NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship

The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament performed each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship of the major college basketball teams. The tournament, organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), was created during 1939 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, and was the idea of Ohio State University coach Harold Olsen. Performed mostly during March, it is known informally as March Madness or the Big Dance, and has become one of the most famous annual sporting events in the United States. The NCAA has credited Bob Walsh of the Seattle Organizing Committee for starting the March Madness celebration during 1984.

The tournament teams include champions from 31 Division I conferences (which receive automatic bids), and 37 teams which are awarded at-large berths. These "at-large" teams are chosen by an NCAA selection committee, as detailed below. The 68 teams are divided into four regions and organized into a single elimination "bracket", which predetermines, when a team wins a game, which team it will face next. Each team is "seeded", or ranked, within its region. After an initial four games between eight lower-ranked teams, the tournament occurs during the course of three weekends, at pre-selected neutral sites around the United States. Lower-ranked teams are placed in the bracket against higher ranked teams. Each weekend eliminates three-fourths of the teams, from a round of 64, to a "Sweet Sixteen", to a "Final Four"; the Final Four is usually played during the first weekend of April. These four teams, one from each region, then compete in one location for the national championship.

The tournament has been at least partially televised since 1969. Presently, the games are reported by CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV by the trade-name NCAA March Madness. During 2012, all games are available for viewing nationwide. As television coverage has grown, so too has the tournament's popularity. Presently, millions of Americans "fill out a bracket", predicting winners of all 67 games.

With 11 national titles, UCLA has the record for the most NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championships; John Wooden coached UCLA to 10 of its 11 titles. The University of Kentucky is second, with 8 national titles, while Indiana University and the University of North Carolina are tied for third with 5 national titles. 2010 champion Duke University ranks fifth with 4 national titles.

Current tournament format
''The NCAA has changed the tournament format several times since its inception, most often representing an increase of the number of teams. This section describes the tournament as it has operated since 2011. For changes during the course of its history, and to see how the tournament operated during past years, go to Format history, below.''

Qualifying
A total of 68 teams qualify for the tournament played during March and April. Thirty-one teams earn automatic bids as their respective conference champions. Thirty of the thirty-one conferences hold championship tournaments to determine which team receives the automatic qualification. Only the Ivy League does not conduct a post-season tournament; its automatic bid goes to the regular-season conference champion.

The remaining thirty-seven tournament slots are granted to at-large bids, which are determined by the Selection Committee, a special committee appointed by the NCAA. The committee also determines where all sixty-eight teams are seeded and placed in the bracket.

Regions
The tournament is divided into four regions and each region has at least sixteen teams, but four additional teams are added per the decision of the Selection Committee. (See First Four). The committee is charged with making each of the four regions as close as possible in overall quality of teams from wherever they come from.

The names of the regions vary from year to year, and are broadly geographic (such as "Southeast", "East" or "Midwest"). The selected names roughly correspond to the location of the four cities hosting the regional finals. For example, during 2012, the regions were named South (Atlanta, Georgia), East (Boston, Massachusetts), Midwest (St. Louis, Missouri), and West (Phoenix, Arizona).

Seeding and the Bracket
The selection committee seeds the whole field of 68 teams from 1-68, but did not make this information public until 2012. The committee divides the teams amongst the regions. The top four teams will be distributed among the four regions, and each will receive a #1 rank within that region. The next four ranked teams will also be distributed among the four regions, each receiving a #2 rank with their region, and the process continues down the line. Carried to its logical conclusion, this would give each region seventeen teams ranked 1-16, but as seen below, this is complicated somewhat (see The First Four).

The bracket is thus established, and during the semifinals, the champion of top #1 rank's region will play against the champion of the fourth No. 1 rank's region, and the champion of the second-ranked #1 rank's region will play against the champion of third-ranked #1 rank's region.

The selection committee is also instructed to place teams so that whenever possible, conference teams cannot meet until the regional finals. Additionally, they are also instructed to avoid any possible rematches of regular season or previous year's tournament games during the Rounds of 32 and 64.

Venues
In the men's tournament, all sites are nominally neutral: teams are prohibited from playing tournament games on their home courts prior to the Final Four (though in some cases, a team may be fortunate enough to play in or near its home state or city). By current NCAA rules, any court on which a team hosts more than three regular-season games (in other words, not including conference tournament games) is considered a "home court".

However, while a team can be moved to a different region if its home court is being used during any of the first two weeks of the tournament, the Final Four venue is determined years in advance, and cannot be changed regardless of participants. For this reason, in theory a team could play in a Final Four on its home court; in reality, this would be unlikely, since the Final Four is usually staged at a venue larger than most college basketball arenas. (The most recent team to play the Final Four in its home city was Butler during 2010; its home court seats only 10,000, as opposed to the 70,000-plus of Lucas Oil Stadium in its Final Four configuration.)

Rounds
The tournament has several rounds. They are currently named The tournament is single-elimination, increasing the chance of a "Cinderella team" advancing; although these lower-ranked teams are forced to play stronger teams, they need only win once to advance (instead of winning a majority of games in a series, as in professional basketball).
 * The First Four
 * The Second Round (also known as "the Round of 64")
 * The Third Round (also known as "the Round of 32")
 * The Regional Semi-finals (participating teams are known popularly as the "Sweet Sixteen")
 * The Regional Finals (participating teams are known commonly as the "Elite Eight")
 * The National Semi-finals (participating teams are referred to officially as the "Final Four")
 * The National Championship

The First Four
The appellation "First Four" refers to the number of games played, not the number of teams. First performed during 2011, the First Four are games between the lowest four at-large teams and the lowest four automatic bid (conference champion) teams. They are not necessarily the lowest eight teams in the field. The four games are performed to determine which teams will assume a place in the Round of 64. Unlike other early games in the tournament, the teams are not matched with disparity intended, but rather, equality; e.g., in one game two teams might play for a #16 ranked in the Round of 64, while in another game two teams are vying to advance as an 11-rank.

While most NCAA tournament games are played during a weekend, the First Four games are played during the work-week, between Selection Sunday and the weekend immediately after. Once the First Four games are played, the four winning teams assume their places in the bracket of 64 teams, and must play again that weekend, with little rest.

