How Does March Madness Work?

Within the United States there are many great sporting events. From the Stanley Cup NHL finals to the NBA Championship, the big four professional sports tend to dominate the mainstream media except for one time in the year, the month of March.

During the month of March fans betting on college sports specifically basketball, are treated to a 68 (formerly 64) team tournament, to determine the best college basketball program in North America. This year’s final pitted power house Duke against Butler, a team that although ranked fifth, was likely a long shot on the betting odds table.

Starting next year, the tournament format will change from 64 teams to 68 teams, as the NCAA has expanded its divisions. As a result, teams and coaches who would not have previously qualified can have the opportunity to shine. The brackets will change from 16 teams to 17 teams.

However there will still be a final four prior to crowning a winner for the madness tournament. This year with the new format, 31 teams will receive automatic entry into the tournament while the 37 remaining teams will place at large bids.

Rather than a round robin, the March Madness tournament is single elimination and the seeds are never reseeded. For instance, if a 17 seed knocks off a number one seed, they would not become the new number one seed, but rather stay at 17 for the remainder of their stay in the tournament.

Although the expansion to 68 teams simply allows for one more team to be added to each bracket, the belief of amongst many critics of the new setup is that top seeds will give more crushing defeats then when they would face a 16 seed. On the other hand, these new teams entering the tournament will now be able to join in on the revenues each school receives by participating.