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Great reaction. Selection Sunday is March 12th this year. And even that is an event. It's televised and they show the teams sitting in front of a TV waiting to see who is selected. 32 teams already know that they're going to the tournament but they don't know who they're playing or where they're playing. And then various teams know they're probably going to be selected, but several teams aren't sure -- they're said to be on the bubble. At large teams are picked based on strength of schedule; or impressive wins. It's always controversial. Because it can be quite subjective; but I think over-all they make the correct decisions. And, then the tournament itself is crazy. 4 networks. Spaced out across 4 time zones. Here in California, I can start watching games at 9:00 am. 16 games on the first Thursday. 16 games on the first Friday. And while you're watching a game, the other games scores are shown at the top of the screen so you can switch around, if you want to catch a more competitive game and/or upset in the making.
@@DNReacts I've responded to your question twice. Automatically deleted each time. Guessing that I'm not allowed to mention networks here (considered advertising?) Anyway, I guess you'll have to look it up.
To really understand how captivating it is, Sometimes the "underdogs" can surprise the country. Example: In 2018, Loyola Chicago who hadn't been to a march madness tournament in over 30 years progressed to the final four playoffs beating some of the highest tournament seeds to get there. They were very close to winning the entire tournament. It was insane with many people rooting on the cindarella team
I love football (American), but March Madness is my favorite sporting event. When it first starts, at least four different networks air all the games. It’s so much fun to flip from one to another when a game gets close near the end. Or, u can watch ur favorite team’s entire game. Love it!
@@DNReacts Here is a fun fact about the NCAA tournament, and it is real, most vasectomies are performed during this time of year. There are even doctors who give free pizzas when men come in before the tournament to get a vasectomy.
One thing to know about the brackets. The whole bracket has to be filled out before the tournament starts. That means that you might be picking the winner of a game that never happened, if those two teams have already lost in an earlier round.
In regards to your comment about the selection committee just picking whoever they wanted: They don't just pick whoever they want. They compare things like the team's record and how hard their schedule was or the results of teams played each other to decide who the most deserving teams are. This typically leads to more teams from the 'power conferences' being selected since they are typically better teams and have shown that they are capable of beating good teams versus a smaller conference school who may have lost less games, but played far more easy teams Think of it this way, it's like trying to determine who is better between the 14th place team in the premier league and the 3rd place team in the championship. The championship team has a far better record, but has also played much lower competition.
one thing I didn't hear him mention is the fact that the brackets are often for prize money. You can fill the m out for fun, and there is a bounty on a "perfect" bracket if it is filled out on the official website, but also many schools/businesses/workplaces will print out paper brackets and hold a smaller more local competition. Usually you pay something like 5-20 dollars to submit a bracket, and whoever gets the most predictions correct wins everyone's buy in money. This is another reason March madness is such a huge thing, it has permeated culture outside of sports, I know tons of people who are not even sports fans but fill out brackets at work or wherever else just for fun.
@@DNReacts With how many upsets happen in March Madness, sometimes a person who knows nothing about college basketball might inadvertently make a fantastic bracket! Haha
All of the games are played on neutral courts. It’s an awesome experience to watch. Buy a one-day ticket and see four games back-to-back. It’s so fun to hear a neutral crowd slowly begin rooting for the underdog if they’re able to keep the game tight until the end.
358 Teams (division 1), divided into 32 conferences. Each conference tournament champion is automatically advanced to the BIG TOURNAMENT. Then, the committee selects the next best 36 teams (based upon difficulty of schedule, overall wins, strength of conference, etc). Every year there is controversy over the selections. That is why they added the extra 4 teams for the "play in"... to accommodate the teams that feel they were screwed out of an invite. It is possible to have maybe 8 out of 12 teams from a particular power conference... where as a weak conference will usually only have the 1 entry (being the champion of their conference tournament).
If you want to see how insane some of the endings to these games are, I'd suggest reacting to "Villanova vs. North Carolina: Final minutes of national title game", one of the most iconic endings to a championship of all time and perfectly shows what March Madness is like.
Things like strength of schedule usually come into play when choosing teams and yes it can be quite biased in some situations. With so many teams it's hard to get every deserving team into the tournament.
I generally take the first two days of the tournament off from work. I setup at least 3 tv's with the games on all day. I drink and eat snacks all day (similar to what American's do for the SuperBowl). I've seen HUGE upsets and players coming out of nowhere giving you a glimpse of what to expect when they are in the NBA next season (Steph Curry).
I feel like Americans are so Fascinated by British Culture and Vise Versa. It's downright pure entertainment either way it goes to see such reactions, especially when it comes to sports.
This year the bracket will be released on March 12 with all the individual conferences being played in the couple weeks leading up to it. The tournament itself starts with the 4 play-in games immediately that Tues and Weds and the big 64-team Madness begins right then on Thursday, so you don't have much time to get your brackets filled. For many teams, it's considered a successful season just to make it to the tournament itself regardless of outcome. For other top teams with a history of accomplishment, they are expected to be in the tournament and expected to win in the first couple rounds -- anything less is a disappointment. It's often referenced as a marker of success for a program or coach. For example, "this coach (from a small conference) has made it to the big tournament 4 of the 7 years he's been there -- they should keep him", or "this college has not made it to the tournament in 4 straight years after making it to the Final Four round in 2 straight -- what's went wrong?", or "will such and such program make the tournament this upcoming season and can they reach a seeding of 4 or better?". Everything in college basketball boils down to this tournament.
Fellow Virginia fan and alum; let me give you a more concise, clear explanation: 1. March Madness is a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion at the end of each season in the highest level of college basketball, Division I. 2. The tournament includes 68 teams, 14 of them each in four regional brackets, and four addition who play each other to get the final two of 64 slots. 3. There are 363 teams in Division I. They are in one of 32 conferences around the country. Each conference concludes its season with its own tourney; the winner automatically qualify for March Madness. 4. The remaining 36 team are selected at-large based upon the relative strength of their season, using computers models that are sometimes adjusted from year-to-year. Wins against elite teams are more valuable than wins against weaker team; wins on the road are weighed more heavily than wins on the road. Each season, there is controversy over the final teams selected and the teams that just missed the cut. 5. In the March Madness tourney, in each of the four regions, teams are seeded from 1 to 16, then match up based on their seeding: In the 1st round, #1 plays #16, #2 plays #15, etc. In the 2nd round, the winner of 1/16 plays the winner of 8/9, etc. 6. Not counting the four teams in the play-in-games, a team must win six straight games to win the national title. One off-game, even one bad stretch in a game, can end a season. 7. With so pressure, lower-seeded teams often upset higher seeded teams, and many games come down to the last shot. Hence the name March MADNESS. 8. The tendency for upsets has increased in recent year, because in the past two decades, a growing number of elite college players enter the NBA after just a single season of college basketball. Since those elite players almost always go to the elite teams in the six so-called power conference, the result is that elite teams have great talent but less experience and cohesion than lesser teams with lesser talents. To feel a sense of the excitement, watch what many consider the best March Madness game ever, linked below. The year before, Virginia had become the first #1 seed to get upset to a #16 seed in the first round. Virginia -- a university created by the writer of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, would them seek redemption: th-cam.com/video/eTMszLFSMh8/w-d-xo.html
Took time off work so i can watch that first weekend of games.. its the best U were right on the conference tournament. You could win the reg season championship, but lose the conference tournament.. but if you win the regular season you get the #1 seed.. getting the #1 seed, you get the easiest path to the conf championship.. as a #1 seed, your first game is against the worst team in the conf, then play as the bracket plays out. That first 2 days are insane.. there is like 4 tv channels covering every game that is played.. from noon to close to midnight. Its 4 channels of nothing but college basketball
My absolute favorite event of the year. Growing up in North Carolina the tournament is basically treated like a holiday, we’d all watch it in school all day every day. North Carolina is home to 4 of the best teams in the sport those being Duke, UNC, NC State, and Wake Forest. Known as the Big 4. I’m a NC State fan and just watched our boys smash UNC today 😤
There's nowhere like Las Vegas to watch the opening weekend of the tournament on TV. Back in the day, before Sportsbook lounges began popping up everywhere, places like Ceasar's Palace were crowded from morning to midnight and the energy was off the charts.