The Round of 64 and the Round of 32
During the Second Round (the Round of 64), the #1 rank plays the #16 rank in all regions; the #2 team plays the #15, and so on. The effect of this ranking structure ensures that the better a team is ranked, the worse-ranked (and presumably weaker) their opponents will be. Sixteen second-round games are played on the Thursday following the "First Four" round. The remaining sixteen second-round games are played Friday. At this point the contestants are reduced to 32 teams.

The Third Round (the Round of 32) is played on Saturday and Sunday immediately after the second round. The third round consists of Thursday's winners playing in eight games on Saturday, followed by Friday's winners playing in the remaining eight third-round games on Sunday. Thus, after the first weekend, 16 teams remain, commonly known as the "Sweet Sixteen."

Regional semifinals and finals
The teams that are still competitive after the first weekend advance to the regional semifinals (the Sweet Sixteen) and finals (the Elite Eight), which are played during the second weekend of the tournament (again, the games are split into Thursday/Saturday and Friday/Sunday). Four regional semi-final games are played Thursday and four are played Friday. After Friday's games, 8 teams (the Elite Eight) remain. Saturday features two regional final games matching Thursday's winners and Sunday's two final games match Friday's winners. After the second weekend of the tournament, the four regional champions are the "Final Four."

Final Four
The winners of each region advance to the Final Four, where the national semifinals are played on Saturday and the national championship is played on Monday. As noted above, which regional champion play which, and in which semifinal they play, is determined by the overall rankings of the four #1 ranks in the original bracket, not on the ranks of the eventual Final Four teams themselves. Sometimes, the Final Four weekend is during the first weekend of April transforming "March Madness" into April Apprehension for the remaining teams.

Championships, by schools

 * The following is a list of all schools that have won at least one NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, along with what years they have won their championship(s).

Tournament associated terms
As indicated below, none of these phrases are exclusively used in regards to the NCAA tournament. Nonetheless, they are associated widely with the tournament, sometimes for legal reasons, sometimes just because it's become part of the American sports vernacular.

March Madness
March Madness is a popular term for season-ending basketball tournaments played in March. March Madness is also a registered trademark currently owned exclusively by the NCAA. The genesis of the term may be derived from Canadian politics; the fiscal year for the Canadian government begins on April 1. In order to be spared budget reductions, program and agency administrators and politicians, realizing that they had budget money remaining, begin to spend funds during March as though they are "mad" (crazy), and such spending to stave off budget reductions became known in Canada as "March Madness".

H. V. Porter, an official with the Illinois High School Association (and later a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame), was the first person to use March Madness to describe a basketball tournament. Porter published an essay named March Madness during 1939, and during 1942 used the phrase in a poem, Basketball Ides of March. Through the years the use of March Madness was increased, especially in Illinois, Indiana, and other parts of the Midwest. During this period the term was used almost exclusively in reference to state high school tournaments. During 1977 Jim Enright published a book about the Illinois tournament entitled March Madness.

Fans began associating the term with the NCAA tournament during the early 1980s. Evidence suggests that CBS sportscaster Brent Musburger, who had worked for many years in Chicago before joining CBS, popularized the term during the annual tournament broadcasts. The NCAA has credited Bob Walsh of the Seattle Organizing Committee for starting the March Madness celebration in 1984.

Only during the 1990s did either the IHSA or NCAA think about trademarking the term, and by that time a small television production company named Intersport had already trademarked it. IHSA eventually bought the trademark rights from Intersport, and then went to court to establish its primacy. IHSA sued GTE Vantage, an NCAA licensee that used the name March Madness for a computer game based on the college tournament. During 1996, in a historic ruling, Illinois High School Association v. GTE Vantage, Inc., the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit created the concept of a "dual-use trademark," granting both the IHSA and NCAA the right to trademark the term for their own purposes.

After the ruling, the NCAA and IHSA joined forces and created the March Madness Athletic Association to coordinate the licensing of the trademark and investigate possible trademark infringement. One such case involved a company that had obtained the internet domain name marchmadness.com and was using it to post information about the NCAA tournament. During 2003, by March Madness Athletic Association v. Netfire, Inc., the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit decided that March Madness was not a generic term, and ordered Netfire to relinquish the domain name to the NCAA.

Later during the 2000s, the IHSA relinquished its ownership share in the trademark, although it retained the right to use the term in association with high school championships. During October 2010, the NCAA reached a settlement with Intersport, paying $17.2 million for the latter company's license to use the trademark.

Final Four
The term Final Four refers to the last four teams remaining in the playoff tournament. These are the champions of the tournament's four regional brackets, and are the only teams remaining on the tournament's final weekend. (While the term "Final Four" was not used during the early decades of the tournament, the term has been applied retroactively to include the last four teams in tournaments from earlier years, even when only two brackets existed.)

Some claim that the phrase Final Four was first used to describe the final games of Indiana's annual high school basketball tournament. But the NCAA, which has a trademark on the term, says Final Four was originated by a Plain Dealer sportswriter, Ed Chay, in a 1975 article that appeared in the Official Collegiate Basketball Guide. The article stated that Marquette University "was one of the final four" of the 1974 tournament. The NCAA started capitalizing the term during 1978 and converting it to a trademark several years later.

During recent years, the term Final Four has been used for other sports besides basketball. Tournaments which use Final Four include the Euroleague in basketball, national basketball competitions in several European countries and the now-defunct European Hockey League. Together with the name Final Four, these tournaments have adopted an NCAA-style format in which the four surviving teams compete in a single-elimination tournament held in one place, typically, during one weekend. The derivative term "Frozen Four" is used by the NCAA to refer to the final rounds of the Division I men's and women's ice hockey tournaments. Until 1999, it was just a popular nickname for the last two rounds of the hockey tournament; officially, it was also known as the Final Four.

Cinderella team
Although there is not any official definition of what constitutes a Cinderella team, there does seem to be a consensus that such teams represent small schools, are ranked rather low in the tournament, and achieve at least one unexpected win in the tournament. The term became popularized as a result of City College of New York's run through the tournament during 1950.

