The SAP Center is about to become the epicenter of college basketball chaos. San Jose is hosting the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament’s West Regional, and honestly, the energy is going to be absolutely electric.

If you’ve been following the tournament at all, you know how insane March Madness gets. Millions of people across the country fill out brackets every year, trying to predict all 63 games, and spoiler alert: nobody’s ever gotten a perfect one. It’s pretty wild when you think about it. But that’s part of what makes this tournament so special, anything can happen, and that unpredictability is exactly what’s going to make having these games in our own backyard so thrilling.

Here’s what’s going down: Thursday night, the action kicks off at 4:10 p.m. with the No. 11 Texas Longhorns taking on the second-seeded Purdue Boilermakers. If you can make it to that game, you’re going to witness some serious competition. Then at 6:45 p.m., the No. 4 Arkansas Razorbacks will face off against the top-seeded Arizona Wildcats. These aren’t your casual tournament games, these are the matchups that determine who moves forward and who goes home.

The winners of Thursday’s two Sweet 16 games will advance to the Elite Eight on Saturday, battling it out for a chance to make it to the Final Four in Indianapolis the following weekend. That’s right, someone in San Jose is literally going to punch their ticket to the final stage of the entire tournament. The pressure is going to be real, and the basketball is going to be unreal.

What makes this even more exciting for those of us in the Bay Area is that we don’t always get to host these kinds of high-stakes tournament games. This is a major deal. The SAP Center has hosted plenty of big events, but hosting the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight brings a level of prestige and excitement that’s hard to match. Whether you’re a die-hard college basketball fan or just someone who enjoys the chaos of March Madness, having these games locally is a gift.

If you’re thinking about going, you’re probably wondering about tickets and all that. Details like exact tip-off time for Saturday’s Elite Eight game haven’t been announced yet, so keep your eyes peeled for updates. But the important thing is to mark your calendar and start planning now, because these games are going to sell out fast.

The fact that we get to witness tournament basketball at this level right here in San Jose is something special. This is the kind of event that brings communities together and reminds us why we love sports in the first place.