It's the middle of March and the madness has commenced but exactly what is this “March Madness” that everyone is so hyped on? If you're one of the few people around that has no idea what that means then you have wandered onto the right sports blog because I'm about to give you the Skinny on what it is.
The Skinny (see, told you)
March Madness, also known as The Dance, is what the NCAA Division I Mens Basketball Championship Tournament is nicknamed. The tournament is an annual event and is consists of 65 total teams. 31 teams earn automatic bids by winning their respective Conference tournaments while the remaining 34 slots are considered “at-large bids” and are awarded by a Selection Committee appointed by the NCAA. This same committee also determines where all sixty-five teams are seeded and placed in the bracket.
Since the committee is human (though that is debatable to some), they often tend to make choices that tend to leave people scratching their heads and wondering why (but that's an article for another time).
The tourney is split into four regions with each region having 16 seeds and each team being matched up top to bottom. Meaning a number 1 team will play a 16 seed, a number 2 will play a 15, yadda yadda yadda, you get the picture.
Like I said earlier, this is a one and done deal, so if you lose, it's a long trip home. This opens up the door for “Cinderella” teams to make waves in the tourney and knock off the faves.
The opening of The Dance consists of the number 64 and 65 teams playing each other for a spot in the bracket. This game is played on the Tuesday before the tourney begins and is the direct result of the creation of the Mountain West Conference back in 1999.
There is six rounds total; a first and second round, the Regional Semi-finals (known as the Sweet Sixteen), the Finals (called the Elite Eight), The Final Four (called, um, the Final Four) and them finally the Championship game.
So, there you have it, now you know what everyone is yaking about when they bring up “March Madness”. It's “just” a basketball tournament that takes the place of your favorite CBS programming for a time.
Tune back into CraveOnline in the coming week for continued coverage of this mega-event.
