March Madness: The Young and the Restless and What That Means For Your Favorite Soap

On The Young and the Restless, several key storylines are running, but they all take a two-day temporary break. What is March Madness, and how does it affect Y&R?

The Young and the Restless Goes Mad in March

March Madness is one of the most anticipated and watched sports events. It’s all about the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, which has been played since 1939. The NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament is a single-elimination tournament of 68 teams competing in seven national championship rounds. The penultimate round is known as the Final Four, when (yup, that's right!) only four teams are left. This results in our favorite soaps not being aired for two days, and this year, that’s Thursday, March 20th, and Friday, March 21st, 2025. It will affect The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, and the new groundbreaking CBS soap, Beyond the Gates.

The Suspense is Killing Me

During these two days when we won't be viewing our soaps, we will have to wait and see on several key things. Let's recap what is being put on hold until Monday, March 24th, 2025. First of all, Alan (Christopher Cousins), Alan, Alan. What a naughty boy you have been. I’m sure we are all placing our bets at home with partners and families on whether it will be revealed that, yes, it is indeed Alan or if it will come to pass that his evil twin brother Martin survived and is behind the recent kidnapping of Sharon (Sharon Case) and Phyllis (Michelle Stafford). Traci (Beth Maitland) is getting suspicious of Alan and his actions, and we will need to wait and see if she will fall victim to Alan/Martin or tell the right people, aka Chance (Connor Floyd), her thoughts.

Next on the list of paused storylines, Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) just told his trusty lawyer, Michael (Christian LeBlanc), that he has a history with the mystery man, Aristotle Dumas. This “history” they have could be someone who Victor has made an enemy of, and let's be honest, that must be a huge list by now. The effect Aristotle will have on the men and women of Genoa City is yet to be seen, but one can only hope that we get to know this person on screen, especially as we have been hearing about him since last year. These are the two main storylines that have me coming back for more on The Young and the Restless, and I’m just going to have to read recaps and scoops on the Soap Central website until our shows return after the weekend.

Are you watching the NCAA tournament? Who should I be watching? Let me know in the comments below.

Watch full episodes of The Young and the Restless weekdays on CBS or stream on Paramount Plus.