High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 65 college basketball teams, both conference champions and at-large selections. The tournament, organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), was created in 1939 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and was the brainchild of Kansas coach Phog Allen The NCAA took over the tournament the following season. Held mostly in March, it is informally known as March Madness or the Big Dance; the national semifinals (the Final Four) have become one of the nation's most prominent sporting events. Since its inception, the tournament bracket has included conference tournament champions from each Division I conference, which receive automatic bids.