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Since 1939, the men’s NCAA Division I basketball tournament, or March Madness, has been held annually at the end of college basketball’s regular season. The single-elimination tournament is one of the most watched sporting events in the United States and generates a ton of betting action across the country.

Below you will find all the stats and info you need to gear up for college basketball’s highly anticipated postseason competition. 

Gonzaga Bulldogs

+500

Kentucky Wildcats

+850

Arizona Wildcats

+900

Auburn Tigers

+900

Purdue Boilermakers

+1050

Baylor Bears

+1200

Duke Blue Devils

+1200

Kansas Jayhawks

+1500

UCLA Bruins

+2200

Illinois Fighting Illini

+2300

When is the 2022 NCAA tournament?

March Madness will begin on Tuesday, March 15 at 4 p. m. ET, with the First Four—or play-in—stage of competition. The official first round, featuring 64 teams, will take place Thursday and Friday, March 17-18, before the round of 32 on Saturday and Sunday, March 19-20.

The Sweet 16 and Elite 8 occur the following weekend, March 24 through March 27. Caesars Superdome in New Orleans will host the Final Four, which includes the national semifinal championship game on the evening of Monday, April 4.

Who can make the NCAA tournament?

In order to qualify for March Madness, a Division I college basketball team must either win its conference tournament or receive an “at-large” bid from the NCAA tournament selection committee.

A total of 68 teams play in the tournament, with 32 of those teams earning an automatic bid by winning their conference tournament. The 36 remaining tournament bids are granted by the selection committee and are revealed on Selection Sunday.

The committee is also in charge of seeding and placing each team in one of four regions of the tournament bracket: the East, West, Midwest and South. Each region will be seeded 1-16.

The selection committee is currently comprised of eight athletic directors and two conference commissioners in Division I men’s and women’s athletics. Members serve a five-year term.

Duncan Robinson (22) of the Michigan Wolverines cuts down the net to celebrate the victory during the NCAA Division I Men's Championship Elite Eight round basketball game between the Florida State Seminoles and the Michigan Wolverines. (Photo by Chris Williams/Icon Sportswire)

How can I watch the NCAA tournament?

truTV and TBS will air the First Four, then split first- and second-round coverage with CBS, TBS, and TNT.  

TBS and CBS will televise the Sweet 16 and Elite, while the Final Four and NCAA National Championship Game can be found exclusively on CBS.

How long are March Madness games?

March Madness will follow the standard rules of a regular-season college basketball game, with two 20-minute halves. The overtime period is five minutes long and may be repeated as many times as necessary to determine a winner.

What is the Final Four?

The Elite Eight will decide the champion of each of the four regions in the NCAA tournament. The winner from the East, West, Midwest and South move on to the Final Four to play in the national semifinal games. 

The Final Four includes both the semifinal round and the championship game on Monday, April 5.

Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Shutterstock)

Where is the Final Four?

Caesars Superdome, home to the New Orleans Saints, will host the Final Four from April 2-4.

What time is the national championship game?

Tipoff of the national championship game is scheduled for 9 p. m. ET Eastern on Monday, April 4.

From 1964 to 1995, the UCLA Bruins accumulated 11 national championship titles, 10 of those under head coach John Wooden.

The University of Kentucky, a longtime elite program in college basketball, earned its first championship in 1948 and most recent in 2012. ACC schools North Carolina and Duke are neck-and-neck for titles, with six and five, respectively, and have each won one in the last five years.

The Indiana Hoosiers also rank high with five championships, but the school hasn't experienced the NCAA's ultimate glory since 1987, with head coach Bob Knight.

The University of Louisville hung championship banners in 1980 and 1986 with head coach Denny Crum, and again in 2013 with Rick Pitino. However, because of NCAA violations, the school had to vacate its 2013 championship and two Final Four appearances. Louisville is the only school in NCAA history to have a men's basketball championship vacated.

UCLA head coach John Wooden's record of 10 national championships may never be touched, but "Coach K" (Mike Krzyzewski) is hot on his track, with five. The Duke basketball coach's teams regularly rank in the AP Top 25 poll and are often considered one of the favorites in the NCAA tournament each year.

