March Madness Brackets

March Madness has arrived with a bang! We are on the cusp of a fantastic month of NCAA basketball. This rollicking tournament has everybody chomping at the bit, raring to go. As the premier basketball event of the year, March Madness – the NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball tournament – is an adrenaline-loaded extravaganza of unbelievable plays and gravity-defying dunks. This single-elimination basketball tournament features 68 teams going head-to-head over 7 rounds of grueling competition. If that sounds tough to you, it is!

Of the 68 teams in the contest, just one will be crowned the winner in the national championship. To get there, we to chart a course to victory and that's precisely where the March Madness brackets come into play. Every year, the brackets change, based on the teams that are competing, their current performance, and their likely path to victory. The penultimate round of play is known as the Final Four – a highly anticipated stage of the competition. As its namesake suggests, there are just 4 teams competing at this stage of the game. Is it tough to get into the Final Four? You betcha!

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What exactly are March Madness Brackets?

Well, we already know that Selection Sunday takes place on March 15, 2020, and this date may change from one season to the next. On Selection Sunday, the NCAA men's Division 1 basketball Selection Committee will provide details of the basketball bracket. This is the roster of all teams competing in the tournament, including the ranking (seeding). The 2020 in two double layer men's division 1 basketball tournament schedule kicks off in fine form on March 15, with the following rounds of play:

March 15 – Selection Sunday at 6 PM Eastern time
March 17/18 – First 4 in Dayton Ohio
March 19/21 – 1st/2nd Rounds (Albany, Spokane, Saint Louis, Tampa)
March 20/22 - 1st/2nd Rounds (Greensboro, Omaha, Sacramento, Cleveland)
March 26/28 – Midwest Regional (Indianapolis)
March 26/28 – West Regional (Los Angeles)
March 27/29 – South Regional (Houston)
March 27/29 – East Regional (New York)
April 4/6 – Final Four & Title (Atlanta)

The above tournament format is important. It indicates where the Regional Final Sites are, and that is exactly will the action is going to be taking place in the latter stages of the tournament. These include Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Houston, and New York. The most-watched stage of the tournament will be the Final Four and the championship title between April 4 and April 6.

How Are ‘Big Dance’ A.K.A. March Madness Teams Chosen?

 may be curious to know how the March madness teams are chosen? There are a couple pathways to the big time in the NCAA Men's Division 1 Basketball tournament. First off, each of 32 Division 1 Conferences gets an automatic bid. These conferences then award these to the NCAA basketball teams that win the postseason conference. Doesn't matter how the teams perform during the regular season. If they are eligible for the postseason period of play, and they go on to win the conference tournament, the bid is theirs. These team get the nod as ‘Automatic Qualifiers’ for the tournament.

There is another option available. This is known as at-large bidding. On Selection Sunday (March 15, 2020), the selection committee will convene. This takes place after all Regular-Season and Conference Tournament games have played. This committee will then determine which 36 teams will be able to earn an invitation to the March Madness tournament. Be advised that these teams are not automatic qualifiers to the NCAA March Madness division 1 basketball tournament. There are couple of things to know about seeding and at-large bids for March Madness. We'll get to that in just a second, but now let’s take a look at some of the college basketball lines we’ve got for you at 888sport NJ.

What are At-Large Bids for March Madness?

Well, the automatic bids we spoke of earlier are based on the performance of the team in a past competition. There are not based on subjective picking. These At-Large Bids are really the only way into the NCAAB tourney if a team didn't win during its conference tournament. After Selection Sunday – when regular and conference tournament games have been played - the Selection Committee makes decisions about the teams that didn't automatically qualify. Each of these 36 teams has an opportunity to be selected as an At-Large Bid. That's pretty much how it works.

Seeding is pretty important in March Madness, given that there are 68 teams in the tournament. The top-ranking teams (Top 10) each have a shot of winning the tournament, while the lower-ranked teams statistically stand very little chance of making it into the Final Four and winning. The #1-ranked team – the #1 seed – is the best team in college basketball, NCAA Basketball. These rankings are based on actual performances during the regular season and in the conference tournaments. Once the season gets underway, the First Four teams that are eliminated in the opening round will reduce the competitive field to just 64 teams.

Folks, that's how we put things together for determining the March Madness Brackets. I’m going to be watching this closely in the next couple of weeks, and will have our roster out ASAP.

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