Do you know what March Madness is? Are you wondering what teams are playing? March Madness is a single-elimination tournament of 68 teams played in the US to determine the men’s college basketball national champion of the Division 1 level in the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Known for the many upsets of favored teams, it’s one of the biggest annual sporting events in the U.S.
Out of the 68 teams in the March Madness tournament, 32 are conference champions of the 32 NCAA conferences. There is a committee that selects the 36 best teams not otherwise automatic qualifiers for their conference to fill the remaining spots. There is no limit on the number of teams the committee may select from one conference.
There have been 80 March Madness tournaments since the first one in 1939. One of the favorite teams is UConn with 57% of panelists backing up UConn to win the back-to-back national title after winning last year’s tournament. Duquesne University is a local Pittsburgh university that has made it to the tournament for the first time since 1977 and is a local favorite. Duquesne made it to the second round, but unfortunately lost to Illinois on Saturday, March 23.
Games started on Tuesday, March 19 and will end on Monday, April 8.