March Madness

By: Trevaughn Johnston

Every March, sixty-eight teams, countless Cinderella stories, and millions proved that March madness is the only way to describe NCAA crowning achievement. March Madness started March 27,1939 by Henry V. Porter to establish a true national champion and compete with other national teams and intense excitement in the arena. The 87th edition of the tournament is scheduled to begin on March 17, 2026, and will conclude with the championship game on April 6 in Indianapolis, Indiana. CPS sports and TNT sports have had US television rights to the tournament since 2016. The NCAA tournament field grew to 16 teams in 1951, doubled to 32 in 1975 and expanded to 64 teams in 1985. In 2011, the tournament size expanded to 68 teams.

The term “March Madness” was first used in a reference to basketball by an Illinois high school official, Henry V.Porter, in 1939. Later on, in 1971-1984 two major changes were added. The NCAA added a rule in 1971 that banned teams who declined an invitation to the NCAA tournament from participating in other post season tournaments. The 2nd rule added was that the NCAA allowed multiple teams per conference starting in 1975. Furthermore, in 2001 they wanted to expand the division receiving an automatic bid, pushing teams to 65 later on in 2011, three more teams were added, and also three more games. The highest scoring game in NCAA tournament history was on March 18, 1990, when Loyola Marymount beat Michigan by a final score of  149-155 in total 264 points. Austar Carr holds the record for the most points scored in a NCAA tournament game, with 61 against Ohio in 1970. Kentucky has the most NCAA tournament appearances with 62 followed by North Carolina with 53. Since the tournament no team has more NCAA championships than UCLA with 11 followed by Kentucky with 8.

March madness has influence towards the NBA because the NBA draft takes place three months after the NCAA tournament, the NBA executives have to decide how players perform in a maximum of seven games. The first four, the championship game, should affect their draft decision, the more games the player plays the higher the draft than he would’ve been in. Television revenues also influence the NBA because the NCAA has had a contract with CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery. The contract splits between both their advertisements and different types of subscription fans like to buy.