#FunFactFriday – March Madness

Every March we get to witness what is arguably the greatest basketball tournament in the world:  The NCAA Basketball Tournament, which has become known as “March Madness.”  It has spawned such terms as “Bracketology,” “Buzzer-Beaters, “Sweet Sixteen,” “Elite Eight” and “Final Four,” which will be played at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., on April 1 and 3.
Did you know…

1. The March Madness field features 68 of the 344 eligible Division 1 men’s teams.
2. 32 conference-tournament winners receive an automatic bid.
3. An estimated 40 million people fill out more than 70 million brackets.
4. The odds of filling out a perfect bracket are 1 in 9.2 quintillion.
5. Approximately $9 billion is wagered on the NCAA tournament.
6. UCLA has won the most NCAA men’s basketball titles with 11.
7. The University of Arizona Wildcats have been to the Final Four four times.
8. Lew Alcindor, now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, is the only three-time men’s tournament Most Outstanding Player.
9. Kansas City, Mo., has hosted the Final Four 10 times, three more than New York and Indianapolis.
10. Nevada is the only state banned from hosting NCAA tournament games in any sport because this state allows betting on individual sporting events.
11. Duke’s Christian Laettner is the tournament’s all-time leading scorer with 407 points in 23 post-season games.