The NCAA tournament bracket refers to the annual National College Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball tournaments that are held annually in March and early April. The men's basketball tournament is one of the most popular events on the sports calendar because many casual sports fans and even non-fans are attracted by their alma maters' involvement, the abundance of friendly gambling pools and the tourney's small-school David vs. large-school Goliath games. The women's tournament isn't nearly as well-followed, but has become more popular in recent years.
History
Eight teams played in the first men's basketball tournament in 1939. For decades, only conference champions participated, while many highly-ranked teams played in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). The field expanded as the tournament became more popular. It had 16 teams in 1951, 32 in 1975, 48 in 1980, 64 in 1985 and 65 in 2001. The 2011 tourney will have 68 teams for the first time, including 31 conference champions and 37 teams that will receive invitations on "Selection Sunday," a televised event that attracts millions of fans who are interested in whether their favorite school made the tourney, the school's ranking and what team it will play in the first round.
Format
The men's NCAA tournament has four regions that are classified according to the regional final sites rather than the locales of each region's teams. In 2010, for example, Indiana-based Butler University won the West Regional championship in Salt Lake City, Utah. The men's field is reduced from 64 to 32 teams on the tourney's first Thursday and Friday, and to 16 teams on the first Saturday and Sunday. The "Sweet 16" is reduced to the "Elite Eight" on the tourney's second Thursday and Friday, and to the "Final Four" on the second Saturday and Sunday. The semifinals are held on the tourney's third Saturday, and the championship is two nights later. The 2011 tourney will be held in Houston from March 15 to April 4.
Rankings
All the teams in each region are seeded 1st through 17th by a committee of athletic directors selected by the NCAA. In the round of 64, each 1st seed plays the winner of the play-in game between the 16th and 17th seeds, the second seed plays the 15th seed and so on. The number 1 seeds are 104-0 in first-round games since 1985, while number 2 seeds are 100-4, number 3 seeds are 88-16 and number 4 seeds are 82-22, according to CBSSports.com. Heading into the 2011 tournament, at least one number 1 seed has advanced to the Final Four every year except 1980 and 2006. A lot of the tournament's excitement comes when teams from weak conferences that aren't ranked in regular-season polls beat or almost beat teams from strong conferences such as the Big East and the Atlantic Coast.
Women's Tournament
The first women's NCAA tournament was held in 1982. The 2011 tourney will be in Indianapolis at almost the same time as the men's tournament, although the March 19 to April 4 tourney will have games on Mondays and Tuesdays rather than Thursdays and Fridays. The women's tournament has 64 teams rather than 68, and the regional championships are named after the cities where they're played rather than being named the East, West, South and Midwest regionals.
References
- NCAA: 2011 NCAA Men's Basketball Division I Championship Bracket
- NCAA: 2011 NCAA Women' Basketball Division I Championship Bracket
- College-Basketball-Rankings.com: Men's NCAA Tournament Bracket History: Men's NCAA Tournament Bracket History: 1939 thru Present
- ESPN: Last Four At-Large To Play In First Round
- CBSSports.com: Tourney History
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