March Madness
basketball
March Madness, informal term that refers to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men’s and women’s basketball championship tournaments and the attendant fan interest in—and media coverage of—the events. The single-elimination tournaments begin each March and consist of fields of 64 (for the women’s tournament) and 68 (for the men’s) teams that qualify either by winning their conference title or by being chosen as an at-large entry by the NCAA’s selection committee.
The first men’s tournament was held in 1939, but it was overshadowed for most of the first two decades of its existence by the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), which was considered more prestigious and usually featured the best teams in the country. The NCAA tournament gradually began to draw the top teams and more television revenue, and, by the time the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), began its record run of seven consecutive titles in 1967, the tournament was firmly established as the premier college basketball postseason championship series in the United States. The size of the tournament field increased incrementally from 8 teams in 1939 to 64 teams in 1985. A 65th team and corresponding “play-in game” were added in 2001, when a new conference with an automatically qualifying champion was created and the NCAA did not want to lower the number of high-profile at-large schools it could invite to the tournament. In 2011 the NCAA added three additional opening-round games to the field, bringing the field to 68 teams. The first women’s tournament was a 32-team event held in 1982, and it expanded to its current field of 64 in 1994.
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The men’s tournament format (not including the play-in games) consists of four subsets known as regions, each of which contains 16 teams that are seeded number 1 to number 16 by the selection committee and then matched up according to seed, with the number 1 seed playing number 16, number 2 playing number 15, and so on. (The selection committee generally comprises university athletic directors and conference commissioners.) Two of the four first-round games pit the four lowest-seeded teams (often the champions of the smallest conferences in the NCAA) against each other to determine two of the 16 seeds, while the other two first-round games feature the final four at-large teams, which are traditionally 11 or 12 seeds. The second- and third-round games take place later in the first week of the tournament at eight geographically dispersed sites, and the 16 teams that move on to the second week (having won both their second- and third-round games) are referred to as the “Sweet Sixteen.” These remaining teams then proceed to four regional sites and are further winnowed to an “Elite Eight” and a “Final Four,” the last of which advances to yet another location for the national semifinals and finals in the third week of the competion. The sizable field often produces pairings of large schools from highly regarded conferences with smaller automatic qualifiers that may result in first-round upsets, which can then lead to underdog teams (known as “Cinderellas”) advancing far in the tournament.
It is a common practice for fans to fill out tournament brackets with their predictions before the event begins and to enter their brackets into office pools (or on the Internet) with friends and coworkers. Studies have shown that American workers become less productive during March Madness, as large numbers of basketball fans frequently monitor the status of their brackets or discuss the tournament (or even watch the games) while on the job.
Winners of the men’s and women’s NCAA Division 1 basketball tournaments are provided in the tables.
year
winner
runner-up
score
*Tournament canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
1982
Louisiana Tech
Cheney (Pa.)
76–62
1983
Southern California
Louisiana Tech
69–67
1984
Southern California
Tennessee
72–61
1985
Old Dominion
Georgia
70–65
1986
Texas
Southern California
97–81
1987
Tennessee
Louisiana Tech
67–44
1988
Louisiana Tech
Auburn
56–54
1989
Tennessee
Auburn
76–60
1990
Stanford
Auburn
88–81
1991
Tennessee
Virginia
70–67
1992
Stanford
Western Kentucky
78–62
1993
Texas Tech
Ohio State
84–82
1994
North Carolina
Louisiana Tech
60–59
1995
Connecticut
Tennessee
70–64
1996
Tennessee
Georgia
83–65
1997
Tennessee
Old Dominion
68–59
1998
Tennessee
Louisiana Tech
93–75
1999
Purdue
Duke
62–45
2000
Connecticut
Tennessee
71–52
2001
Notre Dame
Purdue
68–66
2002
Connecticut
Oklahoma
82–70
2003
Connecticut
Tennessee
73–68
2004
Connecticut
Tennessee
70–61
2005
Baylor
Michigan State
84–62
2006
Maryland
Duke
78–75
2007
Tennessee
Rutgers
59–46
2008
Tennessee
Stanford
64–48
2009
Connecticut
Louisville
76–54
2010
Connecticut
Stanford
53–47
2011
Texas A&M
Notre Dame
76–70
2012
Baylor
Notre Dame
80–61
2013
Connecticut
Louisville
93–60
2014
Connecticut
Notre Dame
79–58
2015
Connecticut
Notre Dame
63–53
2016
Connecticut
Syracuse
82–51
2017
South Carolina
Mississippi State
67–55
2018
Notre Dame
Mississippi State
61–58
2019
Baylor
Notre Dame
82–81
2020
not held*
2021
Stanford
Arizona
54–53
2022
South Carolina
Connecticut
64–49
year
winner
runner-up
score
*Louisville's title was vacated in 2018 because of rules violations committed between 2011 and 2015.
