NCAA Men’s March Madness

March Madness is a college basketball tournament that’s been around for decades. It was started in 1939 by the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association). There are 63 basketball games and seven rounds. The regular season ends right before March Madness starts, which gets college basketball fans very excited. There is a bracket that consists of seven rounds in total and 68 teams qualify. March Madness is very popular here in the United States and it’s very fun to watch. There are many things about March Madness like the teams, the history, the tournament, and the bracket.

March Madness consists of 68 teams, 32 of the teams that make it are by winning their conference championship. The other 36 get chosen by the selection committee. The selection committee is a committee that ranks the best college basketball teams. These teams are some of the best in the country and sometimes the number one seed is not what you might think. A seed is what place your in like first or second. So there might be some biases in it by the selection committee but it’s still very fun to watch.

March Madness’s history started in 1908 in Illinois where it started in a high school, it eventually grew to a statewide competition in 1939. The NCAA would not be associated with it until 1982. The 16th seed has only beaten the 1st seed twice in its history. In 2018 UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore Country) beat Virginia which was the first time. The second time was this year when FDU (Fairleigh

Dickenson University) beat Purdue. The 16th seed has never won the championship and hasn’t gotten past the Second Round. FDU is one of the very few teams to get this far. It hasn’t happened yet but the 16th seed could win it all one day. Meanwhile, for the first time in March Madness history, the first seed will not make it to the Elite Eight.

There are seven rounds in total. There’s the First Four, First Round, Second Round, Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four, and the Championship. The first four are the worst teams chosen to compete to narrow down the teams. The First Round has the most games going on. Then the Second Round has the winners and then they compete. Then there’s the Sweet Sixteen. There aren’t many teams left and each round gets harder. After the Sweet Sixteen play, then the Elite Eight. After that, it’s the Final Four and whoever wins goes to the Championship. Then the winner is revealed after a month of waiting. Each round is cut into half every time. This is the bracket but many Americans create the same bracket and pick who they think will win and compete against each other with money. The bracket and the tournament are both fun things to do and watch.

March Madness makes college basketball fans wait for that last month of basketball to finish out the season. This is when it’s most popular and fun to watch. Every year of March Madness has something new or exciting. Like this year the 16th seed beat the one seed for the second time in its history. This is why March Madness is so popular and exciting.