NCAA Basketball Tournament - Ultimate Guide to March Madness
2024 NCAA Tournament Schedule
Selection Sunday – March 17
First Four – March 19-20
Full Tournament Begins- March 21-22
Final Four – April 6
Championship Game – April 8
About the Tournament
The Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament, also known as March Madness, is the premier event in college basketball. It’s an annual single-elimination tournament featuring 68 Division I college basketball teams from across the United States. Currently, there are 357 Division I schools in the country, and only those that win their conference championship or receive an at-large bid based on their regular season performance qualify for the tournament.
Since its inception in 1939, March Madness has grown into one of the most highly anticipated and widely watched sporting events in the United States. Each year, millions of fans eagerly tune in to watch the intense and unpredictable games as teams compete for the coveted national championship title.
How the Tournament Works
The tournament is played in a single-elimination format, which means that if a team wins, they move to the next round, and if they lose, they are out. Here’s how it works:
Number of Teams
The tournament features 68 teams, which are divided into four regions of 16 teams each, plus four play-in games between the lowest-ranked automatic bid teams and the lowest-ranked at-large bid teams. Once the play-in games are decided, the 64 remaining teams start the first round.
Tournament Format
The Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament uses a bracket-style format, with teams seeded based on their regular season performance and placed in each region accordingly. The highest-ranked team in each region is the #1 seed, while the remaining teams are seeded #2 through #16.
To advance to the next round, teams must win each game. The winner moves on and the loser is eliminated. This format creates a high-pressure environment for the players, coaches, and fans, and adds to the excitement of the tournament.
How Teams are Selected
Teams are selected through a combination of automatic bids and at-large bids:
- Automatic Bids: These bids are given to the conference champions of each of the 32 Division I conferences.
- At-Large Bids: The remaining 36 spots are filled by at-large teams selected by the NCAA selection committee.
Selection Sunday is the day when the tournament bracket and team selections are announced. Teams, coaches, and fans eagerly await the announcement to see if their team made the tournament and who they will be playing. The committee responsible for selecting and seeding the teams considers each team’s regular season and conference tournament performance. When deciding on which teams will receive an at-large bid, the committee considers a variety of factors, including a team’s overall record, strength of schedule, and “quality wins”.
First Four (Play-in Games)
The tournament features four “play-in” games made up of 8 teams. The games are between the 4 lowest-ranked at-large teams (who play each other) and the 4 lowest-ranked automatic qualifiers (who play each other). These games are played to determine the final four teams to make it into the tournament. This part of the tournament is often referred to as the “First Four” and takes place before the round of 64 begins. The winners of the play-in games move on to play the higher-seeded teams in the first round.
Tournament Seedings
Each team in the tournament is placed in one of the 4 regions and then seeded (ranked) from #1 to #16 in by the selection committee. Teams are then matched up against an opponent in their region based on their seeding. The #1 seed plays the #16 seed, the #2 seed plays the #15 seed, and so on.
Tournament Game Locations
The NCAA tournament games are played at various locations across the United States, with the first and second rounds held in several regional cities. Typically, 16 regional cities host the first and second round games, with four teams playing in each location. The winning teams from these games advance to the next round, with the third and fourth rounds held in four cities selected as regional hosts. The winners of the fourth round advance to the Final Four, which is held in a predetermined city.
- First Round (Round of 64): This round takes place over the course of two days and features 32 games.
- Second Round (Round of 32): This round is held over two more days and features 16 games.
- Third (Sweet Sixteen) and Fourth (Elite Eight) Rounds: These rounds are held over two more days and feature 8 games each.
Final Four Weekend
The four teams remaining advance to the “Final Four“. This segment of the tournament features the four remaining teams playing in two semifinal games on Saturday, with the winners moving on to the championship game on Monday night. The Final Four games are typically held in a domed football stadium in order to hold larger crowds.
The championship game is a popular spectacle, with nearly 20 million fans watching on TV to see who will come out on top.
Memorable Tournament Teams & Moments
The Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament has seen its fair share of memorable teams and moments throughout its history. Here are just a few that stand out:
- Loyola-Chicago (2018): A 11th-seeded team, Loyola-Chicago made an improbable run to the Final Four, led by 98-year-old team chaplain Sister Jean.
- UMBC over Virginia (2018): In one of the biggest upsets in tournament history, 16th-seeded UMBC defeated top-seeded Virginia in the first round.
- Fab Five’s timeout (1993): In a controversial moment, Michigan’s Fab Five called a timeout they didn’t have in the waning seconds of the championship game, leading to their defeat against North Carolina.
- Christian Laettner’s shot (1992): Duke’s Christian Laettner hit a buzzer-beating shot to defeat Kentucky in one of the most iconic moments in tournament history.
- Bo Kimble’s left-handed free throw (1990): Loyola Marymount’s Bo Kimble shot a left-handed free throw in honor of his teammate and friend Hank Gathers, who had died on the court earlier in the season.
Bo Kimble shoots a left handed free throw in honor of Hank Gathers
March Madness and American Sports Culture
The Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament is not only a major sporting event but also a cultural phenomenon in the United States. Many Americans eagerly anticipate the tournament each year and consider it a key part of the country’s sports culture. One popular aspect of the tournament is the tradition of filling out brackets and competing against friends, family, and colleagues to see who can correctly predict the most winners. This competition has become a staple of the tournament and also leads to a significant amount of gambling. As legalized gambling has expanded in the US, the opportunity to bet on games and fill out brackets and compete in pools for money has become an even larger business, with millions of dollars at stake.