College conferences used to be regional but now the trend is to add teams that bring financial value. The Big10, Michigan, Pennsylvania Ohio States are adding teams from LA California. Only 10 conferences in Football while basketball & baseball have over 30 conf
Realize conferences are their own entities with commissioners, refferies, Tv deals & some their own networks (SEC network) A coalition of Universities . But all conferences must agree to the same basic rules governed by the NCAA . Rules like numbers of scholarships players, practice hrs per week game rules, ect..
@@nathanlawson313 some would say the SEC/Big10 are greedy by making terms like BCS & Non-BCS or Power5 & G5 . Labels that diminishes the recruiting and money making power of half the FBS schools.
That fourth state that was dotted over away from Texas and the couple other states was West Virginia ( my home state). West Virginia University transferred conferences several years back. This does not mean that all West Virginia teams are now in that conference. But, WVU ( located in Morgantown, WV) is the largest and most powerful school in the state. As an example Marshall University, MU, ( located in Huntington, WV) is a smaller school and as such is in a smaller conference. There was a movie based on the true story of a fatal plane crash involving the MU football team. That movie starring Mathew McConaughhey, portraying the head coach of the following year after the crash, is called “We Are Marshall. It’s based upon the crash of the 1970, I think, team’s plane. In which around 75 players, coaches, staff and boosters lost their lives. The premiere of the film was held in a theater in downtown Huntington, WV. To this day at home games and often away games as well, you will still hear chants of WE ARE MARSHALL! Some notable sports alumni that you may have heard of are: Troy Brown who played a long time with the New England Patriots, Byron Leftwich who played around 10 yrs in the NFL, Chad Pennington who was ranked #72 on the all time best college football quarterback list and played several years in the NFL as well. Plus many, many others. You might also have heard of one of Chad’s favorite receivers… a tall guy with hands of glue and could catch about anything… who once told Tom Brady, “Just throw it my way and high, I’ll go get it”. A guy that has a term named after him, You Got Mossed. Randy Moss. Great wide receiver despite his antics. He grew up about 30 miles away from where I did. He also went to high school with an NBA player that has several highlight videos on TH-cam. That being Jason “White Chocolate” Williams. I’d like to see you guys do a reaction to his stuff, either Street Ball Moves or his Best Passes. Btw, if you can’t tell, I’m a huge Marshall University fan. Great content gentleman, as always it’s a pleasure to watch.
This is so funny to watch from people who have no idea about it. It’s definitely a lot to grasp and learn, but March madness is my favorite thing of the year. I would put it over the Super Bowl easily
This was awesome to watch. I’m really excited that you get to experience the tournament for the first time. It’s unlike any sporting event on earth. You’re going to love it! Have you watched any of the conference tournaments this weekend?
Great reaction guys. When you watch any March Madness highlights, look at the ranking number beside the school’s name. This will help you realize if an upset is happening. Also it can be a clue at how far into the tournament the game is. For example, a 1 v 16 is first round or a 2 v 7 is second round. Of course that assumes there hasn’t already been an upset. To my recollection, there has only been one 16 seed to beat a 1 seed.
I'm a college student at a college that is having one of their best seasons in school history. We're not in a very good conference, and we currently are in second place despite having one of the best overall records in the country. We're hoping we win our conference or the committee deems us good enough to make the tournament if we don't win our conference. Brackets are tough stuff. Nobody has ever had a perfect bracket by the time the round of 16 comes. Warren Buffet has offered a billion dollars to whoever gets a perfect bracket. People enter their brackets in online pools with chances to win prizes and pools with money too. My best bracket was for the 2018 tournament, where I was one of over 20 million brackets on ESPN and finished top 200. You'll also have what are known as "cinderella teams", teams that aren't supposed to do much and make some ridiculous runs. Last year, that team was the #15 seed St. Peters, a college with just over 3,000 students. In the tournament, they upset #2 seed Kentucky, #7 seed Murray State, and #3 seed Purdue, before losing to #8 seed North Carolina in the final eight (or elite eight). One of the biggest of the past ten years was #11 seed Loyola Chicago in 2018, who hadn't made the NCAA tournament since 1985. They went on a massive run where they beat #6 seed Miami, #3 seed Tennessee, #7 seed Nevada, and #9 seed Kansas State, before losing in the final four to #3 Michigan.
Brackets are awesome, they're basically you know where the 68 different teams start, you know who they going to play in the first round and stuff, and then you try to predict who's going to win, then who's going to win the games you predict, then who's going to win those games, etc etc
The simplest way to explain it is that we have about 350 different teams in America. At the end of it, there is a tournament for the best 64 teams. 32 conference winners, and 32 non-conference winners. It is a single elimination tournament the entire way. Anything can happen, and usually does.
One thing that makes it challenging is that there is ALWAYS an upset or two in the first round by some small school over a highly favored school. This inevitably sets up a set of dominoes that destroys everyone's choice for the rest of the tourney. This is because you may be picking a team that you think will go far and matches up well with other teams that you think will go far, but when one of those loses, the matchups change and the strengths/weaknesses of other teams are challenged. I have noticed (and someone can point out if I'm wrong or not) that generally teams are matched up early against other types of teams that may challenge their preferred playing style. For example, a team that is a great defensive team and slows the pace of play down often is matched up against a high-flying offense.
This video adds lots of context to America's obsession with the under dog. If you want to see one of the best examples of this in college football, watch highlights Oklahoma v Boise state Fiesta bowl. The first time a mid-major bested a super power conference team in a major bowl game. You won't be disappointed.
It's like this...since the bigger school conferences usually have the most top ranked high level teams, the bigger school leagues (who usually have the talent that will make the nba) can get more teams into March Madness that aren't their conference champions. Usually these schools are ranked at a high level throughout the year
you had it right with how the conference tournaments work out. You can win the regular season, be the #1 seed in the conference championship, but then a low seed can win and "steal" the automatic bid for the conference. Then the team who won the regular season has to hope to get an at-large bid.
We are just starting all the conference tournaments. Most start this weekend or next... but a couple small conferences tourneys are happening right now! Most years I take off work on those first Thursday and Friday to just watch 🏀 all day long. Sitting in a sports bar with TVs everywhere and multiple games on at the same time.... it can't be beat.
Looks like you now need to react to March Madness buzzer-beaters and famous moments, though you might not see all of them as there are almost too many to count. Maybe also look up and watch the highlights of some of the biggest upsets in the tournament's history. As he mentioned, the very small schools usually get put into the lower seeds like 14 through 16, which makes those upsets even more incredible. Only around nine or ten 15 seeds have ever upset a 2 seed and only one 16 seed has ever upset a 1 seed since the tournament expanded to 64 teams. And the 16 seed upset was made even more crazy by the fact that they won by 20 points over the 1 seed. That would be like a team from the 5th or 6th level of English football beating Man City by 4 goals.
Definitely. One of the best videos is Best March Madness of All Time -- 2022 Updated. Various other ones too. Gives you a true sense of the excitement . .. and Madness!
I was born and raised in Los Angeles. The center of basketball, both Lakers (NBA) & UCLA (college). The Univ of Calif at Los Angeles (UCLA) won the most NCAA Basketball Championships with 11 (10 between 1964 and 1975...including 7 in a row), Kentucky won 8 times and North Carolina 6.
Haven’t seen it said and maybe I missed it in the video but another thing about the tournament is the emphasis on making the final four. Yes, the goal for every team is to win the championship, but the bracket is basically 4 brackets combined, leading to final 4 weekend with the final 4 teams. It’s a championship like celebration to just make it that far because it’s so incredibly hard just to make it there.
It does happen regularly in conferences that only send a single team, that the team who wins the regular season title, does not win the tournament, and does not get to play in March Madness.
10:20 factors include strength of schedule, W-L record against ranked teams (there are multiple polls updated weekly that rank the top schools 1-25), conference record if you're in a very strong conference. Nowadays more analytical approaches are being used that factor in opponent strength and pace of play. For example Alabama is averaging 83 points per game with 77 possessions per game for a 1.08 average per possession. But Purdue averages 73 ppg with 66 possessions for an average of 1.11 points per possession. So even though Alabama averages more points per game they average less points everytime they have possession.
The regular season will determine the seeding for the conference tournament. The winners of those tournaments will receive an automatic invite to the Big tournament. After that, the rest of the field will be selected from the remaining schools.
There's two parts to the brackets---filling out who you think will be selected and where they will be placed in the brackets, and separately, once the actual brackets for have been completed by selection and (the play in games) you then make your selection on who will win each game right up through the final four and the national championship game. These are the source of many, (many) office pools with some decent money if you win (thousands of dollars)--as well as within-family pools, and of course, formal betting that takes place on each game as well as just about everything else. March Madness.