A statue of former Purdue Boilermaker player John Wooden is seen outside of Mackey Arena. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire)

Kentucky legend Adolph Rupp led the school to the Promised Land four times (1948, 1949, 1951 and 1958) during his tenure. There is a three-way tie for fourth-most wins, as UConn's Jim Calhoun, Indiana's Bob Knight, and Roy Williams each own three titles. Williams collected his trio of banners with North Carolina in 2005, 2009 and 2017. He also guided the Kansas Jayhawks to a national title game, where they fell to Syracuse in 2003.

Based on current conference membership, the ACC owns the most NCAA titles. North Carolina, Duke, North Carolina State, Louisville, Syracuse and Virginia have each claimed at least one national championship. The Cavaliers most recently won the tournament in 2019.

The Oregon Ducks of the Pac-12 triumphed in the first national championship game in 1939. Since then, the Pac-12 has earned 16 titles among Stanford, Utah, Cal, UCLA and Arizona. UCLA won seven in a row from 1967-1973, then again in 1975, the last season Wooden coached for the Bruins. Wooden also achieved back-to-back titles in 1964 and 1965.

When is Selection Sunday?

Selection Sunday will take place on Sunday, March 13 at 6 p.m. ET,  and will air on CBS.

How does seeding work?

The selection committee will offer 36 at-large bids to the NCAA tournament in addition to 32 automatic bids for those teams that won their conference tournament. 

The committee will look at record, strength of schedule and quality of wins and losses, among other factors, to rank the field of teams from 1 to 68. Theoretically, the top four teams will earn the No. 1 seeds, and the next four on the list will receive the No. 2 seeds, and so on.

The committee strives for balance in each of the East, West, Midwest and South regions. The overall No. 1 seed should play the weakest No. 2 seed, and that pattern should follow down the line from the No. 3 seeds to No. 16 seeds for each region. 

What is the First Four?  

In 2011, the NCAA expanded the men's tournament to 68 teams and added a "First Four" play-in stage that included eight teams. Those eight teams hold the four lowest-seeded automatic bids and four lowest-seeded at-large bids.

The four winners of the First Four games move on to the field of 64 to compete in the first round of the tournament.

From 1985 to 2001, the NCAA tournament followed a 64-team format, until the Mountain West Conference joined Division I. To accomodate an additional automatic bid, which bumped the field to 65, the NCAA created one play-in game before the opening round. Since the arrival of the First Four in 2011, the tournament has maintained the same 68-team format.

The University of Dayton Arena in Ohio is the annual host site of the First Four games.

How many rounds are in the NCAA tournament?

There are six rounds of the NCAA tournament, not including the First Four play-in round.

Sixty-four teams participate in the first round. From there, the field is narrowed down to 32 for the second round of competition.

The third round is referred to as the Sweet 16, or regional semifinal, and the fourth round is best known as the Elite Eight or regional final. 

The fifth round, or national semifinal, is part of the Final Four, as is the sixth round, the national championship game.

Where can I download a March Madness bracket?

You can fill our our official TwinSpires Sports downloadable March Madness bracket by clicking here.

It's been estimated that around 70 million brackets are filled out each year across the country for company or family pools and nationwide contests.

The odds of filling out a perfect bracket are about 1 in 120.6 billion—if you know something about basketball. If you filled out your bracket by flipping a coin or blindly guessing, your odds are much higher.

No one has filled out a perfect bracket—that we know of—in the history of the NCAA tournament.

NCAA Final Four Betting Trends

20 of the last 21 Final Four Champions Have Been East Coast Teams

The only team that could be considered following in this trend for this year’s Final Four is Virginia. With a state that does touch the East Coast, does the basketball world truly count Virginia as an East Coast team? Michigan State is from the Midwest, while Auburn is from the South and Texas Tech is a Southwest team, thus they would not come as close to fitting the mold. If the Cavaliers fit the narrative of East Coast, then the trend could very well continue to prove true.

Favorites Usually Dominate in Final Four Semifinals

If this trend holds, Michigan State will beat Texas Tech and Virginia will beat Auburn. I’ve got Texas Tech upsetting MSU and Auburn upsetting UVA. So, I’ve thrown out this trend!

Underdogs Have Performed Well in the Finals

UNC won as a favorite in 2017. Last year, Villanova won as the favorite. But, before those two chalked it up, Nova beat North Carolina as a dog in 2016, Duke upset Wisconsin as a slight dog in 2015, and Connecticut upset Kentucky as a major underdog in 2014.

