March madness

As March draws to a close with only a few hours to go what an appropriate time to reflect on what is the premier month of college basketball. For those of you who follow me on twitter (@michael_hume6) will have noticed how engrossed I get with what is referred to as March Madness. It is unlike any other sporting competition we have other here in the UK due to its unique structure. The closest event we have to it which receives mainstream media attention is Wimbledon but this is obviously very different as its a global event with only a couple of players playing per country.

During March 64 colleges compete for the national championship in a single eliminated tournament. This includes the 31 Division I conference winners who are automatically entered into the tournament and then 37 additional teams selected by the NCAA committee heavily determined by season record. The teams are then selected into regions and seeded putting teams into brackets within the region. During each stage the winner of the match progresses on to the next round. The first round is 4 games between the lowest ranked teams to leave the 64 teams heading into the second round. Teams are split into 4 regions the winner of each region will progress to the national semi finals or more commonly known as the final four before the winners competing for the national championship.

This format creates so much tension and drama as fans follow their team through the tournament. It also creates so many upsets such as this year Wichita State the 9th seed in the West region have knocked out power houses such as 1 seed Gonzaga and 2 seed Ohio State. In that regards it is similar to the FA cup where we get lower league clubs beating Premier league teams.

This year I have followed the whole tournament but paying particular attention to the college I have followed for several years now in football and basketball. Those of you following me on twitter will no-doubt know I'm referring to Michigan Wolverines. Who have played some sensational offensive basketball lead by All-American Trey Burke. The guard has been undefendable at times with his driving runs into the paint and taking on more of a leadership role and bringing other players into the game through his assists have made him the best player in the tournament so far. This is without discussing that unbelievable and close to the best shot I have ever seen, 3 pointer against Kansas to take it to over time.

You can see how excited I get from the tournament helped by my be-loved Wolverines going into the final four but can you imagine if we had something similar in this country. Maybe the twenty twenty cup in cricket where county's are seeded after their group stage and put into a much larger bracket format. I mean Sky would go for it because you could in essence create 4 finals days by splitting teams into regions of 4 teams the winner of the regional finals day goes on to the the national final. It would create loads of drama and provide unrivaled entertainment.

I love March and I'm gutted its ending in just hours time all because of college basketball. Good Luck Blue in the final four and great coverage from CBS.