One important parallel: the first round proper of men's March Madness is much like the third round proper of the FA Cup -- 64 teams with lots of David v Goliath matchups. And "the magic of the Cup" applies here in similar fashion. St. Peter's University making the round of 8 in 2022 is similar to Shrewsbury Town going that far in the Cup after ousting Arsenal and Liverpool en route.
The 32 conf tournament winners automatically qualify for March madness. The other 36 teams that make up the initial 68 teams are fairly well known by the end of the season. The teams that win the regular season title in the “power 6” leagues. are basically locks to make as an “at large” team if they lose their conf tournament. So when the conf tournament are coming to an end, we all generally know who about 30 of the 38 at large teams are going to be. There are about 8-10 “bubble teams” come selection Sunday. There is always an argument of why one team was chosen over another for the at large bids. It would basically be like in the premier league the top 10 teams are going to make March madness no matter what based on how they finished the regular season. It’s those bottom 10 premier league teams that would be on the at large “bubble”. The conf tournament makes it interesting because a team can go winless during the regular season, 0-30 for example, but win their conf tourney and finish the season 4-30 can still qualify for March madness based on their conf tournament win. It would be like Southampton or Leeds this year finishing bottom two but win that end of year conference tourney, would qualify for the champions league. Arsenal and Manchester United would still be selected to be in the champions league because they did so well in the regular season still. Hopefully that makes sense. The video could of done a much better job of explaining how the teams who don’t win their conference tournament qualify, he breezed over that part. It’s not terrible hard to figure out.
10:30 EVERY YEAR. EVERY SINGLE YEAR. They have metrics they use to try to suss out the best of the rest to fill out the at-large bids, but ultimately there are a handful of teams every year that are considered super lucky to be in, and a handful that are convinced they were robbed.
Conferences used to be much more geographically aligned as it just made sense from a logistics perspective. As the years went on certain teams were able to become powerhouses that started to outclass their immediate neighbors largely through the revenue they could generate, either through continued ticket/merchandise sales, alumni donations, and especially tv broadcast revenue. As more money made its way into the NCAA teams were able to realign their conferences with less of an eye towards logistics and more towards maximizing their revenue, which is why they seem to cover so much territory--local powerhouses moved on to create conferences with other regional powerhouses to drive competitiveness and profit.
The madness starts the week before for the really hardcore fans - Championship week. The conference tournaments are played this week. For about half of these conferences, their only chance of making the NCAA tournament is winning their conference tournament. So these tournaments are going on, and you finally get to the finals, and you see a team with 300 fans win their conference tournament and punch a ticket to the big one. It's usually pandemonium when a team from one of these lesser conferences wins their tournament. I used to watch championship week when I was younger.
College sports are heavily based on polling (subjective rankings) because there are hundreds of teams and a true head to head evaluation is impossible for all of them. It’s definitely a source for controversy, but short of having a 300 game season there isn’t a better alternative. That’s why things like power conferences and prestige are so insanely important, and it’s yet another source of intrigue that makes college sports so huge in America.
"At-large" teams can make the tournament without winning their respective conference tournaments. This is where the selection committee comes in where they essentially use teams' resumes and advanced metrics to pick who should be able to make the tournament. There are normally 5-6 teams every year who feel disrespected by not being picked to make the tournament. It happens every year.
The best thing about March Madness is knowing that a "hot" team can beat a "big" team on any given day. There are no lots of upsets. While knowing the team's record is important, there are some "intangibles" that can knock the #1 seed out of the tournament on day one.
You can download a bracket after selection Sunday. The first round seedings will be prepared. It's on you to guess the winners all the through to the championship. Typically it's for money.
To "fill out a bracket" is to fill in winners all the way down through the final game. There have been a few times where nationally a bracket player has gotten close to a perfect bracket, and if you did one, you would win a pile of money if it was with some sort of sports book.
The first 2 days (Thursday, Friday) is full-time basketball for 12 hours with multiple games. The “Cinderella teams” - small colleges playing crazy good (lucky) basketball - upsetting the powerhouse college teams are LOVED by Audience (and Las Vegas betters). == The 1979 Tournament featured Magic Johnson (Michigan State) versus Larry Bird (Indiana State) in the Championship Game. Record audience for TV … and then followed those 2 players into Professional basketball (NBA). By 1982, Michael Jordan, as a freshman at University of North Carolina made the Winning shot for Game. By 1990s, Michael was a professional basketball superstar. ==
Every game of March Madness is available to watch in the UK on ESPN player. You can get a week for free when you sign up, or it's a tenner for the month. It's well worth the tenner if you ask me. Fill out a bracket, put a bit of money on who'll do best, and stick on the 'whip-around', which is a bit like if Soccer Saturday showed the actual games
Here are some of the factors that the selection takes into account: 1. What are called "quality wins" - if you're an underdog team, and you beat a big team, that will definitely add to your case. 2. Timing of the quality wins - conference wins are going to carry more weight. Usually, the later in the season, the better, because it's more recent. Sometimes, they'll consider early season wins, because an upset is an upset, but it doesn't carry as much weight as others do.
@5:45 you're talking about the Big 12. That's WVU, West Virginia University, way over by itself. WVU has changed Conferences a few times over the last 40 years. We joined the Big 12 just 10 years ago. (Mens Soccer is Mid-American Conference and Women's Soccer is Big 12, so contracrs are by program not by school). We've had good teams and players over the years like NBA Hof and owner of the Lakers, and NBA Logo Jerry West, NFL Hof Sam Huff, current Seahawks Quarterback Geno Smith. Joining the Big 12 was to play a harder conference schedule to do better in the rankings, and also it improved recruiting.
This video was a perfect one to react to as it explains everything in detail. Can’t wait to see your brackets once the teams are locked for the tourney
March Madness is always by far my favorite part of the sports year. Taking those first 4 days of the tournament that are nonstop basketball and seeing how all your brackets are managing is such a fun time. So happy to see y’all might be a part of this year’s tournament! I always gotta root for my hometown San Diego State but also now for my current school of the Michigan.
The most exciting long weekend in sports is First Round. Thursday-Sunday. Go to sports bars where they carry multiple games on multiple TVs. It’s sports nirvana!!
March madness is the single best tournament to exist. As a football (soccer) fan, it even beats the World Cup. So much drama, but it ALWAYS ends with the best 4 teams in the end. Can’t wait for March madness, and Rock Chalk
The conferences can get really confusing. Everything is currently being driven by college football and tv network money. In some ways similar to the “Super League” that almost happened in Europe. For example, two of the biggest brands the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners are leaving that conference in the middle of the country for the Southeastern Conference because all the teams in the “SEC” conference will receive over $70 million more per year from ESPN/Disney company. The craziest move is USC & UCLA, out of Los Angeles, switching from the Pacific Conference to the Big 10 (the northern Midwest Conference). It’s the equivalent of Manchester United and Manchester City leaving the Premier League to play in La Liga, if La Liga paid the teams more money. Lots of conference realignment and changes happening in college sports right now.
There's always some controversy on Selection Sunday and schools "on the bubble". This year's Selection Sunday is March 12th. Play-in games 14th/15th. Madness starts on the 16th. There's also a secondary tournament called the NIT for 32 schools that didn't get selected for the championship tournament.
All of the games are in pre-determined cities around the US but the locations your teams plays at could be close by, or really far. They’re all considered neutral and the Final Four is in a pre-selected city (this year it’s in Houston, Texas). There’s the Round of 64, Round of 32, the Sweet 16, The Elite 8, and The Final Four. The Final Four (semis) games and championship game always take place at an indoor football (NFL) stadium to accommodate the most number of people (70-80k people). When a seed other than a 1, 2 or maybe 3 makes it to the F4, it’s a big deal! Only one 1 seed (Virginia) has lost in the first round over a 16 seed. So that 16 seed, or any 11-16 seed who wins a game or two, is considered the Cinderella Story of that year. People select their brackets on who is best/records/seeding, or based on colors, mascots, flipping a coin, or blind reactions. It’s very fun and y’all should fill out your brackets after selection Sunday (3/12/23) before the (real) tournament starts the following Thursday (3/16/23) morning.