Bracketology and pools
For decades, fans have been entering into office pools or private gambling-related contests as to who can predict the tournament most correctly. The filling out of a tournament bracket has been referred to as a "national pastime". Filling out a tournament bracket with predictions is called the practice of "bracketology" and sports programming during the tournament is rife with commentators comparing the accuracy of their predictions. On The Dan Patrick Show, a wide variety of celebrities from various fields (such as Darius Rucker, Charlie Sheen, Neil Patrick Harris, Ellen DeGeneres, Dave Grohl, and Brooklyn Decker) have posted full brackets with predictions. President Obama's bracket is posted on the White House website.

There are many different tournament prediction scoring systems. Most award points for correctly picking the winning team in a particular match up, with increasingly more points being given for correctly predicting later round winners. Some provide bonus points for correctly predicting upsets, the amount of the bonus varying based on the degree of upset. Some just provide points for wins by correctly-picked teams in the brackets.

There are 2^63 or 9.2 quintillion possibilities for the possible winners in a 64 team NCAA bracket, making the odds of randomly picking a perfect bracket (i.e. without weighting for seed number) 9.2 quintillion to 1. With the expansion of the tournament field to 68 teams in 2011, the odds are now increased to 2^67 or 147,573,952,589,676,412,928 (147.57 quintillion) possibilities.

Format history
The NCAA tournament has changed its format many times over the years. Below are listed many of these changes.

Expansion of field

 * The NCAA tournament has expanded a number of times throughout its history. This is a breakdown of the history of the tournament format:
 * 1939–1950: 8 teams
 * 1951–1952: 16 teams
 * 1953–1974: varied between 22 and 25 teams
 * 1975–1978: 32 teams
 * 1979: 40 teams
 * 1980–1982: 48 teams
 * 1983: 52 teams (four play-in games before the tournament)
 * 1984: 53 teams (five play-in games before the tournament)
 * 1985–2000: 64 teams
 * 2001–2010: 65 teams (with an opening round game to determine whether the 64th or 65th team plays in the first round)
 * 2011–present: 68 teams (four play-in games in the first round before all remaining teams compete in the second round)
 * After the conclusion of the 2010 tournament, there was much speculation about increasing the tournament size to as many as 128 teams. On April 1, 2010, the NCAA announced that it was looking at expanding to 96 teams for 2011. On April 22, 2010, the NCAA announced a new television contract with CBS/Turner that would expand the field, but only to 68 teams.

Other changes

 * Prior to 1975, only one team per conference could be in the NCAA tournament. However, after several highly ranked teams in the country were denied entrance into the tournament (e.g., South Carolina, which was 14-0 in conference play during 1970, Southern Cal which was ranked #2 in the nation during 1971, and Maryland which was ranked #3 in the nation in 1974), the NCAA began to place at-large teams in the tournament, instead of just conference champions.
 * Currently, there are not any consolation games, but there was a third-place game from 1946 to 1981. Additionally, each regional had a third-place game through the 1975 tournament.
 * Beginning during 2001, the field was expanded from 64 to 65 teams, adding to the tournament what was informally known as the "play-in game." This was in response to the creation of the Mountain West Conference during 1999.  Originally, the winner of the Mountain West's tournament did not receive an automatic bid, and doing so would mean the elimination of one of the at-large bids. As an alternative to eliminating an at-large bid, the NCAA expanded the tournament to 65 teams. The #64 and #65 seeds were seeded in a regional bracket as the 16a/16b seeds, and then played the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Opening Round Game (the "play-in game") on the Tuesday preceding the first weekend of the tournament. This game was always played at the University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, Ohio.
 * During 2011, the tournament expanded to 68 teams. Four "play-in" games are now played, officially known as the "First Four". However, the teams playing in the First Four are not automatically seeded #16; their seeding is determined by the committee on Selection Sunday. Explaining the reasoning for this format, selection committee chairman Dan Guerrero said, "We felt if we were going to expand the field it would create better drama for the tournament if the First Four was much more exciting. They could all be on the 10 line or the 12 line or the 11 line."
 * For the 1985 to 2001 tournaments, all teams playing at a first- or second-round site fed into the same regional site. Since 2002, the tournament has used the "pod system" designed to limit the early-round travel of as many teams as possible. In the pod system, each regional bracket is divided into four-team pods. The possible pods by seeding are:
 * Pod #1: 1v16, 8v9
 * Pod #2: 2v15, 7v10
 * Pod #3: 3v14, 6v11
 * Pod #4: 4v13, 5v12
 * Each of the eight second- and third-round (formerly first- and second-round) sites is assigned two pods, where each group of four teams play each other. A host site's pods may be from different regions, and thus the winners of each pod would advance into separate regional tournaments.


 * Since 2004, the semi-final matches during the first day of the Final Four weekend have been determined by a procedure based upon the original seeding of the full field. Prior to 2004, the pitting of regional champions in the semi-finals was simply random.
 * From 1985 to 2010, the round consisting of 64 teams and 32 games was called the "first round", while the round consisting of 32 teams and 16 games was called the "second round". Starting during 2011, the "First Four" became the first round. The round after the "First Four" is now called the "second round", and consists of 64 teams playing 32 games; it is played on Thursday and Friday. The next round, the "third round", consists of 32 teams playing 16 games that are played on Saturday and Sunday.
 * Teams were added

Venues
For a list of all the cities and arenas that have hosted the Final Four, go to Host cities, below. Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri hosted the Final Four eight times followed by the third Madison Square Garden in New York City which hosted seven times, and Louisville's Freedom Hall which hosted six times.

Stadium size and domes
Since 1997, the NCAA has required that all Final Four sessions take place in domed stadiums with a minimum capacity of 40,000, usually having only a half of the dome in use. The Metrodome in Minneapolis, which usually hosts baseball and football, had one of the long ends of the court along the first base line with temporary stands surrounding the court so that much of the outfield is isolated from the action. The same was true of football stadiums like the Alamodome in San Antonio and the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. The last small arena to host the Final Four was Continental Airlines Arena in 1996. As of 2009, the minimum was increased to 70,000, by adding additional seating on the floor of the dome, and raising the court on a platform three feet above the dome's floor, which is usually crowned for football, like the setup at Ford Field in Detroit which hosted the 2009 Final Four.

