March Madness

NCAA Basketball conference tournaments are in full swing, with the winners guaranteed a place in the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship mercifully known by the much shorter an more alliterative "March Madness."

Predictions abound regarding the make-up of the starting bracket, but the selection committee is largely guided by the Results Percentage Index, an objective if not necessarily accurate measure of relative team strength.

In addition to the thirty tournament champions (plus the regular season champs from the Ivy League, which doesn't hold a tournament), 34 at large teams are selected. Practically speaking, any Top 25 team according to the national polls can expect to be in this group, regardless of their tournament performance.

The remaining at large teams generally selected from the major conferences, that is the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10, and SEC. The smaller conferences are often called "one-bid" conferences, since even teams that have dominated these conferences in the regular season rarely go to "the big dance" if they fail to win their conference tournament.

Immediately after the last conference tournament games, the starting brackets will be announced on the The NCAA Selection Show (CBS, 6 p.m. eastern time). There is still plenty of time to get your NCAA Gear to gloat over your team's inevitable victory, or pick out a good College Basketball book.

This year the NCAA will host considerable streaming video content on the web under the title March Madness on Demand. However, to avoid exceeding the available bandwith, they require free registration in advance.