Yes, all of the conference tournament champions earn an automatic invitation to the NCAA tournament, but there are also a good-sized number of invites given out to teams who did NOT win their conference tournament. There's a committee that closely examines the "resume" of each non-tournament champion to decide which other teams will also make it into the big tournament. Teams with a record that's CLOSE to being good enough to earn a spot in the tournament are said to be "on the bubble". These "bubble" teams may or may not actually make it into the tournament. All the teams are announced on "Selection Sunday", and even THAT is a fairly major event in American sports.
Someone may have posted this already, but just in case: many men, if they're going to have a vasectomy, schedule it for a Wednesday, the day before March Madness starts - because the recovery time is usually a couple of days. So between that and the weekend, guys basically have a doctor's note to stay home and sit in the couch in front of the TV, watching 12 hours of basketball every day.
I really hope you get to watch this whole tournament live.... it's the best tournament we have in the US.... buzzer beaters, upsets, day drinking and gambling... what more could you ask for...espn has a bracket competition you can do for free
The other thing to consider why this time of year is so epic…a lot of these players will not make it professionally. This is their chance and last chance for most. They don’t get paid, they are playing their hearts out. The emotions are high and makes the games much more exciting.
Definitely follow the tournament this year and do fill out brackets; it will make it much more enjoyable to watch as the tournmanet progresses. Also, Do a selection Sunday show and shows after each round letting us know your thoughts and how your brackets are doing.
Agreed. You will enjoy filling out your brackets. You joke about not knowing who to pick -- put even the so-called experts get everything wrong. Some people pick their favorites, or the lower seed, or just because they like the team nickname or the mascot; or because their grandmother was born in Oklahoma. People often pick a 12 over a 5. Honestly, there's no shame in picking a messed up bracket.
So far this has been a good one to start with. I hope y'all are taking it all in and enjoying. I don't watch a single college basketball game all year, but tune in for every game of March Madness because it is just too much fun to miss.
Yes! Playoffs are king in the US! “Ok, so you won your league… congrats. That earns you the top seed in the league bracket, and now it’s a playoff. Win the league playoff, AWESOME!! Now you’re in the National playoff.” No better example of playoff craziness than March Madness where 300 teams fight for 68 spots. As always, you guys are friggin awesome! Sports in America gets a little crazy, your adventure has been so fun to follow. We the viewers are here to help. Bracketology is a real thing for March Madness. Fill out a bracket, pick teams you like, even it is just because of their colors, and hope for the best!
The selection committee is controversial every year. Inevitably, a team which many/most feel is deserving, gets left out. Conversely, other teams are surprise selections. The committee members use a combination of objective data - wins/losses, quality of opposition, relative strength of conference, etc - and subjective observation to determine which teams are to participate. For example, a team which finishes with an overall record of 20 wins and twelve losses, may be selected in favor of one which finishes with 25 wins and 7 losses. The reason may be that the 20-12 team played in a more competitive conference, and its losses were all by slim margins, whilst the other team played in a relatively weak conference and was beaten soundly by those few strong squads they played. During the evaluation process, terms like "good wins" (a victory over a strong team on the road or at a neutral site), and "bad losses" (defeats to relatively weak schools, or blowout losses in games expected to be competitive) are thrown about. In general terms, Americans value success under pressure over sustained success over time. That's why we are comfortable with crowning a tournament winner with a modest record, as overall champions. We see this in all our sports. Even MLS, which does have what you would call a league champion (highest point total through a scheduled slate of fixtures), favors the playoff tournament winner as its official league champion. The former is called the Supporters Shield. The latter is the MLS Cup. They comprise two of the three legs of our treble, with the third being the US Open Cup (open to all leagues/divisions - equivalent to FA Cup).
You should know, very few people know what they’re doing when they fill in their bracket, it’s just communal guessing and a lot of fun. No one ever guesses everything right and even Saturday Night Live has parodied this by doing a skit in which a college basketball fan with an almost perfect bracket is asked about his picks, and another person who did have a perfect bracket was asked as well. The first guy’s reasoning was all sports based, but the second person thought the bulldog was cute, and that Arizona would lose because “Arizona Ice Tea is so fattening”
There Are no brackets out yet obviously, as teams are Still in their conference play. The Conference Tournaments, to determine the Automatic Bid from that conference are still a few weeks away. He was talking about last years brackets and Tournament. On Wisconsin!
Clarification on the foul shots. If a foul occurs on a successful shot attempt, only one foul shot is given. For missed shots, two foul shots are given inside the arc and three outside. There are also non shooting fouls that usually occur early in each half and technical fouls that not only earn a foul shot, but the team shooting the technical gets to keep possession after the foul shot.
With so many games you have so many amazing moments. And you bring so much joy to wonderful programs, schools, towns/cities, and wonderful young gentleman and women who will build off these memories and do wonderful things in this world
@@DNReacts In 1989 I received a call in our radio studio from Australia. It turned out one of that country's top young basketball stars was playing on a team in the NCAA championship final and many Aussie fans were in the dark about what was happening. I had to inform the caller that his team was trailing badly with only minutes left. Then the player went on a 3 point shooting tear, brought his team back and the game went into OT. I thought the caller was going to collapse. March Madness truly went international that night.
The conferences get to choose how their autobid is chosen. They use the conference tournament so it can be a money maker. This is huge for the smaller conferences.. As for the at large bids most of the good teams come from about 7 or 8 conferences. They play more good teams during the year and have better players almost always.
10:30 "Has there ever been a decision made that was like, 'Oh, that is ridiculous!'" Yeah, about 3-5... Each year (at least in the eyes of the teams left out).
Enjoyed it. MM is the only time I watch basketball of any kind. It's also hockey season and that's what I love. Thanks for the video.See ya on the next one I hope!
"Why are you asking us for a bracket? We dong have a clue..." - We don't either. You'll never have a perfect bracket. Pick the pretty colors. You have as much of a chance as the rest of us. :)
When I explain the champions league to Americans I often use college basketball as a reference. Between the conferences, regular season, conference tournaments, and the big tournament.,,they kind of get it
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Great reaction. Selection Sunday is March 12th this year. And even that is an event. It's televised and they show the teams sitting in front of a TV waiting to see who is selected. 32 teams already know that they're going to the tournament but they don't know who they're playing or where they're playing. And then various teams know they're probably going to be selected, but several teams aren't sure -- they're said to be on the bubble. At large teams are picked based on strength of schedule; or impressive wins. It's always controversial. Because it can be quite subjective; but I think over-all they make the correct decisions. And, then the tournament itself is crazy. 4 networks. Spaced out across 4 time zones. Here in California, I can start watching games at 9:00 am. 16 games on the first Thursday. 16 games on the first Friday. And while you're watching a game, the other games scores are shown at the top of the screen so you can switch around, if you want to catch a more competitive game and/or upset in the making.
Thank you TB. Appreciate the support! Do you know which channels will be showing the selection?
@@DNReacts I've responded to your question twice. Automatically deleted each time. Guessing that I'm not allowed to mention networks here (considered advertising?) Anyway, I guess you'll have to look it up.
@@DNReacts It will be on CBS!
@@DNReacts the mens will be on cbs at 6pm est then the womens will be revealed on ESPN at 8 pm est
@@DNReacts cbs is the main one and it is hands down the best, espn reacts to it but they aren’t allowed to show anything on screen or anything
To really understand how captivating it is, Sometimes the "underdogs" can surprise the country. Example: In 2018, Loyola Chicago who hadn't been to a march madness tournament in over 30 years progressed to the final four playoffs beating some of the highest tournament seeds to get there. They were very close to winning the entire tournament. It was insane with many people rooting on the cindarella team
I'm glad you mentioned my school. I attended Loyola-Chicago because it's one mile from my house.
I love football (American), but March Madness is my favorite sporting event. When it first starts, at least four different networks air all the games. It’s so much fun to flip from one to another when a game gets close near the end. Or, u can watch ur favorite team’s entire game. Love it!
Thanks Kay, this sounds great, we’re hoping to follow a lot of March Madness!
Buzzer beating bracket busters is where the fun starts
@@DNReacts Here is a fun fact about the NCAA tournament, and it is real, most vasectomies are performed during this time of year. There are even doctors who give free pizzas when men come in before the tournament to get a vasectomy.
March Madness is the only time I watch college basketball and every year I love watching it
@@DNReacts single elimination tournament, like Wimbledon.
64 teams...one winner
One thing to know about the brackets. The whole bracket has to be filled out before the tournament starts. That means that you might be picking the winner of a game that never happened, if those two teams have already lost in an earlier round.