During September 2012, the NCAA began preliminary discussions on the possibility of returning occasional Final Fours to basketball-specific arenas in major metropolitan areas. According to ESPN.com writer Andy Katz, when Mark Lewis was hired as NCAA executive vice president for championships during 2012, "he took out a United States map and saw that both coasts are largely left off from hosting the Final Four." Lewis added in an interview with Katz, I don't know where this will lead, if anywhere, but the right thing is to sit down and have these conversations and see if we want our championship in more than eight cities or do we like playing exclusively in domes. None of the cities where we play our championship is named New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago or Miami. We don't play on a campus. We play in professional football arenas.

Under current criteria, only nine stadiums, all current NFL venues, can be considered as Final Four locations:
 * Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, Texas (Dallas–Fort Worth)
 * Cowboys Stadium holds the world record basketball attendance when 108,713 attended the 2010 NBA All-Star Game.
 * Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis
 * Ford Field, Detroit
 * Georgia Dome, Atlanta
 * Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis
 * Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans
 * Metrodome, Minneapolis
 * The Metrodome will be replaced by Vikings Stadium during 2015 or 2016. The new stadium will have a retractable roof, presumably keeping Minneapolis in the rotation.
 * Reliant Stadium, Houston
 * University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Arizona (Phoenix) – has never hosted.

Two domed stadiums that have hosted past Final Fours—the Alamodome (1998, 2004, 2008) and Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida (1999)—are now considered too small to be eligible to host, despite the Alamodome being a college football stadium and having a permanent seating capacity of 65,000. The basketball setup at the Alamodome uses only half of the stadium and has a capacity of 39,500.

The first instance of a domed stadium being used for a NCAA Tournament Final Four was the Houston Astrodome in 1971, but the Final Four would not return to a dome until 1982, when the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans hosted the event for the first time.

"Home court" advantage
Since the inception of the modern Final Four in 1952, only once has a team played a Final Four on its actual home court. But through the 2011 tournament, three other teams have played the Final Four in their home cities, one other team has played in its metropolitan area, and six additional teams have played the Final Four in their home states through the 2010 tournament. Kentucky (1958 in Louisville), UCLA (1968, 1972, 1975 in Los Angeles) and North Carolina State (1974 in Greensboro) won the national title; Louisville (1959 at its home arena, Freedom Hall); Purdue (1980 in Indianapolis) lost in the Final Four; and California (1960 in suburban San Francisco), Duke (1994 in Charlotte), Michigan State (2009 in Detroit), and Butler (2010 in Indianapolis) lost in the final.

The biggest advantage was in 1959 when Louisville played at its regular home of Freedom Hall; however, the Cardinals lost to West Virginia in the semifinals. The following year, Cal had nearly as large an edge, only having to cross San Francisco Bay to play in the Final Four at the Cow Palace in Daly City; the Golden Bears lost in the championship game to Ohio State. UCLA had a similar advantage in 1968 and 1972 when it advanced to the Final Four at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, not many miles from the Bruins' homecourt of Pauley Pavilion (also UCLA's home arena before the latter venue opened in 1965, and again during the 2011-12 season while Pauley was closed for renovations); unlike Louisville and Cal, the Bruins won the national title on both occasions. Butler lost the 2010 title 6 mi from its Indianapolis campus and was regarded as the host school, as it is whenever the NCAA holds a tournament in Indianapolis.

Before the Final Four was established, the East and West regionals were held at separate sites, with the winners advancing to the title game. During that era, three teams, all from Manhattan, played in the East Regional at Madison Square Garden—frequently used as a "big-game" venue by each team—and advanced at least to the national semifinals. NYU won the East Regional in 1945 but lost in the title game, also held at the Garden, to Oklahoma A&M. CCNY played in the East Regional in both 1947 and 1950; the Beavers lost in the 1947 East final to eventual champion Holy Cross but won the 1950 East Regional and national titles at the Garden.

In 1974, North Carolina State won the NCAA tournament without leaving their home state, North Carolina. The team was put in the East Region, and played its regional games at home arena Reynolds Coliseum. NC State played the final four and national championship games at nearby Greensboro Coliseum.

While not its home state, Kansas has played in the championship game in Kansas City, Missouri, only 45 minutes from the campus in Lawrence, Kansas, not just once, but four times. In 1940, 1953, and 1957 the Jayhawks lost the championship game each time at Municipal Auditorium. In 1988, playing at Kansas City's Kemper Arena, Kansas won the championship, over Big Eight rival Oklahoma.

Flag controversy
The NCAA has banned the Bi-Lo Center and Colonial Life Arena in South Carolina from hosting tournament games, despite their sizes (16,000 and 18,000 seats, respectively) because of an NAACP protest at the Bi-Lo Center during the 2002 first and second round tournament games over that state's refusal to take down the Confederate Battle Flag from their state capitol. Following requests by the NAACP and Black Coaches Association, the Bi-Lo Center, and the newly built Colonial Center, which was built for purposes of hosting the tournament, were banned from hosting any future tournament events.

Cutting down the nets
As a tournament ritual, the winning team cuts down the nets at the end of regional championship games as well as the national championship game. Starting with the seniors, and moving down by classes, players each cut a single strand off of each net; the head coach cuts the last strand connecting the net to the hoop, claiming the net itself. This tradition is credited to Everett Case, the coach of North Carolina State, who stood on his players' shoulders to accomplish the feat after the Wolfpack won the Southern Conference tournament in 1947.

Team awards
The NCAA awards the National Champions a gold plated Wooden NCAA National Championship trophy. The loser of the championship game receives a silver plated National Runner-Up trophy for second place. All four Final Four teams receive a bronze plated NCAA Regional Championship trophy.

The champions also receive a commemorative gold championship ring, and the other three Final Four teams receive Final Four rings.

The National Association of Basketball Coaches also presents a more elaborate marble/crystal trophy to the winning team. Ostensibly, this award is given for taking the top position in the NABC's end-of-season poll, but this is invariably the same as the NCAA championship game winner. In 2005, Siemens AG acquired naming rights to the NABC trophy, which is now called the Siemens Trophy. Formerly, the NABC trophy was presented right after the standard NCAA championship trophy, but this caused some confusion. Since 2006, the Siemens/NABC Trophy has been presented separately at a press conference the day after the game.

