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March Madness is the popular name for the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. After the NBA this is the most popular Basketball championship championship on the season calendar.

It is a single elimination tournament held during March every year. It is otherwise known as the "Big Dance".

March Madness betting is a very popular pastime for students, basketball fans and most North American sports fans., The reason for this is not only the tam loyalties, but the condensed 3 weeks format culminating in the Final Four which reaches fever pitch and is one of the most popular weekends in sports each year.

The tournament started in 1939 and has a rich history with some dynasty teams and spectacular underdog stories. March Madness betting is enormously popular and takes on all shapes including office pools which are very popular.

The games are all shown live on the CBS network in the US except for the opening game which is broadcast on TNN and ESPN.

The NCAA March Madness Bracket as it is popularly known is made up of four divisions, headlined by the respective divisional champions.

The NCAA selection committee completes the other position in the bracket which follows a seeding process that considers factors such as team rankings and win-loss records.

A total of 65 teams start the contest with the two lowest seeded teams playing an opening round to determine who qualifies for the 64th position in the bracket.

This is also referred to the "in-play" game.

The winners of each region advance to compete in the Final Four, which takes place on the Saturday with the championship match taking place on the Monday.

UCLA currently holds the record for the most titles with 11, and the University of Kentucky is second with 7. The reigning champions are Florida who won the tournament in 2007.

Tournament Play

The NCAA tournament is played over a period of three weeks, usually beginning on the third Thursday in March.

After the sixty-fourth and sixty-fifth teams of the men’s tournament play in an opening round, the real tournament begins. In the women’s tournament, there is no sixty-fifth team so there is no “opening round.”

Over the first two full days of the tournament, the field of 64 teams is pared to 32. In the next two days, the field is trimmed to 16 — the Sweet 16, as it is often called.

These final 16 teams take a four-day break before resuming play on the next Thursday. During the second week of the tournament, the field is trimmed from 16 to four. These teams comprise the tournament’s Final Four.

Each week, teams play at a different site. The Final Four is played at a new venue each year, but is usually played in a major metropolitan area.

While it sounds complicated, the NCAA tournament is actually pretty simple. The tournament keeps subtracting teams until there is only one. That team is the champion of college basketball.