In regards to your comment about the selection committee just picking whoever they wanted: They don't just pick whoever they want. They compare things like the team's record and how hard their schedule was or the results of teams played each other to decide who the most deserving teams are. This typically leads to more teams from the 'power conferences' being selected since they are typically better teams and have shown that they are capable of beating good teams versus a smaller conference school who may have lost less games, but played far more easy teams
Think of it this way, it's like trying to determine who is better between the 14th place team in the premier league and the 3rd place team in the championship. The championship team has a far better record, but has also played much lower competition.
I would suggest reacting to March madness best moments and buzzer beaters. It gives you an idea of how exciting the tournament really is
Thanks Matt, have added this to our list
one thing I didn't hear him mention is the fact that the brackets are often for prize money. You can fill the m out for fun, and there is a bounty on a "perfect" bracket if it is filled out on the official website, but also many schools/businesses/workplaces will print out paper brackets and hold a smaller more local competition. Usually you pay something like 5-20 dollars to submit a bracket, and whoever gets the most predictions correct wins everyone's buy in money. This is another reason March madness is such a huge thing, it has permeated culture outside of sports, I know tons of people who are not even sports fans but fill out brackets at work or wherever else just for fun.
We’re definitely going to complete and announce our brackets beforehand Zachary. Not that we have a chance, but worth a shot I guess 😅
@@DNReacts honestly with March Madness it seems like the less you know, the better you do 🤣 nobody can predict what happens lol
@@DNReacts With how many upsets happen in March Madness, sometimes a person who knows nothing about college basketball might inadvertently make a fantastic bracket! Haha
All of the games are played on neutral courts. It’s an awesome experience to watch. Buy a one-day ticket and see four games back-to-back.
It’s so fun to hear a neutral crowd slowly begin rooting for the underdog if they’re able to keep the game tight until the end.
358 Teams (division 1), divided into 32 conferences. Each conference tournament champion is automatically advanced to the BIG TOURNAMENT. Then, the committee selects the next best 36 teams (based upon difficulty of schedule, overall wins, strength of conference, etc). Every year there is controversy over the selections. That is why they added the extra 4 teams for the "play in"... to accommodate the teams that feel they were screwed out of an invite.
It is possible to have maybe 8 out of 12 teams from a particular power conference... where as a weak conference will usually only have the 1 entry (being the champion of their conference tournament).
If you want to see how insane some of the endings to these games are, I'd suggest reacting to "Villanova vs. North Carolina: Final minutes of national title game", one of the most iconic endings to a championship of all time and perfectly shows what March Madness is like.
Thank you for the suggestion!
I agree with this suggestion
Good suggestion
I agree too
The pain as a UNC fan
Things like strength of schedule usually come into play when choosing teams and yes it can be quite biased in some situations. With so many teams it's hard to get every deserving team into the tournament.
My school UMBC (University of Maryland Baltimore County) is the only #16 seed to ever beat a #1 seed (Virginia). Campus was crazy that night lol
I generally take the first two days of the tournament off from work. I setup at least 3 tv's with the games on all day. I drink and eat snacks all day (similar to what American's do for the SuperBowl). I've seen HUGE upsets and players coming out of nowhere giving you a glimpse of what to expect when they are in the NBA next season (Steph Curry).
I feel like Americans are so Fascinated by British Culture and Vise Versa. It's downright pure entertainment either way it goes to see such reactions, especially when it comes to sports.
This year the bracket will be released on March 12 with all the individual conferences being played in the couple weeks leading up to it. The tournament itself starts with the 4 play-in games immediately that Tues and Weds and the big 64-team Madness begins right then on Thursday, so you don't have much time to get your brackets filled.
For many teams, it's considered a successful season just to make it to the tournament itself regardless of outcome. For other top teams with a history of accomplishment, they are expected to be in the tournament and expected to win in the first couple rounds -- anything less is a disappointment. It's often referenced as a marker of success for a program or coach. For example, "this coach (from a small conference) has made it to the big tournament 4 of the 7 years he's been there -- they should keep him", or "this college has not made it to the tournament in 4 straight years after making it to the Final Four round in 2 straight -- what's went wrong?", or "will such and such program make the tournament this upcoming season and can they reach a seeding of 4 or better?". Everything in college basketball boils down to this tournament.
Fellow Virginia fan and alum; let me give you a more concise, clear explanation:
1. March Madness is a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion at the end of each season in the highest level of college basketball, Division I.
2. The tournament includes 68 teams, 14 of them each in four regional brackets, and four addition who play each other to get the final two of 64 slots.
3. There are 363 teams in Division I. They are in one of 32 conferences around the country. Each conference concludes its season with its own tourney; the winner automatically qualify for March Madness.
4. The remaining 36 team are selected at-large based upon the relative strength of their season, using computers models that are sometimes adjusted from year-to-year. Wins against elite teams are more valuable than wins against weaker team; wins on the road are weighed more heavily than wins on the road. Each season, there is controversy over the final teams selected and the teams that just missed the cut.
5. In the March Madness tourney, in each of the four regions, teams are seeded from 1 to 16, then match up based on their seeding: In the 1st round, #1 plays #16, #2 plays #15, etc. In the 2nd round, the winner of 1/16 plays the winner of 8/9, etc.
6. Not counting the four teams in the play-in-games, a team must win six straight games to win the national title. One off-game, even one bad stretch in a game, can end a season.
7. With so pressure, lower-seeded teams often upset higher seeded teams, and many games come down to the last shot. Hence the name March MADNESS.
8. The tendency for upsets has increased in recent year, because in the past two decades, a growing number of elite college players enter the NBA after just a single season of college basketball. Since those elite players almost always go to the elite teams in the six so-called power conference, the result is that elite teams have great talent but less experience and cohesion than lesser teams with lesser talents.
To feel a sense of the excitement, watch what many consider the best March Madness game ever, linked below. The year before, Virginia had become the first #1 seed to get upset to a #16 seed in the first round. Virginia -- a university created by the writer of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, would them seek redemption:
th-cam.com/video/eTMszLFSMh8/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for the comment Jon. This is great! Appreciate it. Also added your suggestion to the list!
Took time off work so i can watch that first weekend of games.. its the best
U were right on the conference tournament. You could win the reg season championship, but lose the conference tournament.. but if you win the regular season you get the #1 seed.. getting the #1 seed, you get the easiest path to the conf championship.. as a #1 seed, your first game is against the worst team in the conf, then play as the bracket plays out.
That first 2 days are insane.. there is like 4 tv channels covering every game that is played.. from noon to close to midnight. Its 4 channels of nothing but college basketball
Thank you for confirming, I’m rarely right 😂 Good to know! This sounds crazy, my (Damo) first time watching Basketball this will be, buzzing for it!
My absolute favorite event of the year. Growing up in North Carolina the tournament is basically treated like a holiday, we’d all watch it in school all day every day. North Carolina is home to 4 of the best teams in the sport those being Duke, UNC, NC State, and Wake Forest. Known as the Big 4. I’m a NC State fan and just watched our boys smash UNC today 😤
I live in Louisville, KY and it's treated like a holiday here as well with all the UK, U of L, Indiana fans around here.
exactly. every year i was in elementary school they rolled in the tvs for the tournaments so we could all watch the tar heels play
There's nowhere like Las Vegas to watch the opening weekend of the tournament on TV. Back in the day, before Sportsbook lounges began popping up everywhere, places like Ceasar's Palace were crowded from morning to midnight and the energy was off the charts.
I played college basketball and coached high school basketball for 30 years. March Madness is incredible!
Can’t wait for it PJ!
College conferences used to be regional but now the trend is to add teams that bring financial value.
The Big10, Michigan, Pennsylvania Ohio States are adding teams from LA California.
Only 10 conferences in Football while basketball & baseball have over 30 conf
Realize conferences are their own entities with commissioners, refferies, Tv deals & some their own networks (SEC network) A coalition of Universities .
But all conferences must agree to the same basic rules governed by the NCAA . Rules like numbers of scholarships players, practice hrs per week game rules, ect..
50 years from now there will be 2 conferences. Big 10 vs SEC. The NCAA won't even exist.
...fine with me. NCAA is a bunch of crooks.
@@nathanlawson313 some would say the SEC/Big10 are greedy by making terms like BCS & Non-BCS or Power5 & G5 . Labels that diminishes the recruiting and money making power of half the FBS schools.
