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How Final Four College Basketball Works | Page 1

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March Madness & Final Four is a phenomenon that grips the national sports psyche from the first week of March through the first week of April. March Madness & Final Four is the moniker that is given to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments. These tournaments determine the national champions of college basketball.

The NCAA tournaments are an American tradition that sends millions of fans into a synchronized frenzy each year. It is this chaos that gives the tournament its March Madness & Final Four nicknames. March Madness & Final Four is the concentrated hype of 65 teams vying for college basketball's biggest prize. It's the last-second, buzzer-beating baskets, the euphoria of winning to play another day, and the agony of losing and going home.

In this article, we will break down the brackets of the NCAA Basketball Tournament and look at how teams are selected, how they are seeded and how the champions of college basketball are determined.

College Basketball Basics - Final Four

A single governing body, known as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), is charged with overseeing the 1,200 voluntary college and university members that comprise the association. Volunteers from the association's member schools manage the organization and make rules to ensure fairness among all intercollegiate athletics.

Among the 1,200 colleges and universities that make up the NCAA, only 1,006 are considered active members.

According to the NCAA an active member is a four-year college or university or a two-year, upper-level collegiate institution that has been accredited by the appropriate regional accrediting agency and duly elected to active membership under the provisions of the Association bylaws.

Active members are allowed to compete in tournaments and other championship events.

College Basketball Divisions - Final Four

These 1,006 schools are divided into three categories and must follow rules specific to their division. Here are some of the factors that the NCAA uses to delineate between the three divisions.

Division I - These schools must sponsor at least seven sports each for men and women, or six for men and eight for women, with two team sports for each gender. Men's and women's basketball teams must play all but two of their games against Division I teams, and men must play a third of their contests in their designated home arena. Schools have a minimum and maximum number of scholarships they can award. Of the three divisions, Division I is the most prominent and receives the most publicity.

Division II - These schools must sponsor at least four sports each for men and women, with two team sports for each gender. Men and women's basketball teams must play at least half of their games against Division I or Division II schools. There are no minimum home game requirements for this division.

Division III - These schools must sponsor at least five sports each for men and women, with two team sports for each gender. Unlike Divisions I and II, Division III schools do not offer athletic scholarships.

One of the NCAA's duties is to organize the annual basketball tournament for men's and women's college basketball of each division. Each tournament is based on a single-elimination format.

Since the Division I tournament is the most prominent, and the format for all of the tournaments is the same, the rest of this article focuses on the Division I tournament. In the next section, you will learn more about the tournament format.

Tickets to the Dance - Final Four

There are 327 teams in Division I college basketball, and each one begins every basketball season with one dream -- winning the national championship. But before these teams can win the championship, they must make the field of teams that are invited to the tournament. Sixty-five men's teams and 64 women's teams are granted invitations.

Teams for both the men's and women's tournament are chosen by a selection committee, which is comprised of select university athletic directors and conference commissioners.

» Continue to part two...

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