History of College Basketball and March Madness

The annual NCAA men’s basketball tournament, otherwise known as ‘March Madness’ is one of the most popular sporting events of the year in the United States. It is also one of the busiest for bookmakers, with college basketball betting enthusiasts coming out of the woodwork to wager on the event. 65 college basketball teams are selected to play in the event every year, with the two lowest seeds competing in a ‘play in game’ for the right to advance to the main bracket. The tournament has grown in size and stature over the past several decades and the size of the field has increased as well. From 32 teams in the mid 1970’s, the field was gradually enlarged from 48 teams in the early 1980’s to 64 teams in the middle of the decade. The 65th team and the ‘play in’ game was added in 2001. 30 teams receive automatic bids for winning their respective conference titles, with the remaining 34 ‘at large’ bids selected by the NCAA. There has been talk in recent years of expanding the field even further, but there are currently no concrete plans to do so.

March Madness is big business not only for the sports media but for the NCAA as well. CBS pays the NCAA with over $500 million US annually, which comprises over 90% of the organization’s annual budget. The tournament has also become the second largest sports betting event of the year in the United States, trailing only the Superbowl. In addition to formal betting on the game with Las Vegas and offshore sports books, NCAA tournament office pools are ubiquitous in businesses and organizations of every size. With 18.4 quintillion possible combinations for winners in the 65 team field, this makes the odds against picking a correct bracket at random substantially greater than being fatally injured in a lightning strike (2.3 million to 1) or becoming an astronaut (13.2 million to 1).

Historically, several schools have dominated the NCAA hoops tournament led by UCLA which has won the championship 11 times. Kentucky is second with 7 tournament victories followed by Indiana and North Carolina who are tied for third with 5 championships each. The most recent back to back winner of the NCAA basketball championship was the University of Florida, who won the title in 2006 and 2007.