Lol no. There are no cali teams in thr Big Ten. They have East coast like Maryland but no school from LA is in the Big Ten. Ehat are you smoking?
What*
That fourth state that was dotted over away from Texas and the couple other states was West Virginia ( my home state). West Virginia University transferred conferences several years back. This does not mean that all West Virginia teams are now in that conference. But, WVU ( located in Morgantown, WV) is the largest and most powerful school in the state. As an example Marshall University, MU, ( located in Huntington, WV) is a smaller school and as such is in a smaller conference. There was a movie based on the true story of a fatal plane crash involving the MU football team. That movie starring Mathew McConaughhey, portraying the head coach of the following year after the crash, is called “We Are Marshall. It’s based upon the crash of the 1970, I think, team’s plane. In which around 75 players, coaches, staff and boosters lost their lives. The premiere of the film was held in a theater in downtown Huntington, WV. To this day at home games and often away games as well, you will still hear chants of WE ARE MARSHALL! Some notable sports alumni that you may have heard of are: Troy Brown who played a long time with the New England Patriots, Byron Leftwich who played around 10 yrs in the NFL, Chad Pennington who was ranked #72 on the all time best college football quarterback list and played several years in the NFL as well. Plus many, many others. You might also have heard of one of Chad’s favorite receivers… a tall guy with hands of glue and could catch about anything… who once told Tom Brady, “Just throw it my way and high, I’ll go get it”. A guy that has a term named after him, You Got Mossed. Randy Moss. Great wide receiver despite his antics. He grew up about 30 miles away from where I did. He also went to high school with an NBA player that has several highlight videos on TH-cam. That being Jason “White Chocolate” Williams. I’d like to see you guys do a reaction to his stuff, either Street Ball Moves or his Best Passes. Btw, if you can’t tell, I’m a huge Marshall University fan. Great content gentleman, as always it’s a pleasure to watch.
This is so funny to watch from people who have no idea about it. It’s definitely a lot to grasp and learn, but March madness is my favorite thing of the year. I would put it over the Super Bowl easily
This was awesome to watch. I’m really excited that you get to experience the tournament for the first time. It’s unlike any sporting event on earth. You’re going to love it!
Have you watched any of the conference tournaments this weekend?
Great reaction guys. When you watch any March Madness highlights, look at the ranking number beside the school’s name. This will help you realize if an upset is happening. Also it can be a clue at how far into the tournament the game is. For example, a 1 v 16 is first round or a 2 v 7 is second round. Of course that assumes there hasn’t already been an upset. To my recollection, there has only been one 16 seed to beat a 1 seed.
Thanks for this Tim, some great context that will hopefully help us with our brackets! Appreciate the support
yes 2017 I b believe UMBC beat Virginia it is once in over 100 1 v 16 seed games to have happened
Also, only ten 15 seeds have beaten a 2 seed in the first round.
I'm a college student at a college that is having one of their best seasons in school history. We're not in a very good conference, and we currently are in second place despite having one of the best overall records in the country. We're hoping we win our conference or the committee deems us good enough to make the tournament if we don't win our conference. Brackets are tough stuff. Nobody has ever had a perfect bracket by the time the round of 16 comes. Warren Buffet has offered a billion dollars to whoever gets a perfect bracket. People enter their brackets in online pools with chances to win prizes and pools with money too. My best bracket was for the 2018 tournament, where I was one of over 20 million brackets on ESPN and finished top 200. You'll also have what are known as "cinderella teams", teams that aren't supposed to do much and make some ridiculous runs.
Last year, that team was the #15 seed St. Peters, a college with just over 3,000 students. In the tournament, they upset #2 seed Kentucky, #7 seed Murray State, and #3 seed Purdue, before losing to #8 seed North Carolina in the final eight (or elite eight).
One of the biggest of the past ten years was #11 seed Loyola Chicago in 2018, who hadn't made the NCAA tournament since 1985. They went on a massive run where they beat #6 seed Miami, #3 seed Tennessee, #7 seed Nevada, and #9 seed Kansas State, before losing in the final four to #3 Michigan.
What school do you go to?
@@PHXNKVHXLIC College of Charleston
A perfect bracket means picking 67 games correct without losing.
On most websites you don’t have to pick the first four
Brackets are awesome, they're basically you know where the 68 different teams start, you know who they going to play in the first round and stuff, and then you try to predict who's going to win, then who's going to win the games you predict, then who's going to win those games, etc etc
The simplest way to explain it is that we have about 350 different teams in America. At the end of it, there is a tournament for the best 64 teams. 32 conference winners, and 32 non-conference winners. It is a single elimination tournament the entire way. Anything can happen, and usually does.
One thing that makes it challenging is that there is ALWAYS an upset or two in the first round by some small school over a highly favored school. This inevitably sets up a set of dominoes that destroys everyone's choice for the rest of the tourney. This is because you may be picking a team that you think will go far and matches up well with other teams that you think will go far, but when one of those loses, the matchups change and the strengths/weaknesses of other teams are challenged.
I have noticed (and someone can point out if I'm wrong or not) that generally teams are matched up early against other types of teams that may challenge their preferred playing style. For example, a team that is a great defensive team and slows the pace of play down often is matched up against a high-flying offense.
This video adds lots of context to America's obsession with the under dog. If you want to see one of the best examples of this in college football, watch highlights Oklahoma v Boise state Fiesta bowl. The first time a mid-major bested a super power conference team in a major bowl game. You won't be disappointed.
ECU won the Peach Bowl to finish #9 in 1991 . Mid-Major winning major bowl game .
Thank you, this one is our suggestions list! Hoping to get around to it soon
It's like this...since the bigger school conferences usually have the most top ranked high level teams, the bigger school leagues (who usually have the talent that will make the nba) can get more teams into March Madness that aren't their conference champions. Usually these schools are ranked at a high level throughout the year
you had it right with how the conference tournaments work out. You can win the regular season, be the #1 seed in the conference championship, but then a low seed can win and "steal" the automatic bid for the conference. Then the team who won the regular season has to hope to get an at-large bid.
We are just starting all the conference tournaments. Most start this weekend or next... but a couple small conferences tourneys are happening right now! Most years I take off work on those first Thursday and Friday to just watch 🏀 all day long. Sitting in a sports bar with TVs everywhere and multiple games on at the same time.... it can't be beat.
Looks like you now need to react to March Madness buzzer-beaters and famous moments, though you might not see all of them as there are almost too many to count. Maybe also look up and watch the highlights of some of the biggest upsets in the tournament's history. As he mentioned, the very small schools usually get put into the lower seeds like 14 through 16, which makes those upsets even more incredible. Only around nine or ten 15 seeds have ever upset a 2 seed and only one 16 seed has ever upset a 1 seed since the tournament expanded to 64 teams. And the 16 seed upset was made even more crazy by the fact that they won by 20 points over the 1 seed. That would be like a team from the 5th or 6th level of English football beating Man City by 4 goals.
You NEED to watch the best March Madness moments, it’s incredible
Thank you LazerHornet, we’ll get that added to the list!
Definitely. One of the best videos is Best March Madness of All Time -- 2022 Updated. Various other ones too. Gives you a true sense of the excitement . .. and Madness!
The best sporting event and betting event of the year!
Another great topic. Thanks Guys,
Thanks for the support XXX. Glad you enjoyed
I was born and raised in Los Angeles. The center of basketball, both Lakers (NBA) & UCLA (college). The Univ of Calif at Los Angeles (UCLA) won the most NCAA Basketball Championships with 11 (10 between 1964 and 1975...including 7 in a row), Kentucky won 8 times and North Carolina 6.
Haven’t seen it said and maybe I missed it in the video but another thing about the tournament is the emphasis on making the final four. Yes, the goal for every team is to win the championship, but the bracket is basically 4 brackets combined, leading to final 4 weekend with the final 4 teams. It’s a championship like celebration to just make it that far because it’s so incredibly hard just to make it there.
It does happen regularly in conferences that only send a single team, that the team who wins the regular season title, does not win the tournament, and does not get to play in March Madness.
10:20 factors include strength of schedule, W-L record against ranked teams (there are multiple polls updated weekly that rank the top schools 1-25), conference record if you're in a very strong conference. Nowadays more analytical approaches are being used that factor in opponent strength and pace of play. For example Alabama is averaging 83 points per game with 77 possessions per game for a 1.08 average per possession. But Purdue averages 73 ppg with 66 possessions for an average of 1.11 points per possession. So even though Alabama averages more points per game they average less points everytime they have possession.
