CNN\u00a0\u2014\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
\n Here\u2019s a look at the NCAA Division I Men\u2019s Basketball<\/a> and Women\u2019s Basketball Tournaments<\/a>. The single-elimination tournament is nicknamed \u201cMarch Madness\u201d or \u201cThe Big Dance.\u201d\n <\/p>\n 2026 NCAA Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s Finals<\/p>\n \n April 6, 2026 – Men\u2019s Finals – The national championship game is scheduled to take place in Indianapolis, Indiana.\n <\/p>\n \n April 5, 2026 – Women\u2019s Finals – The national championship game is scheduled to take place in Phoenix, Arizona.\n <\/p>\n 2025 NCAA Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s Finals<\/p>\n \n April 7, 2025 – Men\u2019s Finals – The Florida Gators defeat the Houston Cougars<\/a> 65-63 in a heart-stopping championship game in San Antonio, to win a third national championship.\n <\/p>\n \n April 6, 2025 – Women\u2019s Finals – The UConn Huskies defeat the defending champions South Carolina Gamecocks<\/a> 82-59 for a dominant victory in the championship game in Tampa, Florida. The Huskies secure a record 12th national title.\n <\/p>\n In pictures: UConn wins 12th national title<\/p>\n \n 68 teams are invited to compete. \n The 12-member selection committee<\/a>, comprised of athletic administrators and conference commissioners, is responsible for selecting the 37 at-large teams, seeding (or ranking) all 68 teams and placing them in one of four regions within the bracket. The committee\u2019s field of 68 is revealed on the Sunday before the four first-round games, appropriately dubbed \u201cSelection Sunday.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The selection committee uses different metrics, including the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET)<\/a> rankings, which is comprised<\/a> of Team Value Index (TVI), or wins against quality opponents, and an adjusted net efficiency across all games. The NET replaces the Ratings Percentage Index.\n <\/p>\n \n 68 teams are invited to compete. \n Similar to the men\u2019s selection process, a 12-member selection committee uses NET rankings and other metrics to choose the 37 at-large teams, seed (or rank) all 68 teams and place them in one of four regions within the bracket.\n <\/p>\n \n The committee\u2019s field of 68 is revealed on the Sunday before the four first-round games.\n <\/p>\n \n The \u201cFirst Four\u201d are the four opening round games in both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s tournaments. Two games match the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers against each other, and the other two games feature the four lowest-seeded at-large teams selected into the tournament. The winners advance to the next round, the round of 64.\n <\/p>\n \n For both the tournaments, each of the four regions consists of 16 teams that are seeded No. 1 to No. 16. In the first round, teams are paired according to seed. The No. 1 seed faces No. 16, No. 2 faces No. 15, No. 3 faces No. 14, and so forth. The winning teams advance to the second round.\n <\/p>\n \n The 16 teams that advance beyond their first and second-round games are referred to as the \u201cSweet Sixteen.\u201d The remaining eight teams are called the \u201cElite Eight,\u201d and the last four teams are the \u201cFinal Four.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n An underdog or lower-seeded team that advances throughout the tournament is often referred to as a \u201cCinderella\u201d team.\n <\/p>\n \n The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Bruins have the most NCAA Division I Men\u2019s Basketball Tournament titles with 11.\n <\/p>\n \n The University of Connecticut (UConn) Huskies have the most NCAA Division I Women\u2019s Basketball Tournament titles with 12.\n <\/p>\n \n 1939 – The first men\u2019s tournament is held, and eight teams compete. Oregon defeats Ohio State 46-33.\n <\/p>\n \n 1954 – The tournament final is broadcast live nationwide for the first time.\n <\/p>\n \n 1982 – The first women\u2019s tournament is held, and 32 teams compete. Louisiana Tech beats Cheyney State 76-62.\n <\/p>\n \n 1991 – CBS begins broadcasting all games live.\n <\/p>\n \n 1999 – CBS obtains an 11-year contract through 2013 worth $6 billion to broadcast the tournament.\n <\/p>\n \n 2005 – College Sports Television begins a two-year agreement with CBS Sportsline.com and the NCAA for exclusive video streaming rights on CSTV.com for out-of-market game coverage. CSTV pays CBS $3 million for the rights and expects to be profitable in the first year.\n <\/p>\n \n April 22, 2010 – In addition to expanding the men\u2019s tournament basketball field to 68 teams from 65, the NCAA announces a 14-year, $10.8 billion television rights deal with CBS and Turner Sports. The deal, which goes into effect in 2011, marks the first time that each game will be televised nationally.\n <\/p>\n \n April 12, 2016 – The NCAA announces an 8-year extension of its TV deal with Turner Broadcasting and CBS Sports.<\/a> The extension to the current deal \u2013 for a combined total rights fee of $8.8 billion \u2013 will keep the big game at Turner and CBS until 2032.\n <\/p>\n \n February 20, 2018 – The NCAA Infraction Appeal Committee announces they will uphold penalties against the Louisville Cardinals Men\u2019s Basketball team for their serious violations of NCAA rules. The Committee panel found that they \u201cacted unethically\u2026.by arranging striptease dances and sex acts for prospects, student-athletes and others, and did not cooperate with the investigation.\u201d<\/a> The penalties vacate every win from 2011 to 2015, including the 2013 national championship and the 2012 Final Four appearance.\n <\/p>\n \n August 22, 2018 – The NCAA announces a new ranking tool, the NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool<\/a>). It replaces RPI, or the ranking performance index, as the method which will be used to choose which teams will be selected to participate in the tournament.\n <\/p>\n \n March 12, 2020 – NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors cancel the men\u2019s and women\u2019s Division I basketball tournament, and other winter and spring NCAA championships, due to concern over the Covid-19 pandemic<\/a>. The Division I championships have been played every year since the men\u2019s inception in 1939 and women\u2019s in 1982. <\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n January 4, 2021 – The NCAA announces that the entire 2021 NCAA men\u2019s basketball tournament will be played in the state of Indiana<\/a>, with the majority of the 67 scheduled games to be played in Indianapolis.\n <\/p>\n \n February 5, 2021 – The NCAA announces that the entire 2021 NCAA women\u2019s basketball tournament will be played in Texas<\/a>, with the majority of the 63 scheduled games to be played in San Antonio.\n <\/p>\n \n September 29, 2021 – After a \u201ccomprehensive external review of gender equity issues,\u201d the NCAA announces that beginning in 2022, the \u201cMarch Madness\u201d branding <\/a>that has historically been used for the Division I men\u2019s basketball tournament will also be used for the women\u2019s basketball tournament.\n <\/p>\n \n November 17, 2021 – The expansion of the women\u2019s tournament bracket is approved. Sixty-eight teams will participate in the 2022 championship, up from 64.\n <\/p>\n \n April 7, 2024 – The NCAA tournament national title game between undefeated and top overall seed South Carolina and Caitlin Clark\u2019s Iowa Hawkeyes breaks women\u2019s college basketball ratings records<\/a>, averaging 18.7 million viewers, according to preliminary numbers from Nielsen<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n
– 31 teams receive automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments.
– 37 teams receive an at-large bid from the NCAA Selection Committee.\n <\/p>\n
– 31 teams receive automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments.
– 37 teams receive an at-large bid from the NCAA Selection Committee.\n <\/p>\n