Most Outstanding Player
After the championship trophy is awarded, one player is selected and then awarded the Most Outstanding Player award (which almost always come from the championship team). It is not intended to be the same as a Most Valuable Player award although it is sometimes informally referred to as such.

Influence on the NBA draft
Because the National Basketball Association Draft takes place just three months after the NCAA tournament, NBA executives have to decide how players' performances in a maximum of six games, from the first round to the championship game, should affect their draft decisions. A 2012 study for the National Bureau of Economic Research explores how the March tournament affects the way that professional teams behave in the June draft. The study is based on data from 1997 to 2010 that looks at how college tournament standouts performed at the NBA level.

The researchers determined that a player who outperforms his regular season averages or who is on a team that wins more games than its seed would indicate will be drafted higher than he otherwise would have been. At the same time, the study indicated that professional teams don't take college tournament performance into consideration as much as they should, as success in the tournament correlates with elite professional accomplishment, particularly top-level success, where a player makes the NBA All-Star Team three or more times. "If anything, NBA teams undervalue the signal provided by unexpected performance in the NCAA March Madness tournament as a predictor of future NBA success."

Current television contracts
Since 2010, the NCAA has had a joint contract with CBS and Turner Sports, a division of Time Warner (which co-owns the CW Television Network with CBS). The current contract runs through 2024 and, for the first time in history, provides for the nationwide broadcast each year of all games of the tournament. All First Four games air on truTV. A featured second- or third-round game in each time "window" is broadcast on CBS, while all other games are shown either on TBS, TNT or truTV. Sweet 16 (regional semifinal) games are broadcast on CBS and TBS. Through 2015, all games from the Elite Eight (regional final) onwards are shown on CBS exclusively. Beginning in 2016, CBS and TBS will split coverage of the Elite Eight. CBS and TBS will alternate coverage of the Final Four and national championship game, with TBS getting the final two rounds in even numbered years, and CBS getting the games in odd numbered years. March Madness On Demand would remain unchanged, although Turner is allowed to develop their own service.

The CBS broadcast provides the NCAA with over 500 million dollars annually, and makes up over 90% of the NCAA's annual revenue. The revenues from the multi-billion-dollar television contract are divided among the Division I basketball playing schools and conferences as follows:
 * 1/6 of the money goes directly to the schools based on how many sports they play (one "share" for each sport starting with 14, which is the minimum needed for Division I membership).
 * 1/3 of the money goes directly to the schools based on how many scholarships they give out (one share for each of the first 50, two for each of the next 50, ten for each of the next 50, and 20 for each scholarship above 150).
 * 1/2 of the money goes to the conferences based on how well they did in the six previous men's basketball tournaments (counting each year separately, one share for each team getting in, and one share for each win except in the Final Four and, prior to the 2008 tournament, the Play-in game). In 2007, based on the 2001 through 2006 tournaments, the Big East received over $14.85 million, while the eight conferences that did not win a first-round game in those six years received slightly more than $1 million each.

The Division I Men's Basketball tournament is the only NCAA championship tournament where the NCAA does not keep the profits.

History of television coverage
CBS has been the major partner of the NCAA in televising the tournament for much of its history, but there have been many changes in coverage since the tournament was first broadcast in 1969.

Early broadcast coverage
From 1969 to 1981, the NCAA tournament aired on NBC, but not all games were televised. The early rounds, in particular, were not always seen on TV.

In 1982, CBS obtained broadcast television rights to the NCAA tournament.

ESPN & CBS share coverage
The same year as CBS obtained rights to the Big Dance, ESPN began showing the opening rounds of the tournament. This was the network's first contract signed with the NCAA for a major sport, and helped to establish ESPN's following among college basketball fans. ESPN showed six first-round games on Thursday and again on Friday, with CBS then picking up a seventh game at 11:30 pm ET. Thus, 14 of 32 first-round games were televised. ESPN also re-ran games overnight. At the time, there was only one ESPN network, with no ability to split its signal regionally, so ESPN showed only the most competitive games. During the 1980s, the tournament's popularity on television soared, no doubt due to the extensive coverage provided by ESPN.

CBS takes over
However, ESPN became a victim of its own success, as CBS was awarded the rights to cover all games of the NCAA tournament, starting in 1991. Only with the introduction of the so-called "play-in" game (between the 64 seed and the 65 seed) in the 2000s, did ESPN get back in the game (and actually, the first time this "play-in" game was played in 2001, the game was aired on TNN, using CBS graphics and announcers. CBS and TNN were both owned by Viacom at the time.)

Through 2010, CBS broadcast the remaining 63 games of the NCAA tournament proper. Most areas saw only eight of 32 first round games, seven second round games, and four regional semifinal games (out of the possible 56 games during these rounds; there would be some exceptions to this rule in the 2000s). Coverage preempted regular programming on the network, except during a 2 hour window from about 5 ET until 7 ET when the local affiliates could show programming. The CBS format resulted in far fewer hours of first-round coverage than under the old ESPN format but allowed the games to reach a much larger audience than ESPN was able to reach.

During this period of near-exclusivity by CBS, the network provided to its local affiliates three types of feeds from each venue: constant feed, swing feed, and flex feed. Constant feeds remained primarily on a given game, and were used primarily by stations with a clear local interest in a particular game. Despite its name, a constant feed occasionally veered away to other games for brief updates (as is typical in most American sports coverage), but coverage generally remained with the initial game. A swing feed tended to stay on games believed to be of natural interest to the locality, such as teams from local conferences, but may leave that game to go to other games that during their progress become close matches. On a flex feed, coverage bounced around from one venue to another, depending on action at the various games in progress. If one game was a blowout, coverage could switch to a more competitive game. A flex feed was provided when there were no games with a significant natural local interest for the stations carrying them, which allowed the flex game to be the best game in progress. Station feeds were planned in advance and stations had the option of requesting either constant or flex feed for various games.

