How to Watch NCAA College Basketball with a VPN

Where to stream the NCAA Basketball online

The 2022-2023 college basketball season tipped off in November, signaling a four-month slog to be one of the teams that reach the March Madness games and hopefully the final four.

358 colleges from across the United States will compete to be the next Kansas Jayhawks or North Carolina Tar Heels and make it to the championship game.

Interest in college basketball games was at a four-year high last year when over 10.5 million viewers tuned for March Madness when the basketball world gets an early look at future stars of the NBA.

It is not just the next generation of players that are drawing admiring glances, new coaches at Duke and Villanova will bring added intrigue to how these teams start the season.

Viewers in the USA

Broadcasters from CBS, TBS, and TNT all have the right to air the games across the national championships. Televised games are on live TV on FS1, Fox, the ESPN network, as well as CBS and CBS sports during the regular season.

The current broadcast deal expires at the end of the 2023-2024 campaign. For March Madness, the action is split across a vast variety of networks.

The first four is on TruTV, and the first and second round is on CBS, with other games strewn across TBS, TNT, and TruTV. Sweet sixteen, the regional semifinals, are split between CBS and TBS. The final stages of the tournament are exclusive on CBS.

For those without access to live TV, there are a variety of paid streaming services for you to sink your teeth into.

• Paramount Plus – access to CBS
• SlingTV – access to ESPN, FOX, FS1, TBS
• Hulu – access to TBS, TNT, ESPN, TruTV, and CBS
• FuboTV – access to CBS and ESPN

International viewers

ESPN International is the international broadcaster for March Madness, they distribute the coverage to networks and other hosts.

NBA viewership in Australia has been on a steady rise in recent years. It’s no surprise there has been an increase in demand for NCAA live streams. ESPN via Kayo Sports is the TV provider for all of March Madness in Australia.

In the UK, BT Sport and ESPN Player air the men’s basketball tournament. Both are paid services, ESPN starts at £9.99 a month, whereas BT has launched an online-only plan for £25 a month.

Free College Basketball streams

There aren’t many options when it comes to free streams.

However, many of the aforementioned streaming services come with free trials. If you were to take advantage of this and string the trials together, you’d be able to watch every matchup across March.

• Hulu – 30-day free trial (USA)
• fuboTV – 7-day free trial (USA)
• Paramount Plus – 7-day free trial (USA)
• Kayo Sports – 7-day free trial (Australia)
• ESPN Player – 7-day free trial (UK)

Using a VPN to stream NCAA March Madness live

So you’ve decided to take advantage of these free trials. The problem is that the trials are only valid in certain countries. You won’t be able to take advantage of 7 free days of Paramount Plus if you are in Australia or the UK, similar to Kayo Sports, which isn’t available for basketball fans stateside.

If you wanted to cobble these free trials together so you could catch every buzzer beater in March Madness, you’d need to spread yourself across three different countries.

Or not.

A VPN is a cybersecurity tool that lets you access servers from all around the globe.

If you have a VPN, you would be able to press a button, pretend to be in the UK, and access ESPN’s 7-day free trial.

When this trial ends, you’d be able to access an Australian server and sign up for a 7-day free trial with Kayo sports.

Finally, you can then access an American server and take advantage of Paramount Plus and fuboTV.

What to look for in your VPN

There are countless VPNs out there to choose from, some free and some premium. For streaming sports, there are some key features you should look for when it comes to your VPN.

• Speed – There is nothing worse than an unsynced stream. Hearing the buzzer go as your stream skips and your favorite players pulls up for a game-winning 3-pointer is every basketball fan’s nightmare. Your stream needs to be quick. That rules out a lot of free VPNs. Established companies have servers dedicated to streaming, these are perfect for streaming live sports in HD.
• Secure – Spoofing your way into the USA to sign up for a Paramount Plus subscription isn’t something you want to be publicizing. Your VPN should have a zero-log policy. This way, your browsing activities are regularly deleted, and you’re protected from any potential pitfalls. Your VPN should offer military-grade encryption, typically 256-bit AES, complete with DNS leak protection and a kill switch that prevents any of your data from being leaked.
• User-friendly – Using a VPN should be a piece of cake. Most VPNs you can simply download to your device, choose your server, and off you go. Most premium VPNs have dedicated support teams that can help you set up if you encounter problems.
• Effective – Many streaming sites are cottoning on to the use of VPNs. Look for a VPN that can offer different IP addresses across countries, if you’re VPN only offers one server in America, you may find it hard to access the NCAA tournament.
• Compatibility – Search for a VPN that can be installed on your tablet or phone so that you can stream live games on the go.

How to install your VPN

Best VPNs to watch March Madness

ExpressVPN

Our top pick!

• Always evades internet control in the PRC
• Keeps ahead of the Netflix VPN detection algorithm
• Benchmark tests show excellent speed

Check best price ExpressVPN Review

ExpressVPN is one of the most established options when it comes to paid VPNs. It has proven no-log policies that have been audited by PwC. It can be connected across 5 devices at once, offering unlimited bandwidth allowing you to download to your heart’s content.

ExpressVPN is plug-and-play and provides over 3000 servers across 94 different countries. ExpressVPN has a dedicated 24-hour live chat support team to answer any queries and walk you through installations.

Express VPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, and at the moment, if you subscribe and pay for 12 months upfront, they throw in an extra 3 months for free.

Surfshark

• Smart DNS service, understands the technology
• Comprehensive security add-on package.
• No data throughput limits and has a no-logs policy

Check best price Surfshark Review

Surfshark is a relatively new VPN with loads of added features. They have over 3200+ servers across 100 countries. In the USA alone, they have over 25 servers, these servers have a “Camouflage Mode,” which prevents them from being identified as a VPN. The huge range of servers in the USA makes Surfshark a shoe-in for NCAA coverage as your IP address can be rotated around the country.

If you pay for two years upfront Surfshack offer a big discount and free months, they are the best value for money VPN out there at the moment.

NordVPN

• More US city locations than its rivals
• Includes malware protection
• No-logs policy

Check best price NordVPN Review

NordVPN is a newer VPN than ExpressVPN and runs 5500+ servers across 59 countries. It is now well-established and has dedicated IPs all over the globe. As well as a VPN, it can block malware and ads. NordVPN can be installed on your browser if you prefer that option as opposed to installing it on your computer. It is compatible across a range of devices and can be used on six devices simultaneously.

If you subscribe to NordVPN, you have to select one of three tiers, standard, plus, and complete. The plus tier provides a password manager and a data breach scanner. The complete tier includes these as well as offering 1TB of encrypted cloud storage. Each subscription offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, and similar to ExpressVPN, if you pay for a year or two in advance, you get 3 months free.

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