March Madness: The History Of A Basketball Phenomenon

Most of us are familiar with March Madness (and even those who aren’t still know enough to associate it with basketball and betting) but do you know how America’s favorite past time came to be?

In 1908, the Illinois High School Association put together a boys’ high school basketball tournament. Kentucky high schools drew sold out crowds to IHSA championship games, and by the 1930s, the March Madness tournament grew to 900. The popularity of the tournament caught the attention of IHSA secretary and former high school coach, Henry V. Porter, who coined the term  “March Madness” during an article for IHSA magazine:

“A little March madness may complement and contribute to sanity and help keep society on an even keel.” –Henry V. Porter

The University of Oregon defeats Ohio State University in 1939, 46-33, in the first ever NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The tournament became known as The Final Four. After the Superbowl, college basketball became quite popular with the gamblers.

Competing in the first NCAA, only eight teams were invited to participate. Oregon, known as “Tall Firs” because of their starting front courts’ height, beat out seven other teams to win the 1st championship in 1939. That number grew until it was a 65-team format in 2001. After a “play-in” game between the 64-65th seeds, the tournament broke into four regions of 16 teams. The winning teams from these regions compromised The Final Four. By 1985, the tournament increased to 64, a far cry from the original eight.

Scandal Amongst The Madness

In 1950, City College of NY became the only school to win both the NIT (National Invitation Tournament) and the NCAA in the same year. Next season, scandal hit 30 players at seven colleges, and several of its players were arrested for accepting bribes to shave points. Even more scandalous behavior ensued in 1966, a time when most schools refused to integrate blacks, Adolph Rupp, Kentucky’s coach from 1930 to 1972, recruited white players almost exclusively in Kentucky. Rupp was one the most successful coaches in American college basketball, with four national championships under his belt, one NIT title, and a record of 876 wins during his 41 years of coaching. Allegedly, Rupp had asked sports editors if they could put an asterisk next to the names of the white players so he would know whom he could recruit for Kentucky. Whether Rupp was actually racist is up for speculation, amplified by Hollywood and Jon Voight’s portrayal of Rupp in 2006’s “Glory Road.” On March 19, 1966, Texas Western College defeated the favored men’s basketball team, University of Kentucky, in the NCAA men’s college basketball final at Cole Field House in College Park, Maryland. Texas Western became the first all-black starting five that had won the NCAA championship. By 1970, during Rupp’s second-to-last season coaching, Kentucky had its first black basketball player, Tom Payne.

Bracket Mania!

Fan brackets have been around for quite a bit but didn’t really take off until television hyped the invention of bracketology and Bracket Buster weekends, ESPN often referring to those phrases during broadcasts. NCAA brackets have contributed to giving fans a passion and interest in the tournament, but filling out a perfect bracket is nearly impossible (the odds of a perfect bracket are 9.2 quintillion, so you’ll certainly need all the luck you can get). If you’re a new to filling out a bracket, printable versions are available online. How you select teams is up to you: favorites, top teams, top players, etc. As you watch the games, fill in your bracket with the winning teams and upcoming games. Some of your picks will be eliminated while others head closer to the Championship.

Did You Know…

• The UCLA Bruins are the most successful team in the NCAA. They have 11 championships under their belt, ten of them under renowned coach, John Wooden, from 1964-1975. University of Kentucky is 2nd with seven titles. Indiana University is 3rd with five tournament wins.
• Schools that spend the most on their athletes—the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC—are called the “power six” because a high percentage of these teams make the NCAA tournament every year. Northwestern is the only school from a power six conference never to make the NCAA tournament.
• NCAA held its 1st women’s basketball tournament in 1982.
• You’re more likely to win back-to-back Mega Millions lotteries than it is to fill out a perfect bracket (not very promising, is it?).
• In the 1980s,  fans could call a sports hotline to get the score.
• Ad revenue brings in $1.13 billion for CBS and Turner; General Motors alone pays over $83 millions.
• The highest paid coach, Mike Krzyzewski, from Duke University made a whopping $9,682,032. He earned his pay with an impressive resume that reads 1,000 wins, four NCAA titles, four runner-up finishes, 11 Final Fours, 12 regular-season titles, 13 conference-tournament wins and a spot in the College Basketball Hall of Fame.