I’m not really a basketball fan, although I do seem to pay a little closer attention to college teams than pro teams. But one thing I usually look forward to is “March Madness.” I admit that one reason is that when March Madness arrives that means that spring is here or right around the corner.
March Madness is the yearly college basketball tournament held by the NCAA that runs from mid-March to early April. Today, March Madness is pretty much the pinnacle of sports in the month of March. Football is in the distance in the rear view mirror and baseball hasn’t started yet — hockey season is underway, but it takes a back seat to the basketball tournament.
Well, I got to wondering why the tournament is called “March Madness,” so my extensive research mode kicked in…. here’s what I discovered, in case you’re interested.
March Madness actually wasn’t the first postseason college basketball tournament — the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) began in 1938. That was the most popular tournament for a few years, but what is now referred to as March Madness has long since overtaken the NIT as the top college basketball tournament.
The first NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament was held in 1939 — a year after the first NIT tournament. The 1939 tournament featured just eight teams. Over the years, the tournament grew from an eight-team tournament to 16 teams in 1951. In 1975, it doubled to 32 teams and doubled again in 1985 to 64 teams. Currently, 68 teams make it into the tournament with eight teams participating in play-in games to make the official first-round field of 64.
Now back to the name “March Madness”— the term was first used in 1939 by an Illinois high school official, Henry V. Porter. He referred to the original eight team tournament by that name, writing in a high school athletic magazine, “A little March madness may complement and contribute to sanity and help keep society on an even keel.” But — the term didn’t become associated with the NCAA tournament until 1982, when CBS broadcaster Brent Musburger used it during his coverage of the tournament. Interestingly, Musburger claims that he got the term from car dealership commercials he saw while broadcasting the Illinois state high school basketball tournament.
There have been 80 NCAA tournaments between 1939 and 2019 (there was no tournament in 2020 because of CoVID.)
Kentucky has the most NCAA tournament appearances (58) and NCAA tournament wins (129.)
UCLA has has the most NCAA men’s basketball national championships with 11
Duke’s Mike Kzyzewski has the most NCAA tournament wins by a single coach — 97.
So we’re down to the final four and in a few days we’ll know who the 2021 March Madness champion will be. All four teams deserve to be there — they all beat everyone they faced in the tournament… I wish them all luck and good shots — Charles Barkley said the only difference between a good shot and a bad shot is if it goes in or not.
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