March Madness USA

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.