About The Final Four

The word Final Four is a traditional name for the last four squads, left in the playoff of men's Division I Basketball Championship. The teams are the winners of the tournament's four regional groups, and the only teams playing in the championship's final weekend.

Some experts suggest that initially the term Final Four was used to name the final matches of Indianas high school basketball competition. However the NCAA holds a trademark for the term and states that it was mad up by a Cleveland Plain Dealer sports writer Ed Chay. In his article in the Official Collegiate Basketball Guide in 1975. The article read that Marquette University was one of the final four in the 1974 competition. The NCAA authorities began to heavily use the term after 1977.

Nowadays, the men's championship is initiated with 65 squads. The two teams with the poorest performance, according to the NCAA Selection Committee, start the first game (the so called play-in game) in Dayton, Ohio, narrowing the number of participants up to 64 teams. The women's basketball championship begins straight with 64 teams; there is no play-in game. The contest goes on eliminating the defeated teams in the consecutive weekends in March at specially designated places across the USA.

During the men's competition, all venues are generally neutral, while the squads are not allowed to play the games on their home stadiums. In some cases, however, there may be a slight chance of playing in or near the home state or city. According to the rules of NCAA, any stadium at which a team plays more than 3 regular season games is regarded as a home court. In the 2006 championship, the Villanova University basketball team was permitted to play its first two matches at the Wachovia Center in nearby Philadelphia, where the team had taken part in three regular-season home games. The fourth game at the Center would have made it impossible for them to play there.

On the third weekend, usually on Saturday and Monday for the men's championship and on Sunday and Tuesday for the women's championship, the final four squads play in semifinals on the first day and the championship on the second day. Previously, the teams left out in the semifinal games, met in a consolation match before the championship. The rule was changed in 1981, and the consolation games were eliminated.

The Final Four games will make you scream out of joy or thrill, while showing some of the best players in the field of college basketball. Get ready for a great sight. Buy your tickets in advance as there is a possibility of missing the great event because of lack of tickets. Buy the Final Four tickets through your personal entertainment organizer and ticket broker Vividseats.com.