Viewing options emerge
In 1999, DirecTV began broadcasting all games otherwise not shown on local television with its Mega March Madness premium package. The DirecTV system used the subscriber's zip code to black out games which could be seen on broadcast television. Prior to that, all games were available on C-Band satellite and were picked up by sports bars.

In 2003, CBS struck a deal with Yahoo! to offer live streaming of the first three rounds of games under its Yahoo! Platinum service, for $16.95 a month. In 2004, CBS began selling viewers access to March Madness On Demand, which provided games not otherwise shown on broadcast television; the service was free for AOL subscribers. In 2006, March Madness On Demand was made free, and continued to be so to online users through the 2011 tournament. Starting in 2012, it once again became a pay service, with a single payment of $3.99 providing access to all 67 tournament games.

In addition, CBS Sports Network (formerly CBS College Sports Network) had broadcast two "late early" games that would not otherwise be broadcast nationally. These were the second games in the daytime session in the Pacific Time Zone, to avoid starting games before 10 AM. These games are also available via March Madness on Demand and on CBS affiliates in the market areas of the team playing. In other markets, newscasts, local programming or preempted CBS morning programming are aired. CBSSN is scheduled to continue broadcasting the official pregame and postgame shows and press conferences from the teams involved.

NCAA partner AT&T Mobility also broadcasts all games via the MobiTV infrastructure, which is available on phones compatible with AT&T's Mobile TV service. For the iPhone, a premium-charge application is available via the App Store to watch the games.

HDTV coverage
The Final Four has been broadcast in HDTV since 1999. From 2000 to 2004, only one first/second round site and one regional site were designated as HDTV sites. In 2005, all regional games were broadcast in HDTV, and four first and second round sites were designated for HDTV coverage. Local stations broadcasting in both digital and analog had the option of airing separate games on their HD and SD channels, to take advantage of the available high definition coverage. Beginning in 2007, all games in the tournament (including all first and second round games) were available in high definition, and local stations were required to air the same game on both their analog and digital channels. However, due to satellite limitations, first round "constant" feeds were only available in standard definition. Moreover, some digital television stations, such as WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina, choose to not participate in HDTV broadcasts of the first and second rounds and the regional semifinals, and used their available bandwidth to split their signal into digital subchannels to show all games going on simultaneously. By 2008, upgrades at the CBS broadcast center allowed all feeds, flex and constant, to be in HD for the tournament.

Outside of the United States
Though it is an American sporting event, the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament is watched in some other countries.
 * In Canada, TSN has owned the rights to the tournament since 2011, as a result of an international deal between the NCAA and ESPN International (which is a minority investor in TSN).
 * In Australia, the ONE HD network simulcasts the CBS game coverage in HD. ESPN Australia and ESPNHD Australia also simulcast CBS game coverage. As with the Canadian telecast, ONE HD only airs selected games during the later stages of the tournament.
 * In Europe, ESPN America simulcasts the NCAA tournament, including games shown on CBS College Sports, taking the suggested national feed.
 * In Brazil, ESPN and ESPNHD broadcast several of the early stages matchups and all of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament.

Most successful low seeds
Best outcomes for low seeds since expansion to 64 teams in 1985:
 * No #16 seed has ever advanced past the Round of 64.
 * A #15 seed has reached the Round of 32 six times:
 * Richmond over Syracuse in 1991
 * Santa Clara over Arizona in 1993
 * Coppin State over South Carolina in 1997
 * Hampton over Iowa State in 2001
 * Norfolk State over Missouri in 2012
 * Lehigh over Duke in 2012


 * A #14 seed has reached the Sweet Sixteen (Regional Semi-finals) twice:
 * Cleveland State in 1986
 * Chattanooga in 1997


 * A #13 seed has reached the Sweet Sixteen (Regional Semi-finals) five times:
 * Richmond in 1988
 * Valparaiso in 1998
 * Oklahoma in 1999
 * Bradley in 2006
 * Ohio in 2012


 * A #12 seed has reached the Elite Eight (Regional Finals) once:
 * Missouri in 2002


 * An #11 seed has reached the Final Four and played in the national semi-final game three times:
 * LSU in 1986
 * George Mason in 2006
 * VCU in 2011


 * A #10 seed has reached the Elite Eight (Regional finals) seven times:
 * LSU in 1987
 * Texas in 1990
 * Temple in 1991
 * Providence in 1997
 * Gonzaga in 1999
 * Kent State in 2002
 * Davidson in 2008


 * An #8 seed has reached the National Championship three times, one of which was later vacated:
 * UCLA in 1980 (Vacated)
 * Villanova in 1985
 * Butler in 2011


 * A #8 seed has won the National Championship once:
 * Villanova Wildcats in the 1985 tournament.

Best performances by #16 seeds
No team as a #16 seed has ever defeated a #1 seed since the field was expanded to 64 or more teams, though on four occasions, a #16 seed has come within 4 or fewer points of winning:


 * While ultimately Murray State lost to Michigan State by 4 points in 1990, they were the only #16 team to ever take a game into overtime.
 * East Tennessee State lost to Oklahoma in 1989 (1 point, 72–71)
 * Princeton lost to Georgetown in 1989 (1 point, 50–49)
 * Western Carolina lost to Purdue in 1996 (2 points, 73–71)

Additional low-seed trivia

 * Penn's 1979 Final Four appearance is also notable as they made it as a #9 seed—out of 10 teams in their region—making them the lowest seed to make the Final Four in the pre-64-team era.
 * The pairing of #8 seed Butler and #11 seed VCU in the 2011 National Semifinals game had the lowest seeded combination (#8 v. #11) ever to play in a National Semifinals game.
 * Richmond is the only team to win first round games ranked as a #15, #14, #13, and #12 seed.
 * Butler is the only team to make consecutive Final Fours while not being a #1 or #2 seed either time (#5 in 2010, #8 in 2011).
 * 2012 was the only tournament to feature two upsets by #15 seeds over #2 seeds in the round of 64.

Notable point spread upsets
As noted above, despite numerous instances of early-round tournament upsets, no #1 seed has ever lost in the first round to a #16 seed. However, while seeding is one way of measuring the impact of an upset, prior to the implementation of seeding, point spread was the better determinant of an upset, and a loss by a highly favored team remains for many the definition of "upset".


