S P O R T S
NCAA Men's Division I
Basketball Championship Also known as March Madness or The Big Dance or My Favorite Time of the Year
By Carol Heath
I
N 1939, OHIO STATE University basketball coach Harold Olsen, along with the National Association of Basketball Coaches, came up with the idea of a single-elimination tournament to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men’s Division 1 Basketball Champions. Since these games are typically played in March, this tournament is referred to as March Madness. Some devotees also call it the Big Dance, as this is for the whole enchilada. The beauty of this tournament is anybody can win, you can be ranked 16th , and if you win all the games in your bracket and go to the final four and win again, you could actually be in the championship game and win. It has become one of the most famous sporting events in the United States and watched by millions of viewers all over the world. Currently this tournament consists of 68 college basketball
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teams, including champions for 32 Division 1 conferences, which receive automatic bids. The remaining 36 teams are awarded at-large berths and they are chosen by the NCAA selection committee. The 68 teams are divided into four regions and organized into a single elimination bracket which pre-determines when a team wins a game who their next opponent will be. Each team is ranked within a region from 1-16. The first round consists of 64 teams all playing in their regions, these winners become the “Sweet Sixteen” and then out of these teams you get the Final Four which represents the top team of each region, East, South, Midwest and West. The Final Four play and then you have 2 teams left and they play for the National Title. This game is usually played the first week end in April, but is still considered part of March Madness. I worked for the Golden State Warriors
as a stat crew member from 1984-2002. I witnessed a lot of exciting games in that time, but one of the most emotional games I ever watched on the floor of the Oakland Coliseum, was the Sweet Sixteen games representing the western region in March of 1990. When we learned in mid-1988, that we were to host the NCAA Men’s Division 1 Basketball Champion Sweet Sixteen games, I was ecstatic. I love college sports of any kind, and followed college basketball religiously for over 20 years. My
team was Duke and I admired Coach K as a man and a coach. I was pretty confident that I was going to be able to meet him in person as Duke usually went to the final four and won many titles. It was a long 2 years waiting for that tournament and I followed Duke and several other teams that I thought might make it to the Sweet Sixteen. Duke was a given as they were playing some of the best ball in 3 seasons and they were ranked #1 most of the year. I started watching Loyola Mary-