Will any of the three trends listed above hold? Or, will Auburn and Texas Tech prove best? Get your popcorn ready and watch one of the greatest sports events in the U.S., the annual NCAA College Basketball Final Four!

NCAA Final Four Notable Games

1975 National Championship – UCLA 92, Kentucky 85

The great John Wooden won his final championship. It was the Wizard of Westwood’s 10th title.

1979 National Championship – Michigan State 75, Indiana State 64

Magic and Bird started one of the most important rivalries in NBA history while still in college.

1983 National Championship – NC State 54, Houston 52

NC State upset Phi Slamma Jamma with a last-second shot, handing Jimmy Valvano the NCAA Final Four trophy. Valvano would end up starting the Jimmy V. Foundation, one of the most important cancer research non-profit organizations in the world.

1985 National Championship – Villanova 66, Georgetown 64

Villanova beats Georgetown in one of the biggest upsets in Final Four history.

1991 National Championship – Duke 72, Kansas 65

Coach Mike Krzyzewski wins his first of five national championships by beating Roy Williams- coached Kansas. The Blue Devils upset heavily favored UNLV in the semifinals. Today, Williams coaches North Carolina, which means Coach K and Williams have continued the rivalry that started in 1991.

2022 College Basketball Championship Regions and Dates

• Regions: South, East, West, Midwest
• Inaugural Game: March 17, 1939
• Current Number of Teams Participating: 68
• 2022 NCAA National Championship Location: Caesars Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
• 2022 NCAA National Championship Date: Monday, April 4, 2022

Behind the Scenes: How the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee Really Works | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

B/R

INDIANAPOLIS — How much do you know about how the NCAA tournament field comes together?

You know how to fill out a bracket. You might even know how to build a projected bracket. But do you really know what goes into the NCAA selection committee choosing 68 of the 351 Division I basketball teams?

Recently, some of us got a much better idea.

March Madness Media Coordinator David Worlock hosted select media types for a mock selection committee at NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis in early February.

That might sound like March Madness fantasy camp, but we were given extensive access to Worlock—who's been in the room and knows how the sausage is made—along with Selection Committee Chairman Scott Barnes and other committee members and tournament executives. 

The event was run exactly as the real committee is run, with step-by-step guidance from those who are in the room while the real committee makes its decisions, and it offered some real insights into what goes into those decisions.

For instance, do you assume that the decision on what teams will be the "Last Four In" is excruciating? Nope. Turns out, the decision-making process doesn't change at all at that stage. No extra debate over two or three teams for the final spot, just the exact same method right down to the bitter end: pick eight, rank eight, elect four.

But that's getting ahead of things. From the beginning, here's what I learned about the selection process:

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

• To set the scene, the committee meets in a conference room at the nearby Conrad Hilton, and there are no TVs in the room—so it's not like the members are watching conference tournament games throughout the process. There are seven or eight TVs in the lounge, and committee members take regular breaks there. They also always go out to an Italian restaurant called Iaria's on the Wednesday before Selection Sunday, and they always have an ice cream sundae bar "on tap" throughout the week.

• "Lockdown"—as the selection committee affectionately refers to its time together leading up to Selection Sunday—begins on Wednesday morning of Championship Week. There are 10 committee members. Each committee member submits a ballot of the teams he or she believes should be in the field as at-large bids, as well as teams that deserve to be under consideration. Teams that get eight or more votes are placed into the field to be seeded later, and remaining teams that receive at least three votes go to the "under consideration" board.

• From there, here's the selection process for the rest of the teams: Each committee member selects eight teams from the "under consideration" board, in no particular order. The eight teams with the most votes are then ranked from top to bottom by each committee member. The top four vote-getters are moved into the field, while the other four are placed in holding while the committee goes back to the "under consideration" board to vote for what it feels are the eight best teams on the list. The top four from that round of voting join the four that were in holding, and then it ranks from top to bottom again.

• Then the committee does it again. And again. And again. And again. It's like Groundhog Day on steroids. There are more than 100 formal voting rounds—and plenty of informal ones during the "scrubbing process" (more on that shortly). Seeding the field is the same idea, except the top four vote-getters are placed into the field in order of votes received.

• Worlock said there has been no formal discussion of expanding the field since 2010. You can imagine why.

