It’s time for another round of March Madness. By now, you’ve aleady filled out your bracket(s). Is your team still in the running and will they make it to the Final Four?
Whether you are a fan of basketball or not, if you live in North Carolina, especially in or near the “Triangle,” then you cannot escape the Madness in March, which lingers on into April. The rivalaries between these three teams known locally as the Tarheels or just plain “Heels,” the Blue Devils or “Dookies,” and the Wolfpack or “Pack,” are well-known. If you are a transplant to N.C., you will inevitably be asked to choose your favorite team and when March Madness time comes back around next year, you’ll be ready! For those who are still in the tournament, Good Luck and may the best team win.
“The tournament teams include champions from 31 Division I conferences (which receive automatic bids), and 37 teams which are awarded at-large berths. These “at-large” teams are chosen by an NCAA selection committee, as detailed below. The 68 teams are divided into four regions and organized into a single elimination “bracket”, which predetermines, when a team wins a game, which team it will face next. Each team is “seeded”, or ranked, within its region. After an initial four games between eight lower-seeded teams, the tournament takes place over the course of three weekends, at pre-selected neutral sites around the United States. Lower-seeded teams are placed in the bracket against higher seeded teams. Each weekend cuts three-fourths of the teams, from a Round of 64, to a “Sweet Sixteen”, to a “Final Four”; the Final four is usually played on the first weekend in April. These four teams, one from each region, battle it out in one destination for the national championship.
With 11 national titles, UCLA holds the record for the most NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championships; John Wooden coached UCLA to 10 of its 11 titles. The University of Kentucky is second, with 7 national titles, while Indiana University and the University of North Carolina are tied for third with 5 national titles. 2010 champion Duke University ranks fifth with 4 national titles.” (Wikipedia)