For those of you who don’t already know, The NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship, or March Madness, will be starting on Tuesday March 18th. It is a single-elimination tournament featuring 68 college basketball teams and is played to determine the national champion of Division I college basketball teams. The tournament was created in 1939 and has become one of the most famous annual sporting events in the United States.
The tournament teams include the champions from 32 Division I conference tournaments and 36 teams awarded at-large berths based on how they have played during the regular season. The qualifying teams are divided into four regions and organized into a single elimination “bracket,” which pre-determines, which team it will face next after winning each game. Each team is “seeded” (ranked) within its region from 1-16. Lower-ranked teams are placed in the bracket against higher ranked teams; for example, seed 1 plays seed 16, seed 2 plays seed 15, and so on. Each tournament weekend eliminates three quarters of the teams, beginning with a round of 64, to a round of sixteen, and then a Final Four. These are the four teams, one from each region, that then compete for the national championship.
March Madness brings out perhaps the most rabid fans in all of college sports. This isn’t buying a ticket to one bowl game and following your team. This is a 6 game, 3 geographic location, 3 week commitment. Host cities are overrun with fans wearing their school colors and logos on t-shirts, school hats and other items, along with carrying checks from the schools they cheer for.
Speaking of checks, Bradford Exchange Checks currently offers checks for 15 colleges and universities, including 8 teams that made this year’s tournament, including overall top seed Florida Gators and #2 seeds Wisconsin Badgers and Michigan Wolverines. Enjoy the madness, and if you are not a college basketball fan don’t worry – spring football practice is almost here, and more college and university checks are being added to the Bradford Exchange Checks web site every month.
Let The Madness Begin by Rob Rogers
About Rob Rogers
I have more than 30 years of experience in the financial and consumer savings industry, supporting the needs of both consumers across the country. With a focus on financial responsibility for consumers, I have been able to help individuals, families and small businesses insure their greatest wealth and opportunity for financial growth. Providing considerable ways to create savings, this has allowed folks across the country to be able to enjoy what they are buying, while saving on their purchases, yet still increasing their financial worth. This allows them to save more for the future, and enjoy more of what they like versus need now as well. Follow me on Google+