When does the tournament run from, how does it work, and what are some notable moments?
The tournament will officially start on Tuesday March 14th when two of the first four matches tip off.
These four pre Round of 64 matches will finalize the field before Thursday March 16th.
As a result, there are officially 68 teams in the tournament that will play single elimination to determine the winner.
Each team is designated a seed and region with the highest seeds playing the lowest seeds in the first round.
If you survive and advance through the first two rounds, you will then play in the Sweet 16, followed by the Elite 8, Final Four, and ultimately National Title Game.
Every year there seems to be a spoiler or two as an extreme underdog makes a Cinderella run into the Sweet 16. Last season saw the 15th seeded Saint Peter’s University Peacocks out of New Jersey make it all the way to the Elite 8 before losing to the eventual runner-up North Carolina Tar Heels.
In the history of the tournament, there has only ever been one 16 seed to defeat a 1 seed which was University of Maryland Baltimore County in 2018 as they defeated the Virginia Cavaliers by 20 points in what may be the biggest upset in March Madness history.
Year after year however, there appears to be a curse on any team given the 5 seed. The latter is always matched up against a 12 seed in the round of 64 but somehow someway, at least 1 12 seed seems to knock off a 5 seed each season.
This is something to look out for when filling out your bracket or placing a bet on one of these four 5v12 games.