 * Biggest point-spread upsets since expansion to 64 teams in 1985:


 * Norfolk State +21.5 over Missouri 86-84 in 2012
 * Santa Clara +19.5 over Arizona 64–61 in 1993
 * Coppin State +18.5 over South Carolina 78–65 in 1997
 * Hampton +17.5 over Iowa State 58–57 in 2001


 * Biggest point-spread upsets in NCAA Championship Game history:


 * Connecticut +9.5 over Duke, 77–74, in 1999
 * Villanova +9 over Georgetown, 66–64, in 1985
 * Kansas +8 over Oklahoma, 83–79, in 1988
 * North Carolina State +7.5 over Houston, 54–52 in 1983
 * Texas Western +6.5 over Kentucky, 72–65 in 1966

Highly seeded teams
While people are often fascinated by the improbable Cinderella stories, sometimes unusual things have happened with the top-seeded teams, as well.

#1 seeds and the Final Four
Has happened only once, in 2008, when Kansas, North Carolina, UCLA, and Memphis all won their regionals. (Memphis's season was later vacated by the NCAA due to use of an ineligible player, Derrick Rose) Has happened six times:
 * All four #1 seeds making it to the Final Four
 * Two #1 seeds making it to the championship game
 * 1982 North Carolina defeated Georgetown
 * 1993 North Carolina defeated Michigan
 * 1999 Connecticut defeated Duke
 * 2005 North Carolina defeated Illinois
 * 2007 Florida defeated Ohio State
 * 2008 Kansas defeated Memphis

Has happened three times:
 * Tournaments with NO #1 seeds in the Final Four
 * 1980 – Louisville – #2 (champion), Iowa – #5, Purdue – #6, UCLA – #8
 * 2006 – UCLA – #2, Florida – #3 (champion), LSU – #4, George Mason – #11
 * 2011 – Connecticut – #3 (champion), Kentucky – #4, Butler – #8, VCU – #11

Additional #1 seed trivia

 * In 1997, Arizona achieved a record that can only be tied, when it became the only team to beat three #1 seeds in a single tournament. (Due to tournament structure, it is impossible to play a team from each one of the regions in a single tournament, thus the most #1 seeds any team can play in a single tournament is three.)
 * In 2011, the highest seed to advance to the Final Four was #3 seed Connecticut, making the 2011 tournament the only time that neither a #1 seed nor a #2 seed advanced into the final weekend of play. In the same tournament, Butler made history as the first program to make consecutive Final Fours while not being seeded #1 or #2 in either season.
 * There have been sixteen teams that have entered the tournament undefeated. Four of those teams were from UCLA, and those four UCLA teams won each of those tournaments.  However, of the other twelve teams entering the tournament undefeated, only three went on to win the tournament.  For details, see table below
 * In 1980, 1981, and 1982, when the tournament was 48 teams, DePaul was seeded #1 but was defeated in the first round.
 * The University of Maryland in 2002 is the only #1 seed who has won the championship by defeating a #16, 8, 4, 2, and 1 seed- the highest possible seeds they could have faced in each round- en route to the final.

Teams #1 in national polls
The following teams entered the tournament ranked #1 in at least one of the AP, UPI, or USA Today polls and won the tournament:

Undefeated teams not in the Big Dance
The NCAA tournament has undergone dramatic expansion since the 1970s, and since the tournament was expanded to 48 teams in 1980, no undefeated teams have failed to qualify. But before that, there were six occasions on which a team achieved perfection in the regular season, yet did not appear in the NCAA tournament.
 * During 1939, Long Island University finished the regular season undefeated but decided to accept instead an invitation to the NIT (which they won) instead of the NCAA tournament, as the NIT was more prestigious at the time. It wasn't until the mid-1950s that the NCAA required that its tournament would have "first choice" in determining teams for their field. Before then, many of the more successful teams during the regular season chose to play in the NIT instead of the NCAA tournament.
 * During 1940, Seton Hall finished the regular season 19–0, but their record had been built largely against weak teams and thus did not earn them an invitation to the postseason tournament.
 * During 1941, Milwaukee finished the regular season 16–0, but their record had been built largely against weak teams and thus did not earn them an invitation to the postseason tournament.
 * During 1944, Army finished the regular season undefeated. But owing to World War II, the Cadets did not accept an invitation to postseason play.
 * During 1954, Kentucky finished 25–0 and were invited to the tournament, but declined the invitation.
 * During 1973 the North Carolina State Wolfpack finished the regular season 27–0 and ranked #2 (behind undefeated and eventual tournament champion UCLA) but were barred from participating in the NCAA tournament while on probation for recruiting violations.
 * During 1979, the Alcorn State University Braves finished the regular season 27–0, but did not receive an invitation to the NCAA Tournament. The Braves accepted a bid to the NIT, where they lost in the second round to eventual NIT champion Indiana.

Champions excluded the next year
There have been seven times in which the tournament did not include the reigning champion (the previous year's winner):
 * 1978 champion Kentucky went 19–12 in 1979. The Wildcats accepted an invitation to the National Invitation Tournament, losing their first round game in overtime to Clemson, 68–67.
 * Both 1979 champion Michigan State and 1979 runner up Indiana State failed to qualify for the 1980 NCAA tournament. Furthermore, neither was invited to the National Invitation Tournament. (It is noteworthy that Indiana State lost Larry Bird to graduation, and Magic Johnson left Michigan State after his sophomore season to enter the 1979 NBA draft following the 1979 NCAA tournament.)
 * 1983 champion North Carolina State went 19–13 in 1984. The Wolfpack accepted an invitation to the National Invitation Tournament, losing their first round game to Florida State, 74–71 in Reynolds Coliseum.
 * 1986 champion Louisville went 18–14 in 1987. The team declined an invitation to the postseason National Invitation Tournament.
 * 1988 champion Kansas went 19–12 in 1989. However, the team was ineligible for participation in the 1989 NCAA tournament due to NCAA sanctions for recruiting violations.
 * Both 2007 champion Florida and 2007 runner up Ohio State failed to qualify for the 2008 NCAA tournament. Both accepted invitations to that year's postseason National Invitation Tournament. Each made it to that tournament's final four. Florida fell to the University of Massachusetts in the semifinals, and Ohio State defeated UMass in the NIT Championship Game to win the tournament.
 * 2009 champion North Carolina went 16–16 in 2010. The Tar Heels accepted an invitation to the National Invitation Tournament, in which they reached the finals and were defeated by Dayton.

