© Sports the other press Flash Gordon dcsportseditor@yahoo.ca March 24, 2004 A March Madness Guide Flash Gordon Sports Editor What does it all mean anyhow? It’s March and it’s Madness. “Nuff said? I didn’t think so. Like the pre- vious entries of my condescending rants, this guide serves as an intro- duction to the phenomenon of the NCAA Basketball Tournament that occurs every year in the month of March with 64 Division 1 col- lege and university basketball teams. I will endeavor to explain the complexities of the tournament from the selection of all 64 teams and how they are seeded; the implications of the NCAA confer- ence finishes; general terminology; some hints on who might win in 2004; and maybe at the end I'll have room for dessert. “Why?” you say. “Why not?” some other guy says. How about a history lesson? The March Madness event was created by a high school in Illinois in the early 1900's for the state basketball tournament. No really! I just looked it up. It began as an invita- tional tournament but as it grew in popularity, the number of partici- pant high schools grew up to 16. Some guy wrote an essay on how neat it was that the tournament was becoming such an event and dubbed it March Madness. How friggin’ keen is that? Anyway histo- ry moves on and NCAA adopts the name for its annual tournament and voila. Who won the first NCAA March Madness tourna- ment? Do I look like a history teacher? I'll give you this piece of trivia; UCLA has won the Division One championship more than any other school! So now we have 64 teams! Then 32! Then the Sweet 16! The Elite Eight! And Finally the Final Four. Every two rounds are played out over four days; from Thursday to Sunday until the final four teams are reached then the games are more spread out to create suspense. The initial weeks are the most intense and exciting moments for basketball fans since their favourite game can be watched almost non- stop. “Why 64 teams?” you ask. “Why not?!” It’s a nice round number to boil down to a final match-up via the eliminating rounds. The teams are selected from all over the US out of the many conferences that make up the NCAA. Generally conferences are intended to reflect a geographic area for example my personal favourite, The Big East. The Big East is made up of teams from New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, West Virginia, Connecticut, and even Florida. That’s probably not all of the states from which the Big East draws from but you get the idea since they are all Easterly states. Conference arrangements also extend to other collegiate sports just like our very own BCCAA that has basketball, soccer, volleyball and badminton. Now why are these conferences important for the March Madness tournament? They give the selec- tion committee some frame of ref- erence to judge the best teams in the country, Each conference has developed a tradition of competi- tion and because of that; some are notably stronger than others. The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a powerhouse with some awe- some schools. Every year their schools almost automatically get entered in the tournament just because of their past success. Other conferences in the northwest don't have such a history of success so a team must really have had an amaz- ing season to be elevated to the level of the March Madness tour- nament. On the west coast teams such as the Gonzaga University Bulldogs is a part of the WCC, a small conference yet Gonzaga con- sistently draws attention to itself each year gaining entry into the tournament. So how do the teams get select- ed? The process is a bit of a mystery and suspiciously arbitrary in nature. The selection committee is expected to rank every school in the nation and say one team is bet- ter than another even though two teams may have never played each other during the season. Again the conference results and tradition play a big factor in which teams gain entry. In the stronger confer- ences like the Big East, teams can be selected even if they don’t win their conference title since their season is supposed to be stronger. If you aren't lost by now let’s press on to less confusing topics. What is a 5-12 upset? To break it down for the peons, like I said before, the tournament is made up of 64 teams, which in turn are sep- arated into four conferences of 16 teams. All you math geniuses ought to see where that comes from. History has shown that the No.5 and No.12 seeds match-up in the first round every year and for some reason it’s one of the most common upsets. To receive a ranking of No.5 in any of the conferences is like doom! “Doom!” I say. Upsets can be the most exciting aspect of tournament games. Always a fan of . the underdog, J cheer the first team to make the most dramatic upset in the first round of play. Underdogs rarely make it to the final stage of the tournament. The stronger teams usually prevail. Last years champions, the Syracuse Orangemen are back in the tourna- ment and as much as | would like for them to win again and embar- tass Brian McLennon’s Georgetown Hoyas, it’s probably not going to happen. I’m not will- ing to wager on the outcome of the tournament just because I'd rather just enjoy the games with a beer in hand, maybe some Doritos nearby, and some hotdogs. Happy basket- ball watching to one and all. NCAA 4 Lie ROUND Rad T14 A St. Louis bea T gle 2 bed iid "NCAA Division | Championship Opening Round Game - March 16 Lehigh vs. Florkis A&M bidentate APRIL J Atlanta NCAA Champion Phoenix wesnth : East Rutherford ese: Page 18 e http://www.otherpress.ca