One of the most significant sports events of the year is the March Madness basketball tournament. A popular time of year for Big Al expert picks, the March Madness basketball tournament is a 68 team college basketball tournament during March. Thirty-two teams earn automatic bids based on winning their conference basketball tournament. The other 36 bids are at-large teams that go to the next 36 deserving teams in all of college basketball. The game was not played last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Even though the pandemic is still very much with us this year, there is no doubt that the tournament will be played. The reality is that the NCAA might not be able to survive if they cannot make the billions of dollars that usually make off of the college basketball tournament. To make the tournament more feasible, the committee announced that the entire college basketball tournament would be played in Indiana and hosted by IU.
The Tournament Will Be Played at Various Stadiums Around Indiana
Even though the tournament is going to be hosted by Indiana University, this does not mean that every game will be played on their campus. In reality, there is a good chance that none of the games will be played in the stadium of Indiana University. Instead, Indiana University of merely going to act as the host for the tournament. There are plenty of places where schools can play games throughout Indianapolis, Bloomington, and some other major cities in Indiana. For example, there is a chance that the final four will be held at Lucas Oil Stadium, which is the home of the Indianapolis Colts, an NFL football team that recently made the playoffs. Furthermore, there is also a good chance that the tournament will use the home of the Indiana Pacers as well. It will be exciting to watch the college basketball tournament unfold this year, as it will take place in a single city for the first time.
Will the Tournament Have 68 Teams?
Of course, many people ask whether or not the tournament will have 68 teams this year. Even though 68 teams have been the traditional number for several years, there is a chance that this might not be feasible given the amount of time it would take to play all of these games and the increased chances of having viral transmission. Even though the tournament would certainly like to have 68 teams again this year, if they have to shrink the tournament, they would probably shrink it to 64 teams. Then, that they need to drink it again, they would need to trim it to 48 teams or 32 teams. It will be interesting to see how the NCAA reacts to changing virus transmission rates during the season. Regardless, it will be nice to have the tournament back this year.
Getting Ready for March Madness
The college basketball season is already underway, and there have already been a lot of upsets. As teams have to deal with each other and the coronavirus pandemic, some teams are merely going to handle this challenge better than others. It will be interesting to see how the college basketball season unfolds leading up to the tournament.