The NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, also known and branded as NCAA March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), to determine the national championship. The tournament was created in 1939 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, and was the idea of The Ohio State University coach Harold Olsen. Played mostly during March, it has become one of the most famous annual sporting events in the United States.

The tournament teams include champions from 32 Division I conferences (which receive automatic bids), and 36 teams which are awarded at-large berths. These 'at-large' teams are chosen by an NCAA selection committee, then announced in a nationally televised event on the Sunday preceding the 'First Four' play-in games, currently held in Dayton, Ohio, and dubbed Selection Sunday. The 68 teams are divided into four regions and organized into a single-elimination 'bracket', which pre-determines, when a team wins a game, which team it will face next. Each team is 'seeded', or ranked, within its region from 1 to 16. After the First Four, the tournament occurs during the course of three weekends, at pre-selected neutral sites across the United States. Teams, seeded by rank, proceed through a single-game elimination bracket beginning with a 'first four' consisting of 8 low-seeded teams playing in 4 games for a position in the first round the Tuesday and Wednesday before the first round begins, a first round consisting of 64 teams playing in 32 games over the course of a week, the 'Sweet Sixteen' and 'Elite Eight' rounds the next week and weekend, respectively, and – for the last weekend of the tournament – the 'Final Four' round. The Final Four is usually played during the first weekend of April. These four teams, one from each region (East, South, Midwest, and West), compete in a preselected location for the national championship.

The tournament has been at least partially televised since 1969. Currently, the games are broadcast by CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV under the trade-name NCAA March Madness. Since 2011, all games are available for viewing nationwide and internationally. As television coverage has grown, so too has the tournament's popularity. Currently, millions of Americans fill out a bracket, attempting to correctly predict the outcome of 63 games of the tournament (not including the First Four 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 (UK) is second, with eight national titles. The University of North Carolina is third, with six national titles, and Duke University and Indiana University are tied for fourth with five national titles. The University of Connecticut is sixth with four national titles. The University of Kansas (KU) & Villanova are tied for 7th with three national titles. Since 1985, when the tournament expanded to 64 teams, Duke has won five championships; North Carolina and Connecticut have each won four; Kentucky & Villanova have three; Kansas & Florida have two; and UCLA, Indiana, Michigan State, and Louisville have one. During that time Villanova, Michigan, UNLV, Duke, Arkansas, Arizona, Connecticut, Maryland, Syracuse, and Florida all won their first championships.

7 hours ago  Filling out brackets for March Madness is no exact science, and neither is betting on college basketball. It's called March Madness for a reason. March Madness betting trends. Most of the money is bet on the spreads of the games. There will be a small amount on moneylines and totals, but fans love to bet big money on their team to win the national title. But not many teams worse than a No. 3 seed has won the tournament. Many analysts say 50 million Americans bet on March Madness picks each year.

March Madness Betting Tips

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It’s finally March, and with the regular season wrapping up this weekend, college basketball is officially reaching its climax.

Conference tournaments are just a short week away, as teams are looking to put the final touches on their ‘resumes’ in what should be a wildly fascinating Selection Sunday.

One of the most overlooked aspects of March Madness is this upcoming week, as conference tournaments serve as one of the foundational pillars of the college basketball season.

While we’ll eventually take a look at each conference up for grabs, let us start at the cream of the crop — the Big Ten.

Coming off a resounding 2020, the Big Ten once again looks like the deepest and most competitive conferences in college hoops.

With six teams in the AP top 25 (#2 Michigan, #5 Illinois, #6 Iowa, #7 Ohio State, #23 Purdue, #25 Wisconsin), and a whopping four teams in the top seven, expect next week’s tournament to be an absolute bloodbath.

March Madness Betting Odds

Along with those six, Maryland, Michigan State, and Rutgers are all squarely on the bubble, and likely need to win a game or two in the conference tournament to ensure an at-large tournament bid.

Here Comes the Paign

At +125, there’s not nearly enough value to consider taking Michigan, as a home loss to Illinois last night served as an important reminder of the fickleness of college hoops.

Instead, I’d rather take a more reasonable stab at +450 on the team that just picked off the Wolverines, especially if All-American point guard Ayo Dosunmo is able to return from a facial fracture suffered last week.

Averaging 21/6/5, Dosunmo completely transforms this Illinois offense, and he makes a great 1-2 punch with center Kofi Cockburn (averaging 17.5 points and 9.8 rebounds).

Guards Trent Frazier, Adam Miller, and Andre Curbelo can all shoot the 3 and handle the ball, providing key relief to both Dosunmu and Cockburn on the offensive end.

March Madness Betting Strategy

This roster is well balanced, experienced, and deep, as head coach Brad Underwood has done a terrific job resurrecting this Illinois program.

Beyond just the Big Ten tourney, expect the Illini to make a deep run into March, and possibly pick off a #1 seed along the way if they don’t end up being one themselves (currently a 2 seed according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi).

With the fifth-best odds to win the National Championship at +1500, you’d be foolish not to consider double-dipping on the Illini.

Other Teams to Look out for

Iowa (+450), Purdue (+1400), Michigan State (+5000)