The regular season will determine the seeding for the conference tournament. The winners of those tournaments will receive an automatic invite to the Big tournament. After that, the rest of the field will be selected from the remaining schools.
There's two parts to the brackets---filling out who you think will be selected and where they will be placed in the brackets, and separately, once the actual brackets for have been completed by selection and (the play in games) you then make your selection on who will win each game right up through the final four and the national championship game. These are the source of many, (many) office pools with some decent money if you win (thousands of dollars)--as well as within-family pools, and of course, formal betting that takes place on each game as well as just about everything else. March Madness.
One important parallel: the first round proper of men's March Madness is much like the third round proper of the FA Cup -- 64 teams with lots of David v Goliath matchups. And "the magic of the Cup" applies here in similar fashion. St. Peter's University making the round of 8 in 2022 is similar to Shrewsbury Town going that far in the Cup after ousting Arsenal and Liverpool en route.
The 32 conf tournament winners automatically qualify for March madness. The other 36 teams that make up the initial 68 teams are fairly well known by the end of the season. The teams that win the regular season title in the “power 6” leagues. are basically locks to make as an “at large” team if they lose their conf tournament. So when the conf tournament are coming to an end, we all generally know who about 30 of the 38 at large teams are going to be. There are about 8-10 “bubble teams” come selection Sunday. There is always an argument of why one team was chosen over another for the at large bids. It would basically be like in the premier league the top 10 teams are going to make March madness no matter what based on how they finished the regular season. It’s those bottom 10 premier league teams that would be on the at large “bubble”. The conf tournament makes it interesting because a team can go winless during the regular season, 0-30 for example, but win their conf tourney and finish the season 4-30 can still qualify for March madness based on their conf tournament win. It would be like Southampton or Leeds this year finishing bottom two but win that end of year conference tourney, would qualify for the champions league. Arsenal and Manchester United would still be selected to be in the champions league because they did so well in the regular season still. Hopefully that makes sense. The video could of done a much better job of explaining how the teams who don’t win their conference tournament qualify, he breezed over that part. It’s not terrible hard to figure out.
Thanks for the info Kyle! Really appreciate this!
10:30 EVERY YEAR. EVERY SINGLE YEAR. They have metrics they use to try to suss out the best of the rest to fill out the at-large bids, but ultimately there are a handful of teams every year that are considered super lucky to be in, and a handful that are convinced they were robbed.
Conferences used to be much more geographically aligned as it just made sense from a logistics perspective. As the years went on certain teams were able to become powerhouses that started to outclass their immediate neighbors largely through the revenue they could generate, either through continued ticket/merchandise sales, alumni donations, and especially tv broadcast revenue. As more money made its way into the NCAA teams were able to realign their conferences with less of an eye towards logistics and more towards maximizing their revenue, which is why they seem to cover so much territory--local powerhouses moved on to create conferences with other regional powerhouses to drive competitiveness and profit.
The madness starts the week before for the really hardcore fans - Championship week. The conference tournaments are played this week. For about half of these conferences, their only chance of making the NCAA tournament is winning their conference tournament. So these tournaments are going on, and you finally get to the finals, and you see a team with 300 fans win their conference tournament and punch a ticket to the big one. It's usually pandemonium when a team from one of these lesser conferences wins their tournament. I used to watch championship week when I was younger.
College sports are heavily based on polling (subjective rankings) because there are hundreds of teams and a true head to head evaluation is impossible for all of them. It’s definitely a source for controversy, but short of having a 300 game season there isn’t a better alternative. That’s why things like power conferences and prestige are so insanely important, and it’s yet another source of intrigue that makes college sports so huge in America.
"At-large" teams can make the tournament without winning their respective conference tournaments. This is where the selection committee comes in where they essentially use teams' resumes and advanced metrics to pick who should be able to make the tournament.
There are normally 5-6 teams every year who feel disrespected by not being picked to make the tournament. It happens every year.
The best thing about March Madness is knowing that a "hot" team can beat a "big" team on any given day. There are no lots of upsets. While knowing the team's record is important, there are some "intangibles" that can knock the #1 seed out of the tournament on day one.
"i'm just gonna go by numbers"
Honestly, not the worst idea.
Love how a football manager TH-camr, Zealand, made a march madness video!
You can download a bracket after selection Sunday. The first round seedings will be prepared. It's on you to guess the winners all the through to the championship. Typically it's for money.
To "fill out a bracket" is to fill in winners all the way down through the final game. There have been a few times where nationally a bracket player has gotten close to a perfect bracket, and if you did one, you would win a pile of money if it was with some sort of sports book.
The first 2 days (Thursday, Friday) is full-time basketball for 12 hours with multiple games.
The “Cinderella teams” - small colleges playing crazy good (lucky) basketball -
upsetting the powerhouse college teams are LOVED by Audience (and Las Vegas betters).
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The 1979 Tournament featured Magic Johnson (Michigan State) versus Larry Bird (Indiana State) in the Championship Game. Record audience for TV … and then followed those 2 players into Professional basketball (NBA).
By 1982, Michael Jordan, as a freshman at University of North Carolina made the Winning shot for Game.
By 1990s, Michael was a professional basketball superstar.
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Every game of March Madness is available to watch in the UK on ESPN player. You can get a week for free when you sign up, or it's a tenner for the month.
It's well worth the tenner if you ask me. Fill out a bracket, put a bit of money on who'll do best, and stick on the 'whip-around', which is a bit like if Soccer Saturday showed the actual games
Here are some of the factors that the selection takes into account:
1. What are called "quality wins" - if you're an underdog team, and you beat a big team, that will definitely add to your case.
2. Timing of the quality wins - conference wins are going to carry more weight. Usually, the later in the season, the better, because it's more recent. Sometimes, they'll consider early season wins, because an upset is an upset, but it doesn't carry as much weight as others do.
Thank you for the info 😊
@5:45 you're talking about the Big 12. That's WVU, West Virginia University, way over by itself.
WVU has changed Conferences a few times over the last 40 years.
We joined the Big 12 just 10 years ago. (Mens Soccer is Mid-American Conference and Women's Soccer is Big 12, so contracrs are by program not by school).
We've had good teams and players over the years like NBA Hof and owner of the Lakers, and NBA Logo Jerry West, NFL Hof Sam Huff, current Seahawks Quarterback Geno Smith.
Joining the Big 12 was to play a harder conference schedule to do better in the rankings, and also it improved recruiting.
Guys don’t be afraid to rewind something you didn’t quite hear. 👍🏾
This video was a perfect one to react to as it explains everything in detail. Can’t wait to see your brackets once the teams are locked for the tourney
March Madness is always by far my favorite part of the sports year. Taking those first 4 days of the tournament that are nonstop basketball and seeing how all your brackets are managing is such a fun time. So happy to see y’all might be a part of this year’s tournament! I always gotta root for my hometown San Diego State but also now for my current school of the Michigan.
A bracket is the tournament seedings and you fill it out, either digitally or on paper. It's just the tournament seedings.
The most exciting long weekend in sports is First Round. Thursday-Sunday. Go to sports bars where they carry multiple games on multiple TVs. It’s sports nirvana!!
The main thing about filling out the bracket is that every game matters to you
March madness is the single best tournament to exist. As a football (soccer) fan, it even beats the World Cup. So much drama, but it ALWAYS ends with the best 4 teams in the end. Can’t wait for March madness, and Rock Chalk
The conferences can get really confusing. Everything is currently being driven by college football and tv network money. In some ways similar to the “Super League” that almost happened in Europe. For example, two of the biggest brands the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners are leaving that conference in the middle of the country for the Southeastern Conference because all the teams in the “SEC” conference will receive over $70 million more per year from ESPN/Disney company. The craziest move is USC & UCLA, out of Los Angeles, switching from the Pacific Conference to the Big 10 (the northern Midwest Conference). It’s the equivalent of Manchester United and Manchester City leaving the Premier League to play in La Liga, if La Liga paid the teams more money. Lots of conference realignment and changes happening in college sports right now.
There's always some controversy on Selection Sunday and schools "on the bubble". This year's Selection Sunday is March 12th. Play-in games 14th/15th. Madness starts on the 16th.
There's also a secondary tournament called the NIT for 32 schools that didn't get selected for the championship tournament.
