Fans of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament face a new challenge this year: finding the games on TV.

The entirety of March Madness was supposed to be carried by CBS, which has telecast every tournament game since 1990 and is in the first year of a $6 billion, 11-year pact with the NCAA.

But Thursday afternoon, the games were moved to ESPN, the shift to cable made necessary to clear the way for CBS’ nonstop coverage of the early stages of the war in Iraq.

Then Thursday night, they were back on CBS, subject to break-ins for war news.

Where the games will wind up today, during the weekend, or next week remains to be determined. Their whereabouts likely will be the result of last-minute decisions based on the news from the front lines.

The odd circumstances — a CBS production being seen on ESPN — produced its share of absurdities. On the screen all day were the familiar CBS basketball graphics. There, too, was the ESPN logo and ESPN’s constant scroll of sports news and scores across the bottom of the screen.

At various times throughout the day, the scroll bore the message: “Tune to ABC News for continuing coverage of the war with Iraq.”

Of course, the only reason the tournament was on ESPN was because CBS News was providing war coverage. But the Disney Co., which owns both ESPN and ABC, seized the moment to promote its interests.

ESPN says it can, if asked, handle all 16 games today and tonight via ESPN and ESPN2. But thereafter, things gets messy. The sports network doesn’t have room for the games Saturday and Sunday.

Where is this all headed? Stay tuned.