Now that spring is finally (almost) here, there’s only one thing on most sports fans’ minds: March Madness. Whether you’re an avid basketball fan or have absolutely no clue what March Madness even is, here is a guide to everything you need to know before tipoff on March 18th!
What is march madness?
March Madness is the NCAA Division 1 championship for men’s basketball that culminates in a season’s worth of games in a three weekend long tournament.
It began in 1939, when four of the top teams in the country vied for the D1 Champion title, with the University of Oregon coming out on top! While this became the first official March Madness tournament, it was not coined as such until almost 50 years later in 1982.
The tournament has expanded in size as the years went on, with the final 68-team competition beginning in 1985.
How does march madness work?
The 68 teams competing each year are chosen by how well they performed in the regular season, taking into account other factors like: the difficulty of a team’s schedule, or their performance in out-of-conference games. Automatic spots are given to the 31 teams that won their conference championship. Other teams that performed well, even if they didn’t win their conference, are given at-large bids (essentially “wild-card” positions within the tournament). These bids are reviewed by the twelve NCAA committee members, who cast ballots to determine which 37 teams made the cut.
Once the 68 best teams in the nation are chosen, the tournament begins with matches between “The First Four.” These games are played the very first night of the tournament, and they are single-elimination games. The winners of these games then progress as part of the main, 64-team bracket!
Each team is placed in one of four brackets, determining who they will play in the upcoming games. Each round is knockout-style – if you lose, you’re out! Teams are seeded (or ranked) to determine what team they will compete against in the first round. Since the NCAA wants to keep it interesting, the highest-ranked teams are placed in separate brackets to ensure that they do not play each other until much later in the tournament.
When a team wins, they progress to play the other winners, slowly eliminating more and more teams until there is a “Sweet Sixteen,” “Elite Eight” and “Final Four.” The winners of the two games in the “Final Four” progress to the actual championship, where the winning team claims the title of the NCAA Champion!
March madness bracket
Most basketball fans fill out a bracket each year after the 68 teams are announced to guess who they think will win. By predicting the upsets, wins, and losses of each team, fans can win bragging rights or maybe even competitions between other fans.
You can find the bracket itself on the NCAA website, and it can be super fun to try and fill it out even if you know nothing about basketball!
So that’s your guide on March Madness 2025! If you’re interested in completing a bracket this year or even just wanting to know more about basketball, I think it can be super fun to start looking at standout teams from this season to try and predict who will win!
Who knows — if you end up guessing correctly, you could have bragging rights for the next year until 2026’s tournament!