• Before, during and after these 100-plus votes is when all the debating and analyzing takes place. And, yes, there are frequent tiebreaking votes. The primary responsibility of the committee chair—this year, it's Barnes, athletic director of Utah State—is to control the pace of the discussions and to be the committee's face for interviews. His votes don't count for two points or anything like that.

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

• At multiple times during the week—partially to account for results of conference tournaments and partially just for quality assurance—the committee goes through a "scrubbing process. " This consists of starting at the very top of the list and comparing No. 1 overall to No. 2 overall to decide if they should be swapped. Then it's on to No. 2 vs. No. 3, and so on down the line. If six of the 10 committee members vote for a swap, it happens, and then the newly higher-seeded team is immediately compared to the team now above it to determine if it should climb any higher.

• So how does the committee decide which teams are better? I asked various committee members in attendance and NCAA executives who have been in the room in the past and came up with a few consensus answers. To start, according to one NCAA executive, past seasons have zero impact. You might be hesitant to pick Gonzaga or Wichita State because of how they fared as No. 1 seeds in recent tournaments, but all the committee cares about is evaluating teams on games played this season.

• According to Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione, in the eyes of most committee members, who you beat is more important than who beat you. There's no cut-and-dried formula for how many bad losses can be canceled out by a great win, but it certainly sounds like a resume with two great wins and four bad losses is better than one with no great wins and no bad losses.

Jin Lee/Associated Press

• Another executive said computer numbers—especially RPI (rating percentage index)—are nothing short of critical, but the eye test is just as big of a factor, which is something the committee has claimed for years. Each committee member watches hundreds of games each season.

• While some computer numbers take scoring margin into account, it's apparently otherwise not overtly discussed by the selection committee. In the argument over BYU as a bubble team, I noted that the Cougars had not been beaten by more than seven points in the entire season and that several of their losses were decided in overtime. One of the NCAA folks immediately interjected, "What you just said would never actually be discussed. "

• Likewise, they said, a conference's overall RPI would never be brought up, nor would where teams finished in their conference standings. Conference record doesn't even appear on the "nitty-gritty sheets" (similarly formatted to ESPN's) that committee members use for overviews of teams. So any time you hear someone talking about a team needing to get to .500 in Big 12 play or needing 12 Big Ten wins to get in, feel free to ignore it.

• The moniker committee members use for teams whose "nitty-gritty sheets" lean too far right (filled with games against teams ranked outside the Top 150 in RPI), according to Worlock: "Romney Resume."

• The results of major conference tournaments—particularly the championship games played on Selection Sunday—also aren't nearly as drastic as many want to believe. Worlock said that even if Kentucky had beaten Florida (the No. 1 overall seed) in last year's SEC Championship Game, the Wildcats were still going to be the No. 8 seed in the Midwest Region.

USA TODAY Sports

• Then there are the games teams would like ignored. Sorry, Tulsa, but no luck. The Golden Hurricane's loss to D-II Southeastern Oklahoma State is not factored into their RPI or SOS (strength of schedule) numbers, but Worlock said, "It wasn't an exhibition, so it counts. The committee is certainly aware that it took place." In addition to that game's impact on Tulsa's resume, several committee members expressed the sentiment that scheduling D-II opponents—particularly more than one in a given season—does not look good for a team's intent to schedule quality opponents, and that losing one of those games is just a terrible idea. 

• According to Director of the Men's Basketball Championship L.J. Wright, there is a program in place to combat gamesmanship among committee members. At the time of the mock selection committee, Gonzaga vs. Wisconsin for the final No. 1 seed was a hot debate. If I really wanted Gonzaga as that fourth No. 1 seed and decided to put the Bulldogs at No. 1 overall and Wisconsin at the bottom of my ballot, it would send up all sorts of red flags.

• Committee members aren't coming in without preconceived notions. According to Worlock, on a weekly basis throughout the season, a plethora of ratings lists (RPI, BPI, Sagarin, KenPom, etc.) are sent out to the committee members. Requests by media members to be added to this mailing list were sadly declined.

• In addition to that weekly data, one coach from each conference submits a "Coaches Advisory Poll" on the first of each month, ranking the teams in his conference. It was mentioned that many coaches probably delegate the task to an assistant, but that Memphis' Josh Pastner takes this responsibility very seriously.

