The Sports Credential Essentials—March 2023

March is here and that means Madness. College basketball tournaments are just days away and the local Nashville schools will be some of the best teams to watch throughout the month of tournaments.

Both the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) and Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) tournaments begin on March 1 and 2 with schools like Belmont (MVC) and Tennessee State (OVC) as teams with potential to make some noise on both the men’s and women’s side.

The week after starting March 8, the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament starts at Bridgestone Arena with a lot of questions surrounding the University of Tennessee and Kentucky. Alabama is the favorite but will have to go against teams with plenty of tournament experience. Vanderbilt will be a very fun team to watch as they are wrapping up their best regular season in quite a long time, finishing with nine SEC wins including buzzer beaters against ranked Tennessee and Auburn.

After the conference tournaments, Selection Sunday, ahead of the Men’s and Women’s March Madness, will be in March 12 with the tournaments starting on March 14 and 15 respectively. The entire month will be consumed with college hoops until the Final Four at the beginning of April.

March also means MLS is back in full swing. Nashville SC kicked off the season on Feb. 25, beating New York City FC 2-0. Next, they head to New Jersey to face the New York Red Bulls on Saturday, March 4. They have two home games this month, first against Montreal on March 11 at GEODIS Park and then against rival FC Cincinnati on March 25.

College baseball is back and the Vandy Boys have a handful of games including their face-offs against Belmont baseball and Lipscomb baseball at First Horizon Park on March 14 and March 21 respectively.

Finally, the month of March ends with the start of the Sounds 2023 season. Opening Day vs. the Louisville Bats is on Friday, March 31. The rest of the opening series will continue into the start of April.

For more events and games, head to The Sports Credential calendar.

MARCH 1-4
OVC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament
Evansville, Indiana

MARCH 5
NTT IndyCar Series Begins at Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg, Florida

MARCH 8
Metro Nashville Sports Authority Board Call Special Meeting at Nissan Stadium
Nashville, Tennessee

MARCH 8-12
SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena
Nashville, Tennessee

MARCH 11
Nashville SC vs. CF Montreal at GEODIS Park
Nashville, Tennessee

MARCH 12
NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Selection Sunday

MARCH 14
Vanderbilt Baseball vs. Belmont at First Horizon Park
Nashville, Tennessee

NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Begins
Dayton, Ohio

MARCH 15
NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Begins

MARCH 16-18
Vanderbilt Baseball vs. Ole Miss at Hawkins Field
Nashville, Tennessee

MARCH 21
Vanderbilt Baseball vs. Lipscomb at Hawkins Field
Nashville, Tennessee

MARCH 25
Nashville SC vs. FC Cincinnati at GEODIS Park
Nashville, Tennessee

MARCH 31
Nashville Sounds Opening Day vs. the Louisville Bats at First Horizon Park
Nashville, Tennessee

Steven Boero