The history of March Madness

     The first ever men's March Madness tournament was in 1939. The March Madness tournament was actually overshadowed by another tournament that was more prestigious at the time. The NIT or also known as the National invitation tournament featured the best teams. As time went on March Madness began to grow and more of the top teams started to participate. By 1967 the March Madness tournament became the more established tournament as UCLA had won 7 consecutive titles in it. In 1939 the tournament started with only 8 teams, by 1985 it was a total of 64 teams. In 2001 the first ever “Play-in-Game” was added and by 2011 the NCAA had added 3 more “Play-in-games” since then there has been a total of 68 teams with a total of 8 teams having to play in a “Play-in-game” it has now been 85 years since the first March Madness tournament and is now one of the biggest tournaments in college if not in the nation. 

     The first ever women’s March Madness tournament was held in 1982 and had a total of 32 teams. It had expanded to 64 in 1994 and then was later expanded to 68 in 2022. In the Women's first ever March Madness tournament Louisian tech played against Cheyney state, Louisian tech won and was crowned as the first ever women’s March Madness Tournament victor. 

     As the years have gone on March Madness has become more and more popular, there are now challenges for people to create their own perfect bracket prediction. Many companies have used this as a way to promote their product such as Nissan who has a March Madness bracket and if you win, you can win a brand new Nissan car. 

 

Do you watch March Madness?

Do you have a favorite team in this year's March Madness?

Have you participated in making March Madness Brackets?

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  • I do watch march madness. I thought that Kentucky was going to win but they lost first round. I did participate in this years March Madness bracket and I already lost because of Kentucky losing first round. 

    • I agree, i also thought kentucky was gonna win and go far so it ruined all of my brackets as i didn't think oakland would win.

  • I watch March Madness every year, My favorite team in March Madness is probably Iowa State or Creighton and I think both of them will go pretty far in the tournament. I make March Madness brackets every year for girls and boys.

    • I agree i also make march madness brackets every year fo both girls and boys i also agree that Iowa State and Creighton will go far in the tournament.

  • I don't really watch any March Madness games unless my mom turns them on. My family has been rooting for the Iowa State teams. I usually fill out a bracket every year because my mom likes to compare and see who can get the closest to being right.

  • I don't watch march madness because im not interested in basketball at all. I have no favorite team in mrach madness but I would always cheer if either Iowa or Iowa st is in it. I have done march madness brackets before but didn't do one this year.

  • I do watch certain March Madness games, depending on who is playing. I don't really have a favorite team in this year's March Madness. I participate in making March Madness Bracket's every year with my family and family friends.

  • I do watch some of the March Madness tournaments, both men's and women's. My favorite women's team is Iowa and my favorite men's team is Creighton. I have never participated in making brackets in the March Madness tournaments, but if I did, I am sure I would win.

    • I agree i also watch womens and mens march madness, i also agree that right now the favorite mens team is creighton as iowa is not in it.

  • I have been watching some of the men's and women's March Madness games. I was rooting for the Iowa state girls but now that they have gone out of the tournament I am rooting for the Iowa girls. I am participating and in the lead in one of my family's brackets!

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