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

• Worlock mentioned that he monitors the Bracket Matrix throughout the week, but no need to fear that any Joe Schmo with a WordPress account might be impacting what the committee does. "It serves as a checks and balances," Worlock said via email. "I don't spend time looking at the individual brackets, but if a team is projecting as a 2 seed on the matrix and the committee has them as a 4, I'd talk about it with Dan Gavitt [VP of men's basketball championships]. The discussion might end there, but it could be something that Dan brings to the chair."

• He also uses the matrix, he said, "to try and anticipate what questions we will get from the media."

• Worlock said the committee is open to the idea of releasing in-season updates, similar to what the College Football Playoff committee did this past season. It probably wouldn't release full projections of the field, but it would consider something like what the women's selection committee did this February—announcing the four No. 1 seeds as well as the 16 next-best teams in no particular order.

• Each committee member is responsible for monitoring three to four specific conferences and becoming the subject-matter expert for debates involving those teams. For example, I acted as Stanford's Bernard Muir in the mock selection process and was responsible for monitoring the WCC, MAAC and Southland.

Lauren Victoria Burke/Associated Press

• Athletic directors are required to leave the room when their team is being discussed, and conference executives when any team from their conference is being discussed. They can't vote if their team or teams are on a ballot and can "only answer factual questions about their team," Worlock said. "When 24 or fewer teams are in the pool of teams from which we are selecting or seeding, and one of the teams is represented by a committee member, that person is not allowed to participate in that vote. And again, if the team comes up for discussion, they must leave the room."

• As an example of how that rule works, in representing Muir—whose Stanford team was one of the last four teams into our field in mid-February—I was unable to vote in anything other than tiebreakers for several hours, and I was not alone. With committee representation from BYU, LSU, Michigan State and Conference USA, there was one round of voting near the end in which only five of the 10 committee members were allowed to vote. In most seasons, this rule might seem necessary for avoiding questions of partiality. But this year it might mean as few as five people are deciding those important "Last Four In" decisions.

• The actual bracketing of the field usually doesn't begin until Sunday afternoon. There are sub-committees of three or four members for the first quadrant (top 16 teams), fourth quadrant (bottom 18 teams) and "First Four" who determine if there should be a debate for the full committee in regard to potentially swapping two teams in their respective section of the bracket.

• Geography is the supreme ruler during bracketing. Senior Web Developer Colin Chappell has designed a program (that I would pay good money for) that notes exactly how many miles a team would need to travel to reach the various options for regional and sub-regional locations. In addition to miles, there is a lot of discussion about how many time zones a team would need to travel. The top 16 teams are placed by region and then by sub-region.

• Where in previous years there was an "S-curve," in which (if possible) the top No. 2 seed was matched up against the bottom No. 1 seed, teams are now kept as close to home as possible while still remaining on their true seed line. So even if Wisconsin is the top No. 2 seed, get ready to see the Badgers in the Midwest Region opposite Kentucky. Cleveland would be the preferred regional location for each. 

Tom Pennington/Getty Images

• That seems like a good time for a geographical interlude: Did you know the University of Arizona is closer to Omaha than it is to Portland by more than 100 miles? This was the most gasp-worthy revelation of the week for those in the room.

• By the time we were building the bracket, there was very little debating and a lot of simply watching the pieces come together like a jigsaw puzzle. There's no room for conspiracies and creating "juicy" pairings (i.e. Kentucky and Louisville meeting in the Sweet 16 last season), no matter what the conspiracy theorists say. Asked the most surprising thing he learned from the experience, Will Haskett of the Horizon League Network said, "When it comes to placing the teams in the actual bracket, there is absolutely no way for the committee to create those conspiracies. There is no such thing as an orchestrated matchup."

Kerry Miller covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @kerrancejames.

In this article we will give our point of view on the question that many parents who want to send their children to study and play sports in the USA ask:

" Where is it better for an athlete to go to a university in America, after graduating from school in Russia / in his own country, or is it better to go to school in America for at least 1-2 years and go to university after graduating from an American school? The center of the Russian team - Sasha Kaun as part of Kansas University (left) and Florida Air Academy (right, school team in the USA). We will try to consider this issue in detail and give our point of view on it.

(the article will be in 2 parts, because there is a lot of information).

