March Madness is here.  I’ve filled out my bracket.  I’m ready to embrace hours of college basketball over the course of the next two and a half weeks.  This year, anyone can get their basketball fix from anywhere with an internet connect.

All you’ve got to do is head to the NCAA’s website for March Madness on Demand.  (When running Firefox, I had to install Silverlight 2.)  You’ll have to endure a quick commercial before connecting to the game but once it’s over the quality is amazing.

March Madness On Demand, select which game you want to watch.

You can choose between four different stream qualities.  There’s Fair, Good, Better and Best to choose from depending on your connection speed.  If you have a high-speed connection, you should be able to run in Best quality.  There are also audio-only streams available, if you have a connection that can’t handle the video.

Every game will be streamed live as it’s being played. Plus the games aren’t the only thing available.  You want check something from the selection show?  It’s available.  There’s a section for people to check out “What’s Hot.”  Basically, it’s a section to see what’s most watched, including the live games, and “historical highlights” in games from years past.

As you can see, the quality is pretty amazing on the game.

There’s also a Comcast-sponsored “Boss” button, for those of you watching at work.  Click “Boss” and it throws up an Excel-looking document that is basically an advertisement for the March Madness services available from Comcast.  I think it’s a clever twist on previous “Boss” buttons, definitely a way from them to make a quick buck while saving people from scorn.  This is a live stream though, so while you’re on the excel screen, the game continues.  Click the excel screen to go back to the game.

This is one of the best options for internet watching of live events that’s ever been offered.  It’s a leaps and bounds improvement over last year’s offering, and it seems CBS really took cues from how NBC handled the Olympics coverage online.  Make it easy to use.

Watching on the HTPC is great, with only one exception. There's no true full screen mode.

Is your boss coming? A quick click throws up an inventive advertisement from Comcast.

Watching it on a Home Theater PC truly takes the viewing to the next level.  If you have the bandwidth, you can stream every game that’s available all at the best quality.  When I turned it on this afternoon, I had three games going simultaneously for free.  Now, that’s just awesome.  I didn’t have to have Direct TV to have every game at my disposal, I just needed a fast enough connection.

I take issue with just one thing, there’s no true “full screen” mode. When I’m watching a game maximized, there’s still a bar atop the screen and it chops a could 4-5 inches diagonally off the screen.

I’ve got Michigan State pulling a stunner and winning it all thanks to some “home field” advantage in the Final Four.  It helps that I’m a Spartan and am cheering for them in the first place.

So when will you be watching?  Who will you be cheering for?  Who’s in your Final Four? Post it in the comments or shoot me an email at matt(dot)schuler(at)woodtv(dot)com.   For shorter, quicker updates checkout my twitter twitter.com/mattschuler.