**Tournament canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
1939
Oregon
Ohio State
46–43
1940
Indiana
Kansas
60–42
1941
Wisconsin
Washington State
39–34
1942
Stanford
Dartmouth
53–38
1943
Wyoming
Georgetown
46–34
1944
Utah
Dartmouth
42–40
1945
Oklahoma A&M
New York
49–45
1946
Oklahoma A&M
North Carolina
43–40
1947
Holy Cross
Oklahoma
58–47
1948
Kentucky
Baylor
58–42
1949
Kentucky
Oklahoma State
46–36
1950
CCNY
Bradley
71–68
1951
Kentucky
Kansas State
68–58
1952
Kansas
St. John's (N.Y.)
80–63
1953
Indiana
Kansas
69–68
1954
La Salle
Bradley
92–76
1955
San Francisco
La Salle
77–63
1956
San Francisco
Iowa
83–71
1957
North Carolina
Kansas
54–53
1958
Kentucky
Seattle
84–72
1959
California (Berkeley)
West Virginia
71–70
1960
Ohio State
California (Berkeley)
75–55
1961
Cincinnati
Ohio State
70–65
1962
Cincinnati
Ohio State
71–59
1963
Loyola (Ill.)
Cincinnati
60–58
1964
UCLA
Duke
98–83
1965
UCLA
Michigan
91–80
1966
Texas Western
Kentucky
72–65
1967
UCLA
Dayton
79–64
1968
UCLA
North Carolina
78–55
1969
UCLA
Purdue
92–72
1970
UCLA
Jacksonville
80–69
1971
UCLA
Villanova
68–62
1972
UCLA
Florida State
81–76
1973
UCLA
Memphis State
87–66
1974
North Carolina State
Marquette
76–64
1975
UCLA
Kentucky
92–85
1976
Indiana
Michigan
86–68
1977
Marquette
North Carolina
67–59
1978
Kentucky
Duke
94–88
1979
Michigan State
Indiana State
75–64
1980
Louisville
UCLA
59–54
1981
Indiana
North Carolina
63–50
1982
North Carolina
Georgetown
63–62
1983
North Carolina State
Houston
54–52
1984
Georgetown
Houston
84–75
1985
Villanova
Georgetown
66–64
1986
Louisville
Duke
72–69
1987
Indiana
Syracuse
74–73
1988
Kansas
Oklahoma
83–79
1989
Michigan
Seton Hall
80–79
1990
UNLV
Duke
103–73
1991
Duke
Kansas
72–65
1992
Duke
Michigan
71–51
1993
North Carolina
Michigan
77–71
1994
Arkansas
Duke
76–72
1995
UCLA
Arkansas
89–78
1996
Kentucky
Syracuse
76–67
1997
Arizona
Kentucky
84–79
1998
Kentucky
Utah
78–69
1999
Connecticut
Duke
77–74
2000
Michigan State
Florida
89–76
2001
Duke
Arizona
82–72
2002
Maryland
Indiana
64–52
2003
Syracuse
Kansas
81–78
2004
Connecticut
Georgia Tech
82–73
2005
North Carolina
Illinois
75–70
2006
Florida
UCLA
73–57
2007
Florida
Ohio State
84–75
2008
Kansas
Memphis
75–68
2009
North Carolina
Michigan State
89–72
2010
Duke
Butler
61–59
2011
Connecticut
Butler
53–41
2012
Kentucky
Kansas
67–59
2013
Louisville*
Michigan
82–76
2014
Connecticut
Kentucky
60–54
2015
Duke
Wisconsin
68–63
2016
Villanova
North Carolina
77–74
2017
North Carolina
Gonzaga
71–65
2018
Villanova
Michigan
79–62
2019
Virginia
Texas Tech
85–77
2020
not held**
2021
Baylor
Gonzaga
86–70
2022
Kansas
North Carolina
72–69
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