All last week you cheered and cheered your heart out and the Bucknell Bison won the patriot league championship and people started taking about going dancing. Let me guess, all you wondered was what on earth is the big dance? Well ladies, I’m here to give you your guide to understanding the NCAA March Madness season that is upon us. Here are some basic facts to help get you started:
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. The NCAA Tournament is made up Division I schools.
The Bracket:
This looks intimidating but I promise you, you CAN understand it! 30 teams are automatically placed in the tournament by winning their conferences (like our very own Bison). The other 34 teams are decided on by a group of 10 conference commissioners or athletic directors. They are known as the selection committee. They will also choose the “seed” or ranking for each team. This decision is based on regular season statistics as well as the Ratings Percentage Index or RPI. RPI combines elements like outcome of games depending on strength of opponent as well as strength of road games and other factors from the regular season. This allows teams to be compared on a more level playing field. The bracket is broken down into 4 regions (East, West, South, Midwest). Each region has 16 teams ranked from 1 to 16. The second round of games start of with pairs whose ranking adds up to 17. For example, the #1 team would play the #16 team in their region. So Bucknell as a #11 seed will play #6 seed Butler. The games continue until only 16 winners remain. These Sweet Sixteen will go head to head for a spot in the Elite Eight and finally those still standing will battle it out for a coveted Final Four spot. Down to the last two, these two will face off for the title. Games happen almost every night so it’s best to check each morning for scores and upcoming games. There are great free apps you can download to keep up on your phone or tablet, and espn.com is always a great place to find standings. Keep track of your favorite teams and our very own Cinderella Bison! Grab your friends, print out some brackets and see what happens, because there are always a few “maddening” surprises!
Fun Facts!
- A No. 16 seed has never won a tournament game.
- A No. 8 seed is the highest seed to win a national championship (Villanova, 1985).
- A No. 11 seed is the highest seed to advance to the Final Four (LSU in 1986, George Mason in 2006 and VCU in 2011).
- The only years that at least one No. 1 seed didn’t advance to the Final Four were 1980, 2006 and 2011.
- The 2005 Kansas(#3)/Bucknell (#14) tournament game is ranked number 8 of 10 in the biggest tournament upsets of the last 75 years.