How to Get Ready for March Madness

March Madness is one of the most entertaining events in the US sports calendar. Thousands of people place bets on their favorite basketball teams and wager on predictions of aspects like best players and points scored. This event takes place over a few weeks, starting March 14, with the final held on April 3.

March Madness is by far one of the most significant events in the US calendar for sports enthusiasts and is extremely popular with sports bettors. If you want to become part of the action and place March Madness bets, you can use this article to get ready for this massive event. 

What is March Madness?

March Madness is an annual event where US college basketball teams compete against each other until the final victor emerges. Sixty-eight teams compete to win the NCAA Division I Championship in a single-elimination tournament over a few weeks starting in March. There are both men’s and women’s divisions, and the NCAA Division I is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics. 

The NCAA, or National Collegiate Athletics Athletic Association in the US, is the sanctioning body of this event. 

To kick off the madness, schools have 32 local conferences to see which teams compete in the national tournament, with the winning teams known as an automatic bid. 

Other teams who did not win at their local conferences can still compete if they impressed the NCAA enough to warrant an invitation, known as the at-large berths. There is no set formula for how the NCAA chooses these teams, but they take plenty of stats and rankings into account to make the final decisions. The names of these teams were announced on a televised event called “Selection Sunday,” scheduled on March 13, 2023. 

Once all 68 teams have been announced, they start competing in the regionals part of the event. This is either East, South, Midwest, and West or named after specific cities ,as in the women’s league. 

To start following the event, you have to find the brackets where your favorite teams are playing. These are the schedules for the teams, and it’s usually represented in a tree diagram, and you can easily find it on the NCAA website or most US news outlets. To place your wagers, you should get to know the teams in the brackets, the players, and the coaches. 

History of March Madness

The first March Madness event was held in 1939, when only eight teams participated. In 1951, this number doubled to 16, and in 1985, it took on 64 teams. By 2011, four more teams were added to make the 68-teams event we know and love today.

The term March Madness wasn’t originally used for the event. An Assistant Executive Secretary of the Illinois High School Association, Henry Porter, was so impressed with the tournament back in the 1930s he started to call it March Madness, and other sports writers followed suit.

What are Seeds?

Before you can begin participating in March Madness, you have to understand what seeds are. Before any games are played, the teams are ranked one through to 68, with one being the best team. This is based on season and conference performance. In the opening round of the event, four teams, known as the First Four, are eliminated. 

From here, the teams are split into 16 regions, with each team ranked from one to 16. This ranking is called the team’s seed. When the teams play against each other, the better teams are rewarded by being paired with the weakest teams. For instance, team one will play team 16. In theory, the best teams will have the easiest opening games. 

You have to take these seeds into account when participating in March Madness.

How Can You Participate in March Madness?

You can participate in the Bracket Challenge Game, which is the official bracket game of the NCAA. It opens to the public right after the teams have been announced on Selection Sunday and locks before the first game of the first round. 

You can also look at top online casinos offering sportsbooks to place different bets on the games. Here, you’ll find stats and odds for various parts of each game. You can choose what you want to place bets on, including aspects like the best player in the match, the final score, the half-time score, and more. 

Conclusion

March Madness is a fun and popular event in the US sports calendar, and you can participate through the NCAA site or place bets with an official sportsbook. Ensure you’re well-informed by reading up on the teams’ performances, players, and coaches while following the event. You can watch it live through the most popular broadcasters, although you’ll be pleased to know that many reputable sportsbooks also offer live viewings of games. Have fun this March with March Madness!