How Does the March Madness Tournament Work? NCAA March Madness is a single-elimination tournament featuring the best teams in college basketball. The one-and-done format makes it one of the most popular sporting events in the world, rivaling even the Super Bowl. March Madness expanded in 1951 to 16 teams, doubled again in 1975 to 32 teams, and once again to the size it is today with 64 teams in 1985. The term March Madness itself was coined by Henry V Porter who was an Illinois School official in regards to the madness of the tournament. MARCH MADNESS, Does seeding really matter? Name: The Men’s National College Basketball Tournament is played each March and the tourney is often referred to as “March Madness.” The field of 64 is broken into four regional tournaments with teams seeded 1 through 16. There are four number one seeds, one for each region.

How does March Madness work? March Madness is the name that has been bestowed on the annual NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament. The March part of the name comes from when the tournament takes place, over a few wild weeks during that month, while Madness refers to the wildness of wall-to-wall hoops action in which anything can happen. CBS Sports is helping you get ready for March Madness with the latest news, picks, and predictions for the 2021 NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket.

Welcome to FTW Explains: a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. You might think the NCAA tournament starts Thursday, but really, it starts Tuesday with teams fighting for the No. 11 and No. 16 seeds in the First Four round. If you’re confused or wondering why that is, we’re here to help.

If it’s called the First Four, why are some No. 11 seed teams playing and not all No. 16 seeds?

That’s what we’re here to explain. It makes sense that two of the First Four games have teams playing for the No. 16 seeds. But the other two games – this year it’s Arizona State-Syracuse and St. Bonaventure-UCLA – are playing for the No. 11 seeds in the Midwest and East regions. Why?

The short answer is because that’s how the selection committee completes its bracket, and it stems from a rule change in 2016. Keep reading if you want a more in-depth explanation.

But first, the basics…

There are 68 total teams invited to the Big Dance. The selection committee ultimately divides them into four regions – East, West, South and Midwest – and seeds them No. 1 through No. 16. The top-seeded team plays the No. 16 seed in the first round, No. 2 plays No. 15, and so on down to No. 8 vs. No. 9.

But wait, how does that work? Four regions multiplied by 16 teams equals 64, so how are there 68 teams? Glad you asked.

Who gets to go to the NCAA Tournament?

The field of teams expanded from 64 to 68 in 2011. Now, 32 teams automatically qualify for the tournament by winning their conference tournament, and the remaining 36 are given an at-large bid based a variety of factors, including number of regular-season wins, quality of wins and strength of schedule.

Where do they go from there?

Once the 36 at-large teams are chosen, all the teams are ranked from No. 1 to No. 68 – what’s known as their “true seed.” More via the NCAA:

(The) committee will compare teams on the seed list with one another, a process known as “scrubbing,” to make sure the group is comfortable with the order in which the teams are ranked. Teams are carefully compared with one another, the first seed versus the second, the second versus the third and down to No. 67 versus No. 68.

From that list of 68, the last four seeds – so Nos. 65 to 68 – are half of the First Four round, playing each other for the No. 16 seed in two of the regions. Those are the lowest-ranked teams to receive automatic tournament bids.

Then, still looking at the ranked list of 68, the lowest four teams with at-large bids are identified and make up the other half of the First Four round games playing for No. 11 seeds. They are not the lowest-ranked teams overall, so they don’t compete for the other No. 16 seeds. But they are the lowest of the at-large teams, and because of that, their NCAA tournament starts a day or two early.

Can you simplify it more?

Yes. The First Four games are played by eight teams. Two games are played by the four lowest-ranked teams with automatic bids, and the other two are played by the four lowest-ranked teams with at-large bids.

Is it bad to be playing in the First Four?

Not necessarily. Sure, it means a team’s tournament starts a day or two earlier and it plays an extra game, but that doesn’t always mean it’s off to a bad start. In 2011, VCU was a First Four team and advanced all the way to the Final Four on a spectacular Cinderella run.

How Does March Madness Seeding Work In

Also, according to the NCAA, since the First Four round started, a winner has always advanced at least one additional round.

So what teams are playing in the First Four round?

How Does March Madness Bracket Scoring Work

Who: No. 16 LIU-Brooklyn (18-16) vs. No. 16 Radford (22-12)
When: Tuesday, 6:40 p.m. ET
TV channel: truTV
Up next: The winner of this game advances in the East Region and will face No. 1 Villanova on Thursday.

Who: No. 11 St. Bonaventure (25-7) vs. No. 11 UCLA (21-11)
When: Tuesday, 9:10 p.m. ET
TV channel: truTV
Up next: The winner of this game will take on No. 6 Florida in the East Region on Thursday.

Who: No. 16 Texas Southern (15-19) vs. No. 16 N.C. Central (19-15)
When: Wednesday, 6:40 p.m. ET
TV channel: truTV
Up next: The winner of this game will play No. 1 Xavier in the West Region on Friday.

How Does March Madness Seeding Worksheet

Who: No. 11 Syracuse (20-13) vs. No. 11 Arizona State (20-11)
When: Wednesday, 9:10 p.m. ET
TV channel: truTV
Up next: The winner will advance to play No. 6 TCU in the Midwest Region on Friday.

How March Madness Seeding Works

How

How Does March Madness Seeding Worksheets

Want an even more in-depth explanation of how this all works?

How Does Seeding Work Torrent

If your answer is yes, head over to the NCAA’s website for that.