Break out your brackets, March Madness is right around the corner. It is the time of year that every college basketball fan patiently waits for. March Madness is the nickname for the NCAA's basketball tournament to determine the seasons National Champion. But before the madness can start, we have to get through Selection Sunday.
Selection Sunday is the day that mens and women's basketball committees decide what NCAA teams have made the cut to be a part of that years' March Madness tournament. Basically, it's the day that college basketball fans are either hovered around a television or eagerly checking their Sports Center app to see if their team has made the cut. This years' Selection Sunday will take place on Sunday, March 13. You can catch the event on both CBS and the NCAA's official website.
The actual process of creating the bracket for the tournament is a long and complicated ordeal; I'm going to attempt to sum it up the best that I can. Each of the 10 members of the committee for Division I men's basketball spends a great deal of time looking over a variety of statistics from teams over the span of their current season during the selection process. They watch hours of game footage, talk to coaches, athletic directors and experts from across the country.
After committee members have done their research, the compilation of the bracket can be broken down into three different phases to determine what 68 teams will participate in March Madness.
1. Selecting the top 36 at-large teams;
2. Seeding the field of 68 teams; and
3. Placing those teams into the final bracket.
The members are committed to have a balance in the bracket between all of the regions so that one may not have an advantage over the others. They are also not allowed to vote for any teams that they represent, either as an athletic director or commissioner.
Like most college basketball fans, I'm completely prepared to see teams such as Kansas, Villanova and Kentucky appear relatively high on the brackets, but that is the thrill of Selection Sunday. You never know what the final bracket will end up looking like. Especially considering that a handful of committee members represent schools such as Duke, Oklahoma and North Carolina, all teams who are having exceptional seasons and are more than likely going to be selected in the top 36 teams at-large.
So while we anticipate the arrival of Selection Sunday, keep telling yourself that this is your year to create the perfect bracket. Even though those odds are 1 in 772 billion.
You're right. You got this.
Let the road to the Final Four in Houston begin!