Are you interested that your child, who goes in for this or that sport, enters a university in America, where he can play his sport at the highest level, fully combining sports with getting a quality education Unfortunately, in Russia it is impossible to combine sports and study (at least at the university level), because with us you either study or go in for sports, it is impossible to combine both. And the level of sports, as well as the level of education in our country in recent years, leaves much to be desired. Take any lists of the Top 100 best universities in the world - at least 70% of the list will be American universities, from Russian universities, God forbid, you can see Moscow State University, Baumanka or HSE (and then at the end of the rankings).

It's no secret that American university education is considered one of the most prestigious in the world, and ordinary students pay an average of $40,000-60,000 a year to study at American universities.

Many parents of athletes know that universities in the US can provide athletic scholarships, ie. provide partial or full funding to athletes for the duration of their studies at the university, in return for the fact that the athlete will represent the university team in a particular sport.

That is why the parents of many athletes dream that their children go to universities in the USA, because this is an opportunity to receive a high-class education for free (or with a large amount of funding), fully combining study with sports.

Where is it better for an athlete to try to enter a university in America, directly from Russia/his country after graduation, or first go to school in America for some time and enter a university after graduating from an American school?

We believe that it is much more expedient for an athlete to first unlearn at least 1 year at school in America, and then go to university. Let's explain why and give arguments in support of our point of view: - The level of sports in schools and universities in America.

The most popular collegiate sports in the USA (basketball, hockey, tennis, volleyball, football) are at a very high level and the teams are future professionals. Accordingly, in order to receive a full scholarship to a college or university in the United States, an athlete must perform at a really high level.

Euroleague Under 18 Video Stella Azzurra (Italy) - Cedevita (Croatia) Athletes from abroad who do not compete at the high school level in the US will only be judged by university coaches by their videos. A coach carries far more risks when he takes a person from abroad on video than a player he can see live at an American high school competition.

In schools in the US, the level of sports is slightly lower compared to the student level and, accordingly, it will be easier for foreigners to adapt in terms of sports. Also, the requirements for an athlete to receive a sports scholarship to school will be lower than for an athlete entering a university. A foreign athlete who will compete at the school level in the United States has the opportunity to light up live in front of university coaches. In addition, the athlete will develop in a much more competitive sports environment than in his own country, with high-level coaches, which will allow him to come to university more prepared in sports terms by the time he graduates from school.

An example of a basketball player from Russia who first spent 2 years at the school level in the US and then entered a prestigious university is Mark Tikhonenko.

Mark Tikhonenko (b. 1998, 206cm), son of Valery Tikhonenko, Olympic Champion in the USSR national team, is spending his 2nd year at the school level in the USA at Hamilton Heights School in Tennessee. At the beginning of the current academic year, Mark accepted an offer for a full sports scholarship from Arkansas State University and from next year he will play in the 1st division of the NCAA. A very important difference between studying in an American school is that in America they usually finish school at 18-19years. This is due to the fact that children go to the first grade later, and also study in their schools for twelve years. For this reason, for those who graduate from a Russian school at the age of 16-17, it would be more expedient to enter the senior classes of an American school for one or two years.

It will be very difficult for athletes from Russia, immediately after leaving school at 16-17 years old, to adapt to the level of training of American athletes in college / university, who are stronger and older. Because of this, it will be difficult to get enough playing time, as well as financial support (scholarship) from the educational institution. At school, there will be more game practice, which means that there is a high probability that the athlete will be noticed by coaches from good colleges / universities. In the second part of the article, we will highlight the rest of the nuances and arguments in favor of going to school in America to prepare for entering the university NCAA leagues. ________________________________________________________________________________________

Author: Alexander Skryagin If you have any questions about sports and study in the USA or you are interested in the possibility of entering schools, colleges or universities in the USA, you can contact me in the following ways:

My blog, where you can find out more information about sports in the US and Europe, as well as about players from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other CIS countries playing abroad: vk.com/public77518496

You can contact me personally on Vkontakte or by email: VK: vk.com/alexskryaginFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/skryagin.sasha

Email : alex.skryagin.rus@ gmail.com

Everything you need to know about March Madness - sportsiView - Blogs

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In the United States, playoffs, tournaments, and title games often go beyond a simple sporting event and form a cult following around them.

