11 Facts About NCAA March Madness

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Facts About March Madness

1. The annual NCAA college basketball tournament is one of the most frenzied and fun sporting events of the year. So we thought we’d lace up the sneakers, hit the hard-court and score some winning tourney tidbits for our readers.
2. The term “March Madness” was born in Illinois in 1908. According to basketball.org, it was coined by H.V. Porter to describe the Illinois state high school boys basketball tournament.
3. The NCAA started using “March Madness” to describe its basketball tournaments in 1939. And most basketball historians believe Brent Musburger was the sportscaster who helped catapult the term into popularity.
4. In 1999, CBS paid $6 billion (yes, that’s with a “b”) to the NCAA for the television rights to the men’s tourney. It was an 11-year deal. 2011 was the first year CBS shared the TV rights with TNT, TBS and TruTV.
5. The “Big Dance” is another name for the tourney.
6. UCLA has won the most NCAA basketball titles with 11. (Kentucky is second with 7.)
7. On the women’s court, Tennessee has won 8 national titles.
8. The Lady Vols have been to the Big Dance every year since the women’s tourney began in the 1981-82 season.
9. 68 Division 1 teams play in the tourney
10. Do you like to fill out your office bracket every year? I don’t want to burst your bubble, but the odds of completing a perfect bracket are 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 1.
11. Glen Rice. In 1989 Glen Rice scored 184 points in 6 games. including 27 three pointers He ironically only made 7 free throws in the tournament the fewest tournament points leader since the tournament
12. was expanded to 64 teams
13. 1987 features the dramatic Keith Smart shot that gave Indiana the win over Syracuse in the final seconds. Indianas Steve Alford had 138 points in the tournament. NCAAFiiaI