College Basketball - High School Basketball - Boys Basketball

Basketball lovers, are you up for the season's BIGGEST sports event? Yes, the count down for NCAA Men's basketball Final Four has begun! The square root March is going to host the most arduous and toughest championship called NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four Tournament. Every March, the NCAA Selection Committee selects 65 college basketball teams to show the best in the tournament.

Bursting at the seams with such shades of sport as anticipation, aggression, energy, excitement, and spirit, the event is often called March Madness. In the March Madness, the NCAA college basketball teams compete against each other to take home the tournament's biggest prize, the NCAA trophy. But, who's going to walk away with the NCAA Trophy this time? Well, one who plays well will deserve it! It's indeed a big honor for the winning team as well as the state they represent.

Let's go back to the beginning of the 20th century, when NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament was born in Illinois. It would hold annually and was primarily a small invitational affair tournament for a high school boy's basketball team. Later on in 1908, under the sponsorship of the Illinois High School Association, the tournament grew into a statewide competition. By the late 1930's, over 900 schools had competed for the trophy. It was not before 1939 when the history of college basketball turned over a new leaf. The year saw the first National Championship Tournament in the country...

...The first Basketball National Championship Tournament was sanctioned by NCAA and conducted by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. The tournament included only one team from each of the NCAA's eight districts; 4 from the east and 4 from the western tour. The winner from the west camp would than go on to play for the east in the national championship. Teams were chosen on these bases until 1950, when the NCAA tournament expanded to 16 teams.

The following year saw a new addition of the 'Final Four', hence adding a new page to the history of the College Basketball. With the 'Final Four', the number of regional tournaments was raised from 2 to 4. This addition turned NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament into more exciting event while drawing more fans to the stadium. Until the Final Four, the NIT was considered a more prestigious tournament than the NCAA. While, teams too would often chose to enter the NIT and bypass the NCAA tourney. The Tournament continued attracting basketball teams and basketball lovers alike.

In 1975, the NCAA Men's basketball Tournament expanded to 32 teams, allowing more than one school from each conference to play. Just after 4 years, the championship expanded to 40 teams, while teams were seeded for the first time. The following year saw a yet another expansion from 40 to 48 teams. In 1983, it ended up with 53 teams participating that season. By this time, the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four had become the biggest sporting events on TV aside from the Super Bowl...

...The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament earned a moniker, 'March Madness', for taking place in every March. The Tournament became a real March Madness when CBS signed a contract to pay $18 million a year for television rights from 1982 through 1984. Later in 1994, CBS agreed to pay huge amount of $1.725 billion for television rights to the tournament through 2002. The games of the Tournament successfully managed to draw an audience comparable to that for the NBA playoffs, the NFL's playoff series, the Super Bowl, and the World Series.

The history of the NCAA Men's basketball Final Four is marked with uncountable memorable moments, players, and teams. The one that we remember came in 1997, when Arizona, led by Jason Terry, Mike Bibby, and Miles Simon, became the first school to defeat three number 1 seeds en route to the national championship. Arizona won against Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky. In 2002, the NCAA tournament committee came up with a new introduction of 'pod' system in the first and second rounds of the Final Four.

The 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four is sure to take you to the journey of adversity, ultimate triumph and tragedy where you will see the beleaguered and downtrodden emerging as CHAMPIONS and taking away CHAMPION'S TROPHY! So, don't wait any longer, make sure to grab your tickets before they run out and feel the human experience in all its excellence and failures.

The End

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