Why March is Madness

Only die-hard, rabid basketball fans know the nuts and bolts of March Madness. But everyone knows that the airwaves are taken over for 3 weeks every March with game after game of basketball as 65 teams battle their way through the brackets. The NCAA men’s college basketball tournament is an elimination tournament. Simply put, you lose a game, you go home. Survive and advance is the name of the game and many teams slug it out against some of the best in the college sports world.

Advancing through the tournament requires mental toughness, a great defense, a fabulous coach, and fortitude. A veteran back court (point guard and two guard) often equal great success. Free throws are crucial, as is the ability of players to keep their cool in a pressure-cooker situation. Teams must advance through the madness of 6 consecutive games to win a National Championship Trophy, without fatal mistakes or losses.

The Lead Up

Preparation for the tournament starts at the beginning of the college basketball season in November. College sports teams are divided into Divisions based on the number and caliber of sports played at each institution. Division I teams have the chance to play in the NCAA tournament. Other Divisions play in the National Invitational Tournament. Within Divisions, colleges are grouped by Conferences with teams playing conferences games in addition to a mix of out-of-conference games. Some conferences require teams to win conference tourneys to attend the NCAA Big Dance.

During the course of a year, a team must play a variety of games against highly ranked (on the national scale) and moderately ranked teams. Called strength of schedule, this ratio of wins to losses against both good and bad teams is used to measure a team’s Ratings Point Index (RPI). The NCAA Selection Committee, made up of Division I Conference Commissioners, uses RPI in a formula to rate men’s basketball. RPI is based on team winning percentage, average opponent winning percentage and average opponent’s opponents’ winning percentage. Confused yet? In layman’s terms, when a team plays any other team, their opponents wins and losses are considered to help figure their own basketball difficulty factor.

The Selection Committee also considers how a school finishes their regular season. A higher number of wins versus losses in the last 12 games are almost always favorable to a school. However, a struggling team can be “on the bubble.” Bubble teams are those with just moderate RPIs, weaker strength of schedule, and inconsistent play through the final games of the regular season. The Committee weighs these factors when selecting the 65 teams that will play in the NCAA tournament. There is no appeals process when a school isn’t selected to visit the Big Dance, another moniker for the tournament.

Seeds and regions

At large bids are given to 34 deserving teams based on RPI, strength of schedule, conference ranking, and plain Committee preference for match ups. Another 31 teams are given automatic bids into the tournament as conference winners. Sometimes a conference can send as many as 6 teams if their conference is particularly strong in a given year. A consolation “bubble” team, #65, is chosen to play an initial game against the top rated one-seed in the tournament.

The Selection Committee rates a team’s relative strengths and gives them a seeding number. The top four teams in the country get 1-seed ratings and so on. Each of these 1-seed teams is placed in a region that is beneficial to them for general home court advantage as a reward for outstanding play during the season.

Four regions contain 16 teams pitted against each other in 8 games. A 1-seed plays a 16-seed, 15 plays a 2 seed, 14 versus 3 seed, etc. These first round games whittle down the playing field during the first and second round games, with the losing team going home. The Sweet Sixteen represents the four best teams from each of the four regions. The Elite Eight encompasses the best eight teams from the four regions. Four teams depart as losers and the remaining teams play in the Final Four. Reaching the Final Four is a testament to the tenacity and fortitude of a team and coach. The two winners of the Final Four compete in the National Championship Game.

Brackets

Much is made of the brackets from March Madness. Brackets are simply a listing by region of the 64 teams in the tournament. Bettors must choose the winners from pairs of teams based on seeding within a region. The winners are advanced through the various rounds of the tournament. Brackets are a simplified way of showing team pair ups throughout the tournament.

What’s at Stake

BIG money is at stake during March Madness. Office pools don’t tell the half of the story. Vegas betting odds are another part of the money story. The NCAA doesn’t receive any profits from the tournament. All money goes to the participating universities. And it’s some serious money. A team’s appearance in the tournament can generate millions of dollars for their school. If a team has consecutive NCAA appearances, the dollar amount gets higher. Revenue comes from the multi-billion-dollar television contract that gets divided among the attending schools and conferences. This cash cow helps fund non-revenue generating sports at many universities as well as filling the university coffers for any number of school improvements.

There is immense prestige associated with winning a National Championship. A win means a beautiful statue for the trophy case and so much more. The winning team is showcased in the national spotlight, on national TV, in the national and world press for days. This free advertising reaches far and wide to potential future basketball recruits, pointing to continued success in the future and hopefully, subsequent visits to the Big Dance.