The second round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament kicks off Thursday in the South, featuring eight teams who are all aiming to become this year's college national basketball champions.

The Ohio State Buckeyes and the Dayton Flyers kick off Thursday's March Madness festivities as they collide at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, N.Y.

The sixth-seeded Buckeyes will look to bounce back from a disappointing performance in the Big Ten Tournament, losing to the Michigan Wolverines in the semifinals.

Ohio State will lean on their veterans, who have a combined 53 games of tournament experience. The Buckeyes reached the third round in each of their last three NCAA Tournament stints, posting a 9-3 record.

The third-seeded Syracuse Orangemen will also start their campaign on Thursday against the 14th-seeded Western Michigan Broncos, the 2014 Mid-American Conference champions.

The Orangemen had a remarkable start this season, winning in their first 25 games, but went on a downward spiral recently. Syracuse had a disappointing debut in the ACC tournament, losing to the North Carolina State Wolfpack in the quarterfinals.

The winner of the Ohio State-Dayton showdown will face the winner of the Syracuse-Western Michigan matchup in the third round of the tournament.

Meanwhile, No.1-seeded tournament favorites the Florida Gators will look to avoid an upset when they face the 16th-seeded Albany Great Danes at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla.

The Gators, who went 18-0 in the Southeastern Conference and are currently on a 26-game winning streak, are favored to win against Albany, who are coming off a 71-64 win over the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers in their First Four game on Tuesday.

But while Florida is favored to beat Albany, Florida's senior guard Scottie Wilbekin reiterated that there is no room for complacency for them.

"Coach D does a good job reminding us that no matter what the rankings are every year, there are upsets," Florida head coach Scottie Wilbekin said in an interview via ESPN. "So it really doesn't matter once the ball goes up. Anything can happen. Anybody can beat anybody, so we've got to be on our toes."

The eight-seeded Colorado Buffaloes and nthe inth-seeded Pittsburgh Panthers will also collide for the right to face the winner of the Gators-Great Danes showdown in the third round.

Here is the complete schedule of today's South Region matches:

Schedule

Dayton Flyers (11) vs. Ohio State Buckeyes (6)

Time: 12:15 p.m. EST

TV Channel: CBS

Live Stream: March Madness Live

Pittsburgh Panthers (9) vs. Colorado Buffaloes (8)

Time: 1:40 p.m. EST

TV Channel: TBS

Live Stream: March Madness Live

Western Michigan Broncos (14) vs. Syracuse Orange (6)

Time: 2:45 p.m. EST

TV Channel: CBS

Live Stream: March Madness Live

Albany Great Danes (16) vs. Florida Gators (1)

Time: 4:10 p.m. EST

TV Channel: TBS

Live Stream: March Madness Live 

Scores

For live, up-to-the-minute scores from the games, visit the official NCAA website here.

Brackets

For the official interactive brackets, click here.