Why is march madness so popular

Louisville -- a program with three national championships, the most recent from -- is a No. New Mexico State matches St. Mary's with a tournament-high seven international players, while three teams in addition to Gonzaga South Carolina, Florida State and Oregon have five. Four international players in the tournament are expected to be selected in the NBA draft this summer. Lauri Markkanen , Arizona's 7-foot freshman forward from Finland, is considered the best of the bunch.

But the international player who might have made the most significant impact is Hakeem Olajuwon, who grew up playing soccer in Nigeria.

He didn't start playing basketball until he was 17, yet he helped the University of Houston reach three consecutive Final Fours before going on to a Hall of Fame career in the NBA. Five players from Africa were picked in last year's NBA draft, and there are 25 players from 12 African nations in this year's tournament. Despite the significant global participation in NCAA basketball, Latin America doesn't have a large presence in this year's tournament. Other past Latin American standouts include the Dominican Republic's Francisco Garcia, who helped Louisville to the Final Four, Venezuela's Greivis Vasquez, who went to the tournament three times with Maryland, and Al Horford of the Dominican Republic, who helped Florida win consecutive national titles in and ' Because many top basketball players leave for the NBA before finishing their college careers -- sometimes after just one year -- the head coaches are often the most recognized faces at the tournament.

Although there aren't any non-U. He has been with Louisville since and was at the University of Kentucky from , winning a national title at each of those schools.

His son, Richard Pitino, coaches Minnesota. By the way, while the players receive little more than free tuition and some living expenses, the coaches are paid handsomely. While the whole tournament is exciting, the first two rounds are the best because there are so many games and a fair number of upsets. There are 16 first-round games per day on Thursday and Friday, spanning from approximately noon until midnight ET.

That provides some reasonable viewing opportunities in most parts of the world. The first games begin in the early evening in London, and the action runs through Friday and Saturday afternoon in Sydney. It might be a little tougher in India, where the 12 or so daily hours of first-round games begin at p. Thursday and Friday. That sure beats the Super Bowl, though, which started at p.

Monday in India and a. Monday in Sydney. Skip to main content Skip to navigation. Why March Madness has something for everywhere. Duke Blue Devils. Oklahoma State Cowboys. Seattle hoops HC resigns amid racial slur probe. Although both teams have seen favorable odds against early opponents, bookmakers have widely favored the Warriors to come out on top.

Another big reason for the sheer popularity of the tournament is that it happens during a gap in the regular sports season, right between the baseball and football seasons, filling in the void for avid sports fans.

In addition to this, with the short space of time it spans and the sheer number of games that take place during the tournament, the basketball games often happen back-to-back and sometimes, even simultaneously.

That means that the level of excitement throughout the tournament never lulls, leaving fans hooked and wondering what will happen next. Every fan as they wait for the next season. For those of us looking forward to the next season , we may have quite a bit of a wait, but as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

These will take place in Dayton, Ohio. The first, second and regional rounds will spread out over 12 different locations across the country. Facebook Twitter RSS. Bonaventure St. Cloud State St. Francis St.

Francis Brooklyn St. And the recent history suggests that their hopes are not unrealistic. On the other hand, such kinds of surprising results are very rare in the NBA. The chances for a team lower than a 4 seed are extremely low. Only one team Houston Rockets achieved this improbable feat of becoming the NBA champions since the playoffs were expanded to 16 teams in All these fans have their own favorite teams, however, they can easily end up cheering for or against another team they care about.

This makes the March Madness games much more fun than the games in the other leagues.