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7 Facts About March Madness That You Don’t Know

By Elisabeth French|Updated on July 6, 2023 (originally published on March 9, 2018)

The time has come; sports fans across the country are getting ready to obsess over their brackets. In a few weeks from now, we can expect to see devastating losses, astounding athleticism and buzzer beaters dominating headlines, like Kris Jenkins of Villanova's final shot in the 2016 National Championship. Emma Dorshimer, a Gettysburg College Basketball athlete said, she is “Rooting for Villanova because they're consistent and work hard.” March Madness is the phenomenon that has captivated sports fans for many decades, keeping them tuned in daily to 67 games of basketball. The concentration of 68 teams vying for the most highly recognized title in men's basketball provokes an intense frenzy between athletes and sports fanatic alike.

Sports fanatic or not, I suppose we've all heard the term March Madness, however what about the history…do you know much about it? I certainly didn't. The phrase “March Madness” was first coined by the NCAA is 1982 when sportscaster, Brent Musburger, uttered it during his coverage of the tournament. It wasn't until 1996 that a legal predicament with a Boys High School Basketball Championship occurred and the legal proceedings came to an unusual conclusion. Both parties have been granted their separate trademark of the term.

Here are 7 facts about March Madness that you might not have known:

Only EIGHT teams competed in the first NCAA tournament. Oregon, nicknamed the “Tall Firs” beat all the other seven teams to win the first NCAA men's basketball championships in 1939. In the championship game they defeated Ohio State University 46 to 33. “Tall Firs” got their nickname due to the height of their starting front court. The tournament has grown exponentially in size and popularity since 1939. In just 12 years the size doubled to 16 teams in 1951 and in just another 24 years it nearly quadrupled in size in 1975 to 64 teams. Now the current tournament draws 68 teams to the courts.
UCLA Bruins are the MOST successful team in the NCAA men's tournament.The Bruins have taken home a record 11 championships, with 10 of them under the legendary coach John Wooden between 1964 and 1975. However, the Kentucky Wildcats are not too far off, holding 8 titles with their most recent being in 2012, defeating Kansas.
Kansas City Missouri has hosted MORE Final Fours than any other city. The tournament's final rounds have been hosted 10 times in Kansas City. Coincidently, and quite appropriately, the University of Kansas is less than an hour away from where Dr. James Naismith, invented and coached basketball.
The longest period of not qualifying for the tournament lasted 66 YEARS. Harvard earned an automatic bid in the 2011-2012 season when they won the Ivy League regular season title ending their 66-year drought from the NCAA tournament. Harvard had previously not competed in the tournament since 1946. However, Dartmouth is entering their 59th year of not competing, so they could be approaching and even exceeding Harvard's previous record.
The THREE phases of determining the tournament teams. During the process, the Division I Men's Basketball Committee evaluates a range of information. Through their observations, discussions with coaches, directors of athletics and commissioners, and reviews and comparisons of data, they ultimately determine selections, seeding and bracketing. The process is broken into three phases: firstly, they select the 36 best at-large teams; secondly, they seed the field of 68 teams; lastly, they place the teams into the championship bracket.
Selection Sunday is everything you NEED to know. March Madness begins with Section Sunday on March 11th, when the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee reveals the 68 teams which have made the cut for this year's championship. The show will be live streamed on the NCAA website.
NCAA requires 70,000 SEATS at the tournament arena. The NCAA requires there be a seating capacity of at least 70,000 seats. This requirement began in 1997 with the minimum being 40,000 seats, but has since changed in 2009 to the new minimum.