March madness is great for upsets and close games . Watching the top moments from the tournament would be a great reaction
Thanks Tmac. Added to the list (for previous tournaments). We’re hoping to do watch alongs for the 2023 one 🤞
It's also huge because the NFL season is over and more casual fans eyes are on the games.
All of the games are in pre-determined cities around the US but the locations your teams plays at could be close by, or really far. They’re all considered neutral and the Final Four is in a pre-selected city (this year it’s in Houston, Texas). There’s the Round of 64, Round of 32, the Sweet 16, The Elite 8, and The Final Four. The Final Four (semis) games and championship game always take place at an indoor football (NFL) stadium to accommodate the most number of people (70-80k people). When a seed other than a 1, 2 or maybe 3 makes it to the F4, it’s a big deal! Only one 1 seed (Virginia) has lost in the first round over a 16 seed. So that 16 seed, or any 11-16 seed who wins a game or two, is considered the Cinderella Story of that year. People select their brackets on who is best/records/seeding, or based on colors, mascots, flipping a coin, or blind reactions. It’s very fun and y’all should fill out your brackets after selection Sunday (3/12/23) before the (real) tournament starts the following Thursday (3/16/23) morning.
That first weekend is the most exciting time in sports. And I don't watch college basketball in regular season.
"usually at a location"... Well put, UVA boy
Yes, all of the conference tournament champions earn an automatic invitation to the NCAA tournament, but there are also a good-sized number of invites given out to teams who did NOT win their conference tournament. There's a committee that closely examines the "resume" of each non-tournament champion to decide which other teams will also make it into the big tournament.
Teams with a record that's CLOSE to being good enough to earn a spot in the tournament are said to be "on the bubble". These "bubble" teams may or may not actually make it into the tournament. All the teams are announced on "Selection Sunday", and even THAT is a fairly major event in American sports.
Someone may have posted this already, but just in case: many men, if they're going to have a vasectomy, schedule it for a Wednesday, the day before March Madness starts - because the recovery time is usually a couple of days. So between that and the weekend, guys basically have a doctor's note to stay home and sit in the couch in front of the TV, watching 12 hours of basketball every day.
I really hope you get to watch this whole tournament live.... it's the best tournament we have in the US.... buzzer beaters, upsets, day drinking and gambling... what more could you ask for...espn has a bracket competition you can do for free
The games themselves will be on BT Sport starting around 5pm till 3am each weekend from the Thursday after 12th March
Thank you for the info Paul!
The other thing to consider why this time of year is so epic…a lot of these players will not make it professionally. This is their chance and last chance for most. They don’t get paid, they are playing their hearts out. The emotions are high and makes the games much more exciting.
The conference have been and are still going through major realignments, especially for football.
the steph curry davidson run was the epitome of the tournament cinderella story. there's programs made on that history you can find on youtube.
Definitely follow the tournament this year and do fill out brackets; it will make it much more enjoyable to watch as the tournmanet progresses.
Also, Do a selection Sunday show and shows after each round letting us know your thoughts and how your brackets are doing.
Agreed. You will enjoy filling out your brackets. You joke about not knowing who to pick -- put even the so-called experts get everything wrong. Some people pick their favorites, or the lower seed, or just because they like the team nickname or the mascot; or because their grandmother was born in Oklahoma. People often pick a 12 over a 5. Honestly, there's no shame in picking a messed up bracket.
Thanks for the comment!
We will give it a go!
So far this has been a good one to start with. I hope y'all are taking it all in and enjoying. I don't watch a single college basketball game all year, but tune in for every game of March Madness because it is just too much fun to miss.
It’s been amazing! We’ve been watching games live and chatting in discord, we made a bracket group too. Love MM!
i literally take off work the first two days of march madness every year
Yes! Playoffs are king in the US!
“Ok, so you won your league… congrats. That earns you the top seed in the league bracket, and now it’s a playoff. Win the league playoff, AWESOME!! Now you’re in the National playoff.”
No better example of playoff craziness than March Madness where 300 teams fight for 68 spots.
As always, you guys are friggin awesome! Sports in America gets a little crazy, your adventure has been so fun to follow. We the viewers are here to help.
Bracketology is a real thing for March Madness. Fill out a bracket, pick teams you like, even it is just because of their colors, and hope for the best!
Thanks for this comment! We love seeing things like this. Really glad you enjoy the content 😀 can’t wait for MM!
The selection committee is controversial every year. Inevitably, a team which many/most feel is deserving, gets left out. Conversely, other teams are surprise selections.
The committee members use a combination of objective data - wins/losses, quality of opposition, relative strength of conference, etc - and subjective observation to determine which teams are to participate. For example, a team which finishes with an overall record of 20 wins and twelve losses, may be selected in favor of one which finishes with 25 wins and 7 losses. The reason may be that the 20-12 team played in a more competitive conference, and its losses were all by slim margins, whilst the other team played in a relatively weak conference and was beaten soundly by those few strong squads they played.
During the evaluation process, terms like "good wins" (a victory over a strong team on the road or at a neutral site), and "bad losses" (defeats to relatively weak schools, or blowout losses in games expected to be competitive) are thrown about.
In general terms, Americans value success under pressure over sustained success over time. That's why we are comfortable with crowning a tournament winner with a modest record, as overall champions. We see this in all our sports.
Even MLS, which does have what you would call a league champion (highest point total through a scheduled slate of fixtures), favors the playoff tournament winner as its official league champion. The former is called the Supporters Shield. The latter is the MLS Cup. They comprise two of the three legs of our treble, with the third being the US Open Cup (open to all leagues/divisions - equivalent to FA Cup).
You should know, very few people know what they’re doing when they fill in their bracket, it’s just communal guessing and a lot of fun. No one ever guesses everything right and even Saturday Night Live has parodied this by doing a skit in which a college basketball fan with an almost perfect bracket is asked about his picks, and another person who did have a perfect bracket was asked as well. The first guy’s reasoning was all sports based, but the second person thought the bulldog was cute, and that Arizona would lose because “Arizona Ice Tea is so fattening”
There Are no brackets out yet obviously, as teams are Still in their conference play. The Conference Tournaments, to determine the Automatic Bid from that conference are still a few weeks away. He was talking about last years brackets and Tournament. On Wisconsin!
Clarification on the foul shots. If a foul occurs on a successful shot attempt, only one foul shot is given. For missed shots, two foul shots are given inside the arc and three outside. There are also non shooting fouls that usually occur early in each half and technical fouls that not only earn a foul shot, but the team shooting the technical gets to keep possession after the foul shot.
Big East Conference tournament is always at madison square garden, ny.
With so many games you have so many amazing moments. And you bring so much joy to wonderful programs, schools, towns/cities, and wonderful young gentleman and women who will build off these memories and do wonderful things in this world
We can’t wait!
@@DNReacts In 1989 I received a call in our radio studio from Australia. It turned out one of that country's top young basketball stars was playing on a team in the NCAA championship final and many Aussie fans were in the dark about what was happening. I had to inform the caller that his team was trailing badly with only minutes left. Then the player went on a 3 point shooting tear, brought his team back and the game went into OT. I thought the caller was going to collapse. March Madness truly went international that night.
The conferences get to choose how their autobid is chosen. They use the conference tournament so it can be a money maker. This is huge for the smaller conferences..
As for the at large bids most of the good teams come from about 7 or 8 conferences.
They play more good teams during the year and have better players almost always.
I have enjoyed you guys for a long time. Thank you so much! I would love to visit Jersey, you should come to Atlanta. See a Braves game.
10:30 "Has there ever been a decision made that was like, 'Oh, that is ridiculous!'"
Yeah, about 3-5...
Each year
(at least in the eyes of the teams left out).
Enjoyed it. MM is the only time I watch basketball of any kind. It's also hockey season and that's what I love. Thanks for the video.See ya on the next one I hope!
Thanks Mark. NHL will be coming soon. Thank you for the support, appreciate it!
Initially the games are played regionally. Northeast region and such
I had a 9year old who played in our bracket pool ... he picked teams by colors ... cleared $950 ....it's all a guessing game :)
“That state’s only got one team” Cheers from Minnesota! Go gophers!! We now have a second team though 😔
"Why are you asking us for a bracket? We dong have a clue..." - We don't either. You'll never have a perfect bracket. Pick the pretty colors. You have as much of a chance as the rest of us. :)
When I explain the champions league to Americans I often use college basketball as a reference. Between the conferences, regular season, conference tournaments, and the big tournament.,,they kind of get it