Most National Championships

 * 10 National Championships
 * John Wooden (1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975)


 * 4 National Championships
 * Adolph Rupp (1948, 1949, 1951, 1958)
 * Mike Krzyzewski (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010)


 * 3 National Championships
 * Jim Calhoun (1999, 2004, 2011)
 * Bob Knight (1976, 1981, 1987)


 * Several coaches have won two championships

National championships among active coaches

 * 4 Mike Krzyzewski (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010)
 * 2 Billy Donovan (2006, 2007)
 * 2 Roy Williams (2005, 2009)
 * 1 Jim Boeheim (2003)
 * 1 Larry Brown (1988)
 * 1 John Calipari (2012)
 * 1 Steve Fisher (1989)
 * 1 Tom Izzo (2000)
 * 1 Rick Pitino (1996)
 * 1 Bill Self (2008)
 * 1 Tubby Smith (1998)

Schools Winning a National Championship under Multiple Coaches

 * Five coaches
 * Kentucky: Adolph Rupp, Joe B. Hall, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith, and John Calipari


 * Three coaches
 * Kansas: Phog Allen, Larry Brown, and Bill Self
 * North Carolina: Frank McGuire, Dean Smith, and Roy Williams


 * Two coaches
 * Indiana: Branch McCracken and Bob Knight
 * Michigan State: Jud Heathcote and Tom Izzo
 * North Carolina State: Norm Sloan and Jim Valvano
 * UCLA: John Wooden and Jim Harrick

Most different teams taken to the Final Four

 * Rick Pitino and John Calipari have been to the Final Four with three different schools. Pitino: Providence (1987), Kentucky (1993, 1996, and 1997), and Louisville (2005 and 2012). Calipari: Massachusetts (1996), Memphis (2008), and Kentucky (2011 and 2012). The NCAA Record books only recognize Rick Pitino's three Final Four's due to the NCAA vacation of John Calipari's Massachusetts (1996) and Memphis (2008) Final Fours

Point differentials
Point differentials, or margin of victory, can be viewed either by the championship game, or by a team's performance over the whole tournament.

Championship victory margins
30 points, by UNLV in 1990 (103–73, over Duke)
 * Largest margin of victory in a championship game

Seven times the championship game has been tied at the end of regulation. On one of those occasions (1957) the game went into double and then triple overtime.
 * Overtime games in a championship game
 * North Carolina 54, Kansas 53/3OT (1957)
 * Utah 42, Dartmouth 40/OT (1944)
 * Cincinnati 65, Ohio St. 60/OT (1961)
 * Loyola 60, Cincinnati 58/OT (1963)
 * Michigan 80, Seton Hall 79/OT (1989)
 * Arizona 84, Kentucky 79/OT (1997)
 * Kansas 75, Memphis 68/OT (2008)

1 point, on six occasions
 * Smallest margin of victory in a championship game
 * Indiana 69, Kansas 68 (1953)
 * North Carolina 54, Kansas 53/3OT (1957)
 * California 71, West Virginia 70 (1959)
 * North Carolina 63, Georgetown 62 (1982)
 * Indiana 74, Syracuse 73 (1987)
 * Michigan 80, Seton Hall 79/OT (1989)

Accumulated victory margins
Teams that played 6 games
 * Largest point differential accumulated over the entire tournament by championship teams
 * +129 Kentucky 1996
 * +121 North Carolina 2009
 * +112 UNLV 1990
 * +101 Duke 2001
 * +96 Florida 2006

Teams that played 5 games
 * +115 Loyola of Chicago 1963
 * +113 Indiana 1981
 * +104 Michigan State 1979
 * +69 San Francisco 1955
 * +66 Indiana 1976

Teams that played 4 games
 * +95 UCLA 1967
 * +85 UCLA 1968
 * +78 Ohio State 1960
 * +76 UCLA 1969
 * +72 UCLA 1970
 * +72 UCLA 1972

Teams that played 3 games Achieved seven times by six different schools
 * +56 Oklahoma A&M 1945
 * +52 Kentucky 1949
 * +51 Indiana 1940
 * +47 Kentucky 1948
 * +46 Oregon 1939
 * Teams winning the championship and obtaining a margin of 10 points in every game of the tournament
 * Oregon(1939)
 * Indiana (1981)
 * UCLA (1967)
 * Michigan State (1979 and 2000)
 * Duke (2001)
 * North Carolina (2009)

Round of 64 seed pairing results
Since the inception of the 64-team tournament in 1985, each seed-pairing has played a total of 112 games, with the following results:
 * 1) The #1 seed is 112–0 against the #16 seed (100%).
 * 2) The #2 seed is 106–6 against the #15 seed (94.64%).
 * 3) The #3 seed is 96–16 against the #14 seed (85.71%).
 * 4) The #4 seed is 88–24 against the #13 seed (78.57%).
 * 5) The #5 seed is 74–38 against the #12 seed (66.07%).
 * 6) The #6 seed is 74–38 against the #11 seed (66.07%).
 * 7) The #7 seed is 67–45 against the #10 seed (59.82%).
 * 8) The #8 seed is 54–58 against the #9 seed (48.21%).

Round of 32 seed pairing results
Since the expansion to 64 teams in 1985, the following results have occurred for each pairing:
 * In the 1/16 vs. 8/9 bracket:
 * In the 2/15 vs. 7/10 bracket:
 * In the 3/14 vs. 6/11 bracket:
 * In the 4/13 vs. 5/12 bracket:

Host cities
''This table lists all the cities that have hosted the Final Four, as well as the venues in which the Final Four was played. For additional information about a particular year's tournament, click on the year to go directly to that year's NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.''

Undefeated teams

 * The team's record here refers to their record before the first game of the NCAA tournament.