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NCAA Tournament to begin with "First Four" games

Mon 12th, July 2010

Indianapolis, IN (Sports Network) - The Division I Men's Basketball Committee revealed its format for the newly expanded 68-team field in the NCAA Tournament on Monday.

Beginning next March, eight teams will play early during the opening week in what is being dubbed the "First Four" round, with the winners advancing to the second round on Thursday or Friday. The schedule and location for those games will be announced at a later time.

Two of the first-round games will feature the last four at-large teams selected to the tournament, while the other two contests will match teams ranked 65 through 68 on the overall seed list.

The at-large teams that win their opening game will then be seeded where they would normally be placed in the bracket, meaning a contest between a pair of No. 12 seeds would result in the winner advancing to play a No. 5 seed.

The winners of the games involving teams seeded 65 through 68 will move on to play against a No. 1 seeded team.

"With the new bracket essentially featuring four additional at-large teams, the committee determined it was appropriate to have the teams play in the first round," said Dan Guerrero, the director of athletics at UCLA and chair of the committee for the 2009-10 academic year. "We believe this format provides an extraordinary opportunity for the championship's first-round games to be quality match-ups as March Madness begins."

The committee decided last April to increase the teams invited from 65 to 68.