For all of you basketball fans, get ready for an intense month during March when it is solely dedicated to basketball. March Madness is special to the United States and is an annual NCAA Men’s Basketball Division 1 Championship event hosted during the month of March. Basketball fans get the opportunity create brackets for the March Madness event. These are predictions made before the games begin of what basketball teams will win each game. These predictions continue until one team is left naming them the March Madness Champions. The more predictions you get right, the more points you earn making the March Madness games a competition for both the players and the fans.

With the growing popularity of basketball and the March Madness games, one might wonder how March Madness came to be. Let’s go back and look at the history of March Madness before focusing on the teams that will be playing in this year’s tournament.

March Madness originated in Illinois where it was a tournament of high school boys basketball. It was sponsored by the Illinois High School Association and quickly grew from a small affair in 1908, into a statewide institution. By the 1930’s, over 900 schools were competing in this popular event. Henry V. Porter, assistant executive secretary of the Illinois High School Association, wrote an article about this growing phenomenon, calling it “March Madness.” In the 1940’s and the 1950’s which was the “Golden Era” for this tournament, the term stuck with the public and in 1973, the Illinois High School Association began using this term officially, placing it on merchandise and programs. As time passed, the March Madness tournament spread from coast to coast making it a nationwide event. The current March Madness is different from the original March Madness. Today, college basketball teams come together to play one another in single elimination until there is only one team left to claim the championship title. Fans can place bets and make brackets on who they think will win each game.

The teams that will be competing in this year’s tournament will be decided on Selection Sunday. Selection Sunday is the day that the NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Committee reveals which teams will be competing for the championship title. This 2017  year, Selection Sunday will be held on March 12. After the selections for the tournament are made, the actual games will start on Tuesday, March 14 and will be concluded on Monday, April 3. Make sure to tune in and watch the basketball games live as they will be broadcast nationwide.