If you just care about Wisconsin connections, here's your guide for the first four days of the NCAA Tournament

JR Radcliffe

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Buffalo coach Nate Oats cuts the net after Buffalo beat Bowling Green for the Mid-American Conference tournament championship Saturday. Oats is from Watertown.

If there’s one thing that’s difficult during the NCAA Tournament, it’s figuring out where to focus your attention on Thursday and Friday, when as many as four games are going on at the same time. If your allegiance is simply the state of Wisconsin, here’s what to watch for:

Tuesday

Approx. 8 p.m. on TruTV: The battle of 11 seeds in Dayton between Temple and Belmont features a couple of Wisconsin products, with both Derek Sabin (Slinger) and Mitch Listau (Waunakee) part of Belmont’s squad. Listau hasn’t played this year, but Sabin has been on the floor in 18 games.

Wednesday

North Dakota State's Tyree Eady, a graduate of Middleton High School, looks to pass while defended by Chaz Schneider of Oral Roberts during the Summit League tournament.

5:40 p.m. on TruTV: The meeting of 16 seeds in Dayton involves a couple of Wisconsin players when North Dakota State battles North Carolina Central. NDSU’s roster includes Middleton’s Tyree Eady and River Falls’ Jaxon Knotek. Eady averages 6.6 points per game, and Knotek has played in 10 games this season. Madison Memorial product Julian Walters plays for N.C. Central, and he’s seen action in every game, averaging 3.6 points.

Thursday

Tyler Herro, a Whitnall High School graduate, is averaging 14.2 points a game in his freshman season at Kentucky after initially committing to Wisconsin.

11:15 a.m. on CBS: Cheer for our neighbors to the west or cheer against them (they have our Axe, after all), but Minnesota kicks off the main part of the tournament as the 10th seed against seventh-seeded Louisville, a team Marquette beat in a thriller in November.

1 p.m. on TBS: Fourth-seeded Florida State battles 13th seed Vermont. The winner could face Marquette in the second round.

Approx. 1:30 p.m. on CBS: Bradley, coached by former Marquette University standout Brian Wardle, takes on Michigan State, a squad that has proven difficult to handle for Wisconsin this year.

Approx 3:20 p.m. on TBS: Marquette and Murray State square off in Hartford, Connecticut.

6:10 p.m. on CBS: Tyler Herro, the Whitnall High School graduate who’s had a great freshman season with second-seeded Kentucky, takes the floor against 15th-seeded Abilene Christian. Herro famously switched his commitment to Kentucky after initially agreeing to play for Wisconsin.

6:27 p.m. on truTV: Gonzaga, which includes former Homestead High School player Greg Foster, takes the floor against either Fairleigh-Dickinson and Prairie View A&M.

Approx. 8:10 p.m. on TNT: Second-seeded Michigan, which gets significant contributions from Milwaukee King product Jordan Poole, takes on 14th seed Montana in Des Moines, Iowa.

Approx. 8:20 p.m. on CBS: Seventh-seeded Wofford, which includes sophomore point guard Storm Murphy of Middleton High School, battles a Seton Hall team that just engaged in a contentious Big East tournament battle with Marquette.

Friday

Milwaukee Bruce Weber hoists the Big 12 trophy after Kansas State beat Oklahoma on Saturday.

11:15 p.m. on CBS: Iowa and Cincinnati get us started, and while there aren’t direct Wisconsin connections, Iowa did play the Badgers twice this year (and lost both times).

1 p.m. on TBS: UC-Irvine, which includes freshman JC Butler of The Prairie School in Racine, takes on fourth-seeded Kansas State, a squad coached by Milwaukeean Bruce Weber. Butler scores 1.5 points per game. The winner of this game could play Wisconsin in the second round.

Approx. 2 p.m. on truTV: Virginia, coached by Green Bay Preble graduate Tony Bennett, tries to avoid last year’s first-round debacle as a No. 1 seed, taking on No. 16 Gardner-Webb in Columbia, South Carolina.

Approx. 2:50 p.m. on TNT: Watertown’s Nate Oats, head coach of Buffalo, leads his sixth-seeded Bulls against either 11th seeded St. John’s or Arizona State.

Approx. 3:20 p.m. on TBS: Fifth-seeded Wisconsin and 12th-seeded Oregon square off in San Jose, California.

6:10 p.m. on CBS: A 16th-seeded team with a Wisconsin kid on the roster (either NC Central or North Dakota State) meets No. 1 Duke. Good luck!

Approx. 8:40 p.m. on TBS: Sixth-seeded Iowa State, a squad featuring Oshkosh North’s Tyrese Haliburton and Milwaukee Riverside’s Terrence Lewis, takes on an 11th-seeded Ohio State team that gave the Badgers a memorable late-season scare.

Approx. 8:45 p.m. on truTV: Former Marquette coach and Milwaukee favorite Buzz Williams and fourth-seed Virginia Tech match up with 13th-seeded Saint Louis.

JR Radcliffe can be reached at (262) 361-9141 or jradcliffe@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JRRadcliffe.