Origin of March Madness

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The first NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was played in 1939. The NCAA tournament field grew to 16 teams in 1951, doubled to 32 in 1975 and expanded to its current size of 64 teams in 1985.
It had eight teams. An opening-round game was introduced in 2001. Three more games were added to that round in 2011 for the inaugural First Four.
Oregon is the first NCAA tournament champion, beating Ohio State for the title. The term 'March Madness' was first used in reference to basketball by an Illinois high school official, Henry V. Porter, in 1939.