OK, let's go ahead and talk about the elephant in the room. College basketball has one thing that is clearly better than the NBA: March Madness. During this time of year, even I put the NBA on the back-burner so I can watch a lot of college ball. Let's break down the reasons for this.
One of the big reasons why March Madness has a hold on the country is because of the number of teams involved. If you are a Division 1 team, you are involved in it, even if it isn't the NCAA Tournament. Every conference tournament champion (or regular season champ if there is no conference tourney) gets to go to the "big dance" that is the NCAA tournament. This gives everybody at least an outside shot at making it. So at the beginning of March, every fan in America can believe they have a chance to make it. Eventually it gets widdled down to 68 teams in the NCAA Tournament. Lots of teams are on the "bubble" to make it in as an at-large bid, meaning they didn't win their conference but could still get selected. So being on the bubble and waiting nervously to see if your team made it during selection Sunday (this Sunday) adds to the excitement.
Another big reason for the craziness and excitement of March Madness is the one-and-done formula mixed with quick back-to-back games. Win or go home. 68 teams start the tourney, only 32 make it to Saturday or Sunday of the first week, and only 16 make it to the next week. So enormous pressure is on each and every team. One mistake can cost you your season. This also allows for "Cinderellas" or underdogs to advance past where most people think they should. If a team gets on a hot streak, they can go far and be the little school that shocks the world. Americans love to root for the underdog, so even if their particular team is out of the tourney already, they can cheer for upsets still to make things interesting.
One more quick reason for March Madness success is the timing of it all. It all fits into about a one-month window where there is very little other sports going on. The NBA is in the regular season, and baseball is in pre-season spring training. But football is in the offseason and nobody cares about hockey or soccer.
And finally, I think the most important reason why March Madness reigns supreme during this time of year is gambling. Everybody can fill out a bracket and nobody is ever perfect on it. Even if you don't bet money, you still fill out a bracket just for bragging rights. But many people have office pools, or similar bets with friends to see who can guess the best. Also, many websites have contests that give away prizes for the winners. And of course, actual gambling is huge as usual.
If I had more followers I would try to set up a group on yahoo or something so we could all put our brackets in and see who does the best, but I dont' think that will happen this year. But I still hope you fill out a bracket on your own, sit back, and enjoy the games. BOILER UP!!
