The ultimate March Madness guide for dummies
Now you can stop pretending you know what you’re talking about
You might have asked yourself, whats the big deal about March Madness? Well if you haven’t you heard anything from your classmates or friends, it’s a pretty big thing for college basketball fans.
This whole madness is about college basketball and half of the madness is understanding what’s going on. It’s pretty exciting to watch if you know what’s behind it all, especially if your college team is playing in the NCAA tournament.
March Madness, also known as the Big Dance, is the NCAA Division I men’s college basketball tournament that is held every year, with games beginning mid March and going until the National Championship game either the end of March or the beginning of April.
NCAA.com
March Madness 2016 began with Selection Sunday on March 13, in which the NCAA committee revealed to the eager college students, which 68 teams made the cut and another committee announces which 64 teams will compete in the women’s bracket.
According to the NCAA, the committee selects the 36 best teams and then create a “seed list”. The remaining teams are chosen on their season records, the difficulty of their schedules, and then divided into the brackets into four regions.
I don’t understand the whole ranking?
Seeds
In each region, the following top teams are considered first seed (Kansas, UNC, UVA, and Oregon), then the next four are considered second seed (Villanova, Oklahoma, Michigan State, and Xavier). The committee places the four No. 1 seeds in each of the four regions, then they place the No. 2 seeds in each region and so on. Seeding is done to ensure that the higher seeded teams, who are deemed to be superior, are left to play each other later in the tournament.
First Four
The First Four includes the eight lowest ranking teams in the men’s division that play against each other, and the four losing teams are removed from the tournament. The regular tournament begins with 64 brackets, along with the teams that won from the First Four. The winner of each game advances to the next set of brackets.
Round of 64
Now that we are down a few teams, the Round of 64 begins. It is here that all the 64 teams play in 32 brackets and the winners of each bracket move onto the third round and the losing teams are given their ticket back home.
Round of 32
Once 64 teams are cut in half, the Round of 32 begins, where March really starts to get mad. Here we have seen plenty of upsets over the years, leading to a ton of brackets being busted.
Sweet 16
The Sweet 16 is not your super sweet 16 birthday party on MTV. It’s the regional semifinals in which the remaining sixteen teams who ready to play against each other within their respective regional divisions.
Elite Eight
The winner of the East, West, South and Midwest divisions will then move onto the regional finals, where the final eight teams remain. For every non-college basketball fan out there, when you hear someone talk about the Elite Eight, share their excitement because you now know that means that there are only eight teams remaining in the tournament.
Final Four
You made it this far and we are near the end so hold on, we’re coming home! Now that the remaining four teams from each region are ready to play in the national semifinals, which is this final moment of truth. It’s their make it our break it moment as the two college teams will either bring glory to their college or sadness that they were so close, but yet so far away.
CUE THE DRAMATIC MUSIC
The final two teams have beat their opponents and now they are off to the…..NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME!
At this moment, the Cinderella team might be here or the upsets that we all hear about might happen at this defining game, which is the absolute beauty of March Madness. I might be just hyping this moment up, but this final game is pretty exciting for all college basketball fans. Whomever wins this final game, receives the glory and bragging rights of becoming the NCAA Champions.
Yes, March Madness is real and it’s the best time to be a college student or a proud alumni. Now that you understand the madness, sit back and enjoy the ride.