March Madness 2015 Is Here

March Madness 2015 is here.

Half the teams were eliminated in the first round, and the round of 32 is underway.

March Madness (the trademarked nickname for the NCAA's annual 68-team tournament to determine the men's basketball champion) is a cultural event, one that's swelled beyond the normal boundaries of the sports world. Even if you're not a huge basketball fan, there's a good chance you might be invited to fill out a bracket or comment on a big upset.

As such, you might have some questions about March Madness. We have some answers.

1) How does March Madness work?

The NCAA bracket, updated after day two. (NCAA)

March Madness is a single-elimination tournament between 68 men's college basketball teams. This year, it runs from March 17 through April 6. The women's tournament has 64 teams but otherwise works the same, and runs from March 20 through April 7.

Teams make it into the tournament one of two ways: about half get an automatic bid by winning their conference tournaments (conferences are regional groups of teams that play one another, such as the Big Ten), and half get at-large bids, awarded by the official NCAA selection committeebased on who it thinks deserves to get in.

The NCAA tournament's structure is simple. After four of the lower-ranked teams were eliminated in a "play-in" round, the 64 teams played each other, with the winners moving on and the losers going home. The field has now narrowed to 32 teams, and will then shrink to the "Sweet 16," the "Elite 8," the "Final Four," and the championship. Whoever wins the championship cuts down the nets in celebration — a tradition that dates to 1947.


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Source Vox.com