Next to the Olympics and World Championships, the NCAA “March Madness” Basketball Tournament is my favorite event. It’s easy to win the National Championships. Just go 6-0 on 3 consecutive weekends. Go Hard or Go Home.
In theory, you throw out all your stats, whether you are 27-0 or 18-12, and start with a fresh slate.
When I was in High School, the NCAA Basketball Tournament had 32 teams. Then that grew to 48 teams by College, and then 64 teams by the time I graduated. Since 2001, a 65th rank team entered the Basketball Tournament with a “play-in” game.
How long will it be before 128 teams make the Tournament?
Ironically, the National semi-finals, better known as the Final Four, is one of the highlights in April for the March Madness Tournament.
From Dynasty teams and Cinderella underdog stories, the NCAA Final Four Tournament is the most exciting team sport to watch next to the Football (Soccer) World Cup. But who has 4 years to wait for that? Speaking of Dynasty Teams, this Blog is loaded with UCLA and John Wooden stories.
Who can ever forget the 1985 NCAA Basketball Tournament when 8th ranked Villanova defeated #1 Georgetown with Patrick Ewing, the year before the 45 second shot clock was introduced? This is the video I show to my athletes because it just demonstrates anyone (or any team for that matter) can win on any give day. Throw out those damn stats. Let them play hard for 40 minutes, and give 100% on the court.
Here is a brief history of the number of teams in the NCAA Basketball Tournament:
- 1939–1950: eight teams
- 1951–1974: varied between sixteen teams and 25 teams.
- 1975–1978: 32 teams
- 1979: 40 teams
- 1980–1982: 48 teams
- 1983: 52 teams (four play-in games before the tournament)
- 1984: 53 teams (five play-in games before the tournament)
- 1985–2000: 64 teams
- 2001—present: 65 teams (with an “opening round” game to determine whether the 64th or 65th team plays in the first round)
iDashboards to the rescue
Last year, iDashboards gave two great real-time live events such as the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Updates on iDashboards and The 2008 U.S. Presidential Election and iDashboards
Now, you can track your team (or office pool) with all the stats for the NCAA March Madness Basketball Tournament… right to the Final Four weekend. Check out the iDashboards NCAA Basketball Tournament below:
Mouse over each of your favorite team, and you can see the entire series of games highlighted.
For your convenience, the 2008 results are displayed, for both Men’s and Women’s games.
Click on the stats on the 2008 Championship game. You can clearly see where Kansas won the game over Memphis.
Be sure to check in on Sunday night when Selection Sunday determines the top 65 teams.
Jimson Lee
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