 teams that are left in the tournament will be narrowed down to eight by Friday night and then the Final Four by Sunday night, before Championship weekend next weekend, where we’ll find out who is the new NCAA Tournament Champions. Duke is of course the heavy favorite this year, but North Carolina and Gonzaga are also throwing their hats into the ring.
The NCAA Tournament is a pretty big tournament that happens every year. Over the course of three weekends, there are 67 games taking place, so there’s a ton of basketball to watch. And with many upsets happening, it’s bound to be exciting. Hence the term “March Madness”. 68 teams are narrowed down to a single team, after three weekends of basketball. For many, this is more exciting than the NBA Playoffs, because if you have an off-game and lose, you’re heading home. While the NBA Playoffs are a best of seven series, so you can afford to have an off-game or two.
You’ll be able to listen to the remaining NCAA Tournament games, beginning tomorrow when the Sweet 16 round begins. It’ll work on all Google Assistant-enabled speakers and smart displays. That includes third-party models like the Sony LF-S50G and the Lenovo Smart Display. There’s noting to install, just ask Google to play NCAA March Madness, or ask when your school’s next game is.