ODT Online sports contributor Jeff Cheshire turns his attention from rugby to another of his passions, American basketball, to offer an insight into the phenomenon known as March Madness.
What is it?
Here is a quick run-down for those of you not familiar with college basketball. The NCAA tournament, otherwise known as March Madness, brings together 68 of the top college basketball teams in the USA to battle for the national championship. Each of the winners of the 32 conference get automatic bids to the tournament, while the remaining teams are selected by a committee who determines who each of the next best teams are.
The teams are then split into four sections of 17 teams, where 15 teams are given a seeding of one to 16 and the final two play each other in a play-in game for the right to claim the final seed. From where the tournament follows a straight knockout system, where the winner of each game progresses to the next round and the loser goes home. To win the tournament you have to win six straight games, or seven if you were a play-in team.
Make a bracket
One of the most exciting things in the tournament is always trying to pick the winners of all the games, before the tournament starts. It is a near impossible task, shown by the fact that Warren Buffett has put up one billion dollars to any American who can pick the winner of all 63 games.
Unfortunately that particular contest is not open to New Zealanders, but it shows how tough it is to make the perfect bracket.
There are always upsets and picking where they will come is the big challenge. But there is nothing more exciting than following the tournament and seeing how your bracket compares with how it transpires in reality. Go on, give it a go.
The atmosphere, the intensity
You will struggle to find a tournament that can match the atmosphere of this one. It just means so much to everyone involved, be it the players, the coaches or the fans. Given the do-or-die nature of every game, you will see everyone giving 100% in all the games, all the time. The defences are physical and relentless, while the offences are more intelligently thought out than what you will see in the NBA. Once you get a taste of it, it is so hard not to get caught up in all the hype.
It is so cutthroat
So this has been a theme throughout this article, but it deserves its own category as it just makes the tournament so exciting. Each game really means something; if you win, you advance; if you lose, your season is over. Every player wants to win and after a long season of hard work, it can come down to one game, or even one shot sometimes. The match-ups are far from easy to predict and quite often one or two mistakes can be the difference between a win and a loss.
The prospects
If you are an NBA fan who is not so much into the College game, this is your chance to see the best up-and-coming players. The majority of the top players will feature and part of the fun of watching basketball at this level is trying to pick the talent, deciding whether the studs are worth their hype or trying to find a hidden gem who has flown under the radar. There is no better place to see all of these boys in one place than at the NCAA tournament, so keep your eyes peeled, there are a handful of players touted as the next big thing on show this year, be sure to get a glimpse of them before they take the world by storm.