Since the Super Bowl, the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, or "March Madness" or "The Big Dance", is the most anticipated sporting event of the year. Of course, other sports (baseball) and leagues (NBA) can argue with this opinion, but it is shared by many, and in this article I argue this position.

The ABC of Madness

I'll start with the ABC of Madness. I think it makes sense to immediately deal with the terminology in order to create equal conditions for all readers. If you are following this tournament for the first time or have not really figured out how the tournament works yet, this article and especially this section is especially for you. If you know everything and are interested in the details of this year's tournament, feel free to skip this section and go to the part of the text that interests you.

Let's start!

The NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament is a tournament for the best men's college basketball teams in Division I. There are similar tournaments for the second and third divisions and women's college basketball.

"March Madness" is the tournament's most famous nickname, which refers to the huge number of games that were played over two weeks, a bunch of upsets and the sincere emotions of the players for whom this tournament is the best chance to show themselves and continue their careers, while for others this is the last chance to play their favorite game before the start of “adulthood”.

The Big Dance is another well-known nickname for the tournament.

Upset is a phenomenon that occurs in any competition, most often in sports or politics. Upset is the outcome of the competition when the underdog (outsider) wins the fight against the favorite.

"Underdog" (eng. "Underdog") - an outsider.

"Bracket" - the approved schedule of tournament games. The grid does not change after each round, there are no further draws or “re-seeding” of teams.

"Regionals" - the general tournament can be divided into regional tournaments that are played in different regions of the United States: East, West, South and Midwest.

"Seeding" - rating of teams in the tournament. Seeding takes place in such a way that the favorites do not run into each other at the beginning of the tournament. Each team gets into one of 16 pots (1 best, 16 worst).

"Bracketology" is the "science" of correctly predicting the results of a tournament when the bracket is filled.

"Bracket buster" is a big upset that destroys the grid of most fans.

"Cinderella" (eng. "Cinderella") - an underdog who gets to the quarterfinals or beyond. Every tournament usually has at least one.

"Selection Sunday" - a special commission announces 68 teams that will enter the bracket. Eight of them will play the preliminary games ("First Four"), and the four winners will advance to the main tournament, which includes 64 teams. The first four is the official start of the tournament. Matches are played on Wednesday, the day before the start of the main part of the tournament.

“Selection Committee” is the name of a special commission that selects 68 teams that will enter the draw.

"Automatic bid" - there are 32 conferences in the first division of college basketball, each of the winners of the conference tournament is provided with an automatic invitation to the main tournament.

"At-large bid" - 36 teams that are not champions of their conferences and receive a personal invitation from the tournament's election committee to play in it. These are the top 36 teams, in addition to those who received an automatic invitation.

"Bubble teams" are teams that are on the verge of entering the tournament and their fate depends on the decision of the electoral committee whether to grant them a general invitation or not.

"Sweet 16" (eng. "Sweet Sixteen") - round 1/8 Madness.

"Magnificent (elite) eight" (eng. "Elite 8") - Madness quarter-finals. I suggest the “magnificent eight” option, which sounds more natural for a Russian-speaking person.

"Final Four" - Madness semi-finals.

"Cut down the nets" is a tradition where the team that wins the tournament cuts the nets from the ring as a souvenir. The tradition began in 1947. After winning the Southern Conference tournament, NC State coach "Wolfpack" asked the students to lift him onto their shoulders to cut the net off the hoop as a memento. Since then, the teams that win the tournament repeat his act and cut the grid.

Big Six Conference Championships

In college basketball, there is the concept of a conference-member of the "Big Six" (eng. "Power 6"). These are the most powerful and most successful conferences in college basketball.

Members:

BIG 10

BIG 12

ACC

SEC

PAC

Big East

Big East usually from one of the first two conferences. And the vast majority of the teams that receive general invitations are also from one of the Six conferences.

How did the tournament become what it is

Why is the tournament so popular?

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“Americans are incredibly loyal to their colleges and universities. It does not matter whether a person just entered the university or graduated 30 years ago, he is, without any doubt, an avid fan of his university team, considers it the best and the only one that deserves the championship title.

