For most of the beginning of the tournament, this March Madness had been anything but madness. Not a lot of buzzer beaters with no big surprises. Oh man how that changed. Here are some random things about March Madness to get you ready for the Sweet 16.

  • We finally had a number 16 seed beat a number 1 when the University of Maryland, Baltimore County took down Virginia.
  • The Pac 12 has been absolutely awful in sports over the past year. Not only did they not have a team in the College Football Playoff, they broke a record for the worst Power 5 bowl record, ever, going 1 and 9. Now, that has bled into basketball with this being the first time a Power 5 conference (which goes back to the 90s) has not had a team advance to the round of 32.
    • The Pac 12 had only 3 teams get in, with 2 of the three in the play in games.
  • Think predicting the perfect bracket can't be that difficult and you wonder why it's never been done? Odds of filling out a perfect bracket are 1 in 9.2 quintillion.
  • Think you can at least lock in a Final Four by picking the number 1 seeds? Only once, has all four number seeds made the Final Four. That would be 2008 when it was Kansas, North Carolina, UCLA, and Memphis.
  • March Madness was first uses by Brent Musburger in 1982. It was in a law suit in the 90s because the Illinois High School Basketball Championship had actually been using the term since 1939. The ruled, giving each party it's own rights, allowing for dual use trademark.
  • The NIT (National Invitation Tournament) actually predates the NCAA tournament by one year, and for awhile, it was considered the superior tournament. From 1943 to 1945, the champions of each tournament would face off to find a "true" national champion.
    • For a brief time, teams were allowed to compete in both tournaments, and one team won both. The City College of New York won them both in 1950.

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