The Mania and Mayhem of March Madness has been upon us for a few weeks now.. If your friends and co-workers are anything like mine, they have basketball on the brain ALL THE TIME. Here are some bits of info that will help you get through the next week (and probably impress those basketball lovers in your life).
The tournament was started in 1939 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, but it didn't become the MAYHEM that it is today until 1984 when the Seattle Organizing Committee hosted the first "March Madness Celebration". The tournament includes 68 teams, the winners of each of the 31 Division 1 Conferences (automatic bids), and 37 teams that are selected by the NCAA Selection Committee (at-large berths). It is a single elimination tournament so when you lose, you are out - kindof like not getting a rose on The Bachelor. The first place team gets a gold plated trophy and second place (or the first loser) gets a silver plated trophy. The teams that win the Regional Games and the Championship Game also cut down the nets one strand at a time.. what they then do with the net is beyond me..
Today starts the Elite Eight round. There are two games today and two games tomorrow. #1 seed Syracuse vs #2 seed Ohio State is the big one today. Syracuse is playing without a starting center, Fab Melo, since he slacked off in class and found himself ineligible due to his academics. We are big ten fans so we are rooting for OSU (although we would never say that out loud during football season..)
CBS has a contract with the NCAA until 2024 with which it can broadcast all of the games in the tournament. They provide the NCAA with $500 million dollars per year which is split between the schools / conferences participating in the tournament. The Championship Game is held at a neutral stadium - this year it will be at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans on April 2nd on CBS.
MADNESS MORSELS
- UCLA has won the most Championships with 11 (but they didn't even make it to the tournament this year)
- All four teams from Ohio made it to the Sweet Sixteen (Xavier, Cincinnati, Ohio and Ohio State)
- No teams from the Pacific or Mountain time zones made it to the Sweet Sixteen
- Last year Connecticut won their third Championship
- All four #1 seeded teams have only made it to the Final Four once in 2008