This is an exciting competition. Compared to the professional championship, college basketball has fewer playoff matches, a sharper fight, and the final tournament is much faster. Even if their favorite teams don't make it to the finals, Americans still watch every game. Why? It's simple: unlike professional athletes, students do not play for money, but defend the honor of their schools and just love basketball. ”[1]

A perfect explanation of the reasons for the popularity of the tournament. I will add a couple of nuances and explanations from myself.

“Why? It's simple: unlike professional athletes, students don't play for money, but defend the honor of their educational institutions and just love basketball." In addition, for many, this tournament is the only chance for talented guys from less prestigious teams or the conference to prove themselves in the run-up to the NBA draft. Therefore, "Madness", in function, in many respects reminds me of the Youth Ice Hockey World Championship (MChM). The best example of this phenomenon is Kenneth Farid of the Morehead State who are speaking at the Ohio Valley Conference.

The tournament is also of great importance for those players for whom a career in big-time sports will not go beyond the student level. The vast majority of NCAA boys and girls don't go pro. For many athletes, this is the last chance to play the real game before they become accountants, analysts or insurers and continue to play sports in amateur leagues.

Equally important are the fans' regional preferences. In many regions of the United States, there are no professional teams, and local residents become attached to local student teams. It is noteworthy that some of these fans do not even have higher education. For example, the Alabama and Auburn college football teams are hugely popular in a state where there are no professional teams, and American football is the most popular sport by a wide margin. The opposite is true of the limited interest in college sports in big cities like New York.

NIT vs. The Madness

Many people will be surprised to learn that the Madness hasn't always been the premier college basketball tournament. In the middle of the last century, the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) was much more prestigious than the NCAA tournament. For those who are more or less familiar with college basketball, yes, this is the same NIT that now has a reputation as a repechage tournament. In the 1950s, the NCAA basketball tournament began to gain prestige after the NCAA began requiring conference champions to play in their own tournament.

NCAA vs. NBA

College basketball (in the US) is considered by many to be more popular than the NBA due to the reasons given earlier. This is confirmed by television ratings.

I personally prefer college basketball to professional basketball. Yes, there are problems at the student level: bribes to players, players play for one season - a tactic that has been called “one and done” (one [season] and tied up), and others.

But even if these problems are taken into account, the quality of the rivalry (mind you, not the class of the game) between the student and professional game is heaven and earth.

The last NBA game I watched was Game 7 of the Cavaliers and Warriors that I mentioned earlier. Follow the NBA regular season? No need, thanks. I'd rather paint the wall and watch it dry. Defense has long been forgotten in the NBA. Although it is the fault of the players, if the wrong look at the opponent is already a foul. Team game? What can be a team game in the era of "ISO" (an attack when a player one-on-one tries to beat another player). And to whom did this basketball surrender strongly? LeBron decided that his future career in show business was more important, and for the younger generation, “likes” were more important than titles. Even the stars in college basketball have to work hard to collect likes to get into the NBA first.

Grid (Gridology)

How is a grid constructed?

In addition to the 32 teams that receive an automatic invitation, the electoral committee must identify 36 teams that are worthy of a general invitation. Then you need to seed each of the teams in one of 16 pots, where the first is the best, and the sixteenth is the worst. And in the end, all these teams must be distributed among the regions in such a way that each of the regional grids is competitive.

Upsets

Perhaps the most interesting part of Madness is the upsets. The best example is last year's Virginia Cavaliers upset by the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. This was the first time in tournament history that a pot 16 team beat a pot 1 team in the first round. Every year a Cinderella appears, which not only kills the overwhelming majority of the fans' bracket, but also progresses quite far in the tournament. The most notable examples are the Butler Bulldogs and the Virginia Rams Commonwealth University.

Big money

Madness is not only big sport, but also big money.

Baracketology

It is worth noting that former US President Barack Obama is a big fan of the tournament and during his two terms as the country's commander in chief, the "presidential bracket" has become a tradition.

Current year

This is how the current year grid looks like.

Who to follow?

I want to immediately thank Alexander Gorokhov, the founder of the blog Dilettante's Notes. He made a gorgeous list, to which I added my players and my comments. Upvote it and subscribe.

Jarrett Kalver ( “ Texas Teha ” , attacking defender, STRUCTION)

Statistics of the season: 18.5 points, 6.3 selection, 3.6 programs, 1 .3 3PTM, 1.3 steals

Suggested draft range: The first five

The best potential franchise: “ HOX Atlanta ”