Each year, the renowned March Madness tournament electrifies homes across the nation as families and fans watch to see if the fierce underdog, or top-seeded favorite, can reach the NCAA Men’s Basketball championship. What is often considered one of the most anticipated, most-watched sporting events of the year, March Madness is looked forward to by most athletes and sports-lovers, but what exactly is this tournament?
A long-standing tradition since 1939, March Madness is the term used to refer to the NCAA Men’s Collegiate Basketball tournament that is held annually throughout the month of March. The single elimination tournament consists of 68 Division I teams, but is eventually reduced to one champion with seven rounds of competition: First Four, First Round, Second Round, Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, and the National Championship.
To receive an invitation to compete, teams have to qualify and go through a lengthy selection process. A team can either receive an automatic bid by winning their respective conference or receive an at-large bid, where the selection committee determines that the team is qualified on Selection Sunday, taking into consideration regular season results and postseason play.
Taking place only days before the start of the tournament, Selection Sunday is when the selection committee discloses the full bracket, which involves the selection of at-large teams and seed reveals. Each Selection Sunday, prospective tournament teams gather in their film rooms to watch the televised showcase, however, it ends with every team leaving in one of two ways: eager to compete for the National Championship, or disappointed.
After teams are announced, websites such as NCAA and CBS Sports waste no time in creating printable brackets for the public to fill out. Many groups of friends turn it into a competition of who can correctly predict the tournament champion.
“I usually make a bracket to compete against my cousins, other coach friends, and my wife,” said junior varsity boys basketball head coach Daniel Diaz. “I try to do my due diligence and research as much as I can before deciding on teams. On the apps you decide to make one on, they give really detailed stats and information on the teams from their season. The other tip I have is go with your gut feeling first.”
Many bracket competitions, however, can potentially be over before the major rounds of the tournament even start. Upsets and the emergence of unexpected dark horses, commonly referred to as “bracket busters,” can ruin hopes for a perfect bracket.
According to the NCAA, the odds of filling out a perfect bracket are “one in 120.2 billion,” and although sports fans like to fantasize about what would happen if they filled one out, a confirmable perfect bracket is unlikely to occur “in the next millennium.”
With this in mind, underdogs and low-seeded teams who make it far into the tournament while knocking out top competitors are referred to as “Cinderella stories.” A Cinderella team is one often overlooked on Selection Sunday, but eventually turns out to be one of the biggest “ones to watch” of the tournament.
Saint Peter’s, for example, was the first 15th seed in the history of the tournament to advance as far as the Elite Eight, and while they lost to Purdue just before reaching the Final Four, their run is still talked about by sports analysts and writers today.
“We’re making history,” said Doug Edert, a junior on Saint Peter’s men’s basketball team at the time, in an interview with the NCAA after advancing to the Elite Eight during the 2022 tournament.
While many people choose Saint Peter’s as the most impressive “Cinderella story,” Diaz prefers “VCU’s run to the Final Four in 2011.” He describes himself as being admired by their “tough and fast style of play,” and how the team “was super special and a true underdog story.”
Starting a few weeks later than normal, the path to the championship begins with the First Four round on March 19th and 20th and continues into the month of April:
First round: March 21-22
Second round: March 23-24
Sweet 16: March 28-29
Elite Eight: March 30-31
Final Four: April 6
NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: April 8\
“I graduated from James Madison University, so I will definitely be rooting for them this year,” said Diaz. “I love rooting for the coaches that I look up to [and] just love watching it all.”
Games are televised live on CBS Sports, TNT, TBS, and truTV. If you are interested in learning more about the teams, times, or the tournament in general, visit NCAA or CBS Sports for more information.
