March Madness: Everything You Need to Know About the NCAA Tournament
With the NFL in the depths of the free agency period, MLB in Spring Training (snore) and the NBA in its annual pre-playoff lull, it’s time to turn our collective attention to…college basketball?
Sure, the season may be too long, and the majority of the early schedule meaningless, but that all changes when the calendar flips to March, the NCAA Tournament kicks into high gear and 68 teams begin the quest to rule the college basketball universe. Over the next three weeks, underdogs will rise, brackets will bust, stars will be born and dreams will die. It truly is a sporting event unlike any other – there’s a reason they call it March Madness, after all.
Plus, after a few seasons where one-and-done stars dominated (then departed for the NBA) this year’s top teams are powered by actual upperclassmen, meaning this could be one of the most competitive, compelling and downright crazy tournaments in recent memory. And if all that isn’t enough to pique your interest, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll also get blasted at a sports bar, too.
And since things are going to get wild, it’s more important than ever to be informed about what’s happening on the court (Perry Ellis isn’t just a designer, after all). So here’s everything you need to know about March Madness 2016. Strap in, it’s gonna get crazy.
So why is it called ‘March Madness’ anyway?
You mean aside from the fact that it starts in March and shit routinely gets crazy? Turns out, the phrase “March Madness” debuted in 1939, when Henry V. Porter – assistant executive secretary of the Illinois High School Association – used it as the title of an essay he wrote about the state’s annual high school basketball tournament. The phrase was picked up by the reporters of the day, and soon became a popular nickname for the tourney, though it remained a regional phenomenon until 1982, when broadcaster Brent Musburger used the phrase on-air when calling a game for CBS. In 1988, the NCAA began licensing the term, but neither they (nor the IHSA) ever thought about trademarking it, allowing a sports and entertainment marketing company called Intersport to swoop in. Rounds of lawsuits followed, and the NCAA and the IHSA were eventually granted the right to trademark the term for their own purposes. In the 2000s, the IHSA relinquished control of the trademark (though it can still use it in association with high school championships), and in 2010, the NCAA paid Intersport $17.2 million to obtain sole ownership of the term.
Enough with the history lesson. Who’s playing?
Well, 68 teams are vying for the championship this year, a number that has risen dramatically from the first tournament in 1939, which saw eight schools competing for the crown. The field expanded to 16 teams in the Fifties, had grown to 40 by the end of the Seventies, 64 by the mid-Eighties and, finally, reached 68 in 2011. This year’s teams were revealed during an interminable two-hour “Selection Sunday” broadcast on CBS, which served as the official start of all the madness (kind of like the opening ceremony at the Olympics, only with less fireworks and more Charles Barkley fumbling with a touchscreen). Of course, midway through said broadcast, the entire bracket leaked, which was, admittedly, kind of awesome.
How are those 68 teams chosen?
Not so much by ranking or points scored, but by a selection committee made up of just ten people. Much like The Hunger Games, the folks that make up the Division I basketball committee sort through more than 350 eligible schools to come up with the final 68. Some of their work is done for them – 32 automatic bids go to conference champions – while the remaining 36 at-large teams are chosen based on “observations, discussions with coaches, directors of athletics and commissioners, and review and comparison of data.” From there, the field of 68 must be seeded, based on committee member’s ballots and a numeric system (the best teams are 1s), and the bracket built, which means more math. You know what? Maybe just read this.