The Method Behind March Madness

By Gregory John "G.J." Vitale on March 18, 2012

Every year, college basketball takes the world by storm in March and no one seems to mind.  Why?  Because everyone loves pure competition.  College sports has confronted many problems in recent years, including sexual abuse allegations and prohibited recruiting methods.  Through it all, the NCAA Division I championship basketball tournament, dubbed March Madness for the month in which it takes place, has managed to keep its untainted image alive.

For this reason, the tournament and the intensity it brings with it have become favorites of sports fans and unknowledgeable onlookers alike.  Even at Tufts University, an establishment infamous for its lack of athletic support by the student body, brackets are popping up among clubs and groups, all trying to foresee this year’s biggest upset.  Let’s face it; the way these kids play the game with no abandon just makes the contest that much more appealing.  Whether you are basing your decisions for your bracket on regular season results or just because you like one team’s uniform better than another’s, you cannot help but pull for “your” team.  A sense of ownership is created: you have a stake in the process now, and if you come out on top, God knows you won’t bashfully walk away because you got lucky.  No way Jose; you will surely proclaim yourself the omniscient college basketball guru.

I can see the discountable quality in the way the games are played and the fact that no one seems to argue with the system in play.  We can see a failed method if we examine the accepted college football championship based on the BCS.  The system consists of “bowls” that are inferior and widely detested because, at their core, they do not promote competition or a “true champion” based on performance.  In the bowls, two teams are merely selected by the board to play each other, and one of these match ups (based solely on regular season records and subjective opinions of those in power) is declared the championship game.  March Madness, on the other hand, provides an environment for every team involved to have a chance at being in that game to decide it all.  64 teams, although based on seeding which organizes the higher ranked schools to play the lower ranked schools, each have an equal opportunity: win all your games, and you are the champion of college basketball.

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