History of March Madness
The first NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament was held in 1939, but it wasn’t nearly as expansive as today’s version. Just eight teams competed in 1939, and Oregon emerged as the first NCAA tournament champion, defeating Ohio State for the title.
Over the years, the field received several expansions. It increased to 16 teams in 1951, 32 teams in 1975, and 64 teams in 1985. Today, 68 total teams are selected to play in March Madness, with the “First Four” games trimming the bracket to 64.
Speaking of major evolutions, the name “March Madness” wasn’t associated with the tournament until several decades after it began. The term “March Madness” was first used by Illinois high school official, Henry V. Porter, in 1939. But Porter was referring to the game of basketball itself, not the college championship. Decades later, CBS broadcaster Brent Musburger used the term during coverage of the 1982 games, and it has been synonymous with the tournament ever since.
Bracket Busters
Filling out a bracket is a quintessential March Madness experience. In 2025, there were approximately 39 million publicly available brackets submitted between the men’s and women’s tournaments. And with 67 total games played in each tournament, it’s virtually impossible to predict the exact outcome.
According to the NCAA’s calculations, a bracket in which each winning team is selected at random has a 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 (9.2 quintillion) chance of a perfect outcome. Your odds are a bit better if you make intentional picks based on the matchups – about 1 in 120.2 billion. With those staggering numbers, it may come as no surprise that a perfect March Madness bracket has never been recorded.
Of course, the unpredictability is part of what makes the tournament so exciting. In 2018, UMBC delivered the most shocking upset to date, becoming the first 16-seed to defeat a 1-seed with its victory over Virginia. In 2023, FDU became the second 16-seed to accomplish the feat, beating Purdue. The lowest seed to ever win the tournament was the 8-seed Villanova in 1985. And in 2022, Saint Peter’s made it all the way to the Elite Eight as a 15-seed. March Madness, indeed.
March Madness Records
Of the over 350 schools in Division I men’s basketball, only 15 teams have won multiple national championships. UCLA leads the pack with 11 titles, followed by Kentucky with 8, and UConn and North Carolina with 6 each.
UCLA’s massive lead is largely due to an impressive run in the ‘60s and ‘70s, when the team won 10 championships in 12 years. This handily gives the record for most championships won by a coach to UCLA’s John Wooden, who was at the helm during the dominating stretch. The closest behind him is Mike Krzyzewski, with 5 national titles to his name.
As far as players with impressive records, Duke’s Christian Laettner is the player with the most total points in his March Madness career. Laettner racked up 407 total tournament points from 1989 to 1992. Notre Dame’s Austin Carr holds the record for the most points in a single game, scoring 61 points against Ohio in 1970.
Trivia Questions
Wesleyan University
Michael B. Jordan