Kelly S. Croslis is a Freelance Writer and stay-at-home mom to 3 active teenage girls. She uses much of what she learned and experienced in her 20 years of military life and raising her girls. Kelly is a columnist for several Online magazines and Freelances for her local newspaper. She lives with her husband and 3 girls in Pennsylvania.

March Madness
by Kelly S. Croslis

Football has the super bowl, baseball the World Series and hockey the Stanley cup. For basketball, at least college - there is: March Madness. The tournament will determine the national champion of college basketball, and is one of the most prominent sporting events, running from the first week of March to the first week of April. As brackets are released for March Madness, groups will come together to place bets on who wins each game, and by how many points. The competition among friends is almost as fierce as the competition on the court.

March madness, by definition is a single elimination tournament, consisting of 65 college basketball teams. It was begun in 1939 by the national association of basketball coaches. It is a single elimination tournament, split into four regions with each region having teams seeded 1- 16. One benefit of the single elimination is it offers lower ranking teams the chance to advance in the playoffs, something they may not be able to attain in a double elimination set up.

The tournament begins with teams from Division I conference, a total of 31 teams who receive automatic bids to the games by winning their conference tournaments. The remaining 34 spots are chosen by a NCAA selection committee who use team rankings, win-loss records and other data to determine the seedlings.

After the first weekend of play, 16 teams remain, they are known as the "Sweet Sixteen" The winners from the 16 are referred to as that "Elite Eight and the winners from these eight is referred to as "The Final Four." The term "Final Four" is a term that refers only to college basketball.

This year's "Elite Eight" consist of: Michigan St. vs. Tennessee, Butler vs. Kansas St., Washington vs. West Virginia, and Duke vs. Baylor. The winners of these teams will play Easter Weekend for a chance at the championship game and the chance to hang the banner in their home arena. Coming down to the wire, this year's Final Four is a surprise too many, with many firsts bringing more excitement and wonder to the game.

For many, Duke entering the final four is not a surprise, they are a favorite. The remaining three teams, however, bring a story with them. Michigan State, while a regular in years past was not expected to get very far this year, Butler who will make their first appearance ever and West Virginia who has been away from the Final Four since 1959. When Duke and West Virginia take to the court, it will be a typical 1 vs. 2 matchup. The second game, however, will see two number 5 teams, Michigan State and Butler, the first time a match up like this has happened. This year's March Madness shows that any team can win, and the little guy does sometimes come out ahead.

With the different tournaments, championship games and play offs throughout the year, there is something for everyone.

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