1. March Madness

2. The NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship
A single elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, both conference champions and at-large selections.

3. History of March Madness
Henry V. Porter, assistant executive secretary of the Illinois High School Association, was so impressed by the phenomenon that he wrote an essay to commemorate it. Entitled “ March Madness, “ it first appeared in the IHSA magazine in 1939.

4. History of March Madness
Was born in Illinois
Began as a annual tournament of high school boys basketball teams, sponsored by the Illinois High School Association
Grew from a small invitational affair in 1908 to a statewide institution with over 900 schools competing by the late 1930’s.
A field of teams known as the “Sweet Sixteen” routinely drew sellout crowds to the University of Illinois Huff Gymnasium

5. History of March Madness
In recent years, the term "March Madness" has been expanded to include all conference tournaments in college basketball, with the term "The Big Dance" being used more frequently when specifically referring to the NCAA Tournament.
March Madness has also has been used generally to describe all basketball tournaments across the country that occur in the month of March - high school and college, male and female.

6. History of March Madness
In 1973, the IHSA began using the term officially in its programs and on its merchandise

7. Winning team traditions?
As a tournament ritual, the winning team cuts down the net at the end of the regional championship game as well as the national championship game
Each player (traditionally with seniors going first) cuts a single strand off the net for themselves, with the head coach cutting the last strand and claiming the net

8. Winning Teams
The regional champs receive a bronze plated NCAA regional championship trophy
The national champs receive a gold plated wooden national championship trophy

9. March Madness Stats and Fun Facts
March Madness By the Numbers

10. Revenue
How the Basketball Fund Work

11. Revenue
This year, 68 teams got an invitation to play in the tournament. Each of those team's conferences will get a piece of a $220 million pot of money. For each game a team plays, its conference gets a payout, spread over six years. For playing one game the team's conference gets roughly $1.7 million.

12. Revenue
The Division I Men's Basketball tournament is the only NCAA championship tournament (officially, the BCS Football Championship is not an NCAA event) where the NCAA does not keep the profits. Instead, the money from the multi-billion-dollar television contract is divided among the Division I basketball playing schools and conferences as follows:[17]
1/6 of the money goes directly to the schools based on how many sports they play (one "share" for each sport starting with 14, which is the minimum needed for Division I membership).

13. Revenue
1/3 of the money goes directly to the schools based on how many scholarships they give out (one share for each of the first 50, two for each of the next 50, ten for each of the next 50, and 20 for each scholarship above 150).
1/2 of the money goes to the conferences based on how well they did in the six previous men's basketball tournaments (counting each year separately, one share for each team getting in, and one share for each win except in the Final Four.