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The NCAA took over the national basketball championship tournament in 1940 from the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
One team was chosen from each of the eight NCAA districts. Four of them competed in a western tournament and four in an eastern tournament, the western and eastern champions then played off. This system continued until 1950.
The championship was expanded to 16 teams in 1951, with 10 conference champions automatically qualifying and 6 at-large teams selected. The move to the "Final Four" came the following year, when the number of regional tournaments was increased from two to four.
In 1954, the number of teams increased to 24, with 15 NCAA conference champions and 9 at-large teams. The number varied a little until 1975, when a 32-team bracket was adopted.
It has increased twice since 1975 to 48 in 1980 and to 64 in 1988. The number of conference champions automatically qualifying is subject to change from year to year, but under NCAA rules they can make up no more than half the teams in the tournament.March Madness" was born in Illinois. It is a annual tournament of high school boys basketball teams, sponsored by the Illinois High School Association. It started from a small invitational affair in 1908 to a statewide institution with over 900 schools competing by the late 1930's. Teams that stayed undefeated in the tournament got the title known as the "Sweet Sixteen" and routinely drew sellout crowds to the University of Illinois' Huff Gymnasium. Henry V. Porter, assistant executive secretary of the Illinois High School Association, was so impressed by the phenomenon that he wrote an essay to commend the tournament and entitled it "March Madness." It first appeared in the Illinois High School Associations magazine in 1939. As a result of this 1939 article, the phrase March Madness soon became the official name of that high schools basketball championship series. The name March Madness stuck with all newspapers. Who used it throughout their pages during the tournament's "Golden Era" of the 1940's and 1950's, "March Madness" became the popular name of the event. During this golden era, some of Illinois' most legendary teams, including the undefeated 1944 Taylorville squad and Mt. Vernon's unstoppable back-to-back champions of 1949 and 1950. But the one champion remembered more than any other is Little Hebron, a school of only 99 students, which won the tournament in 1952. In 1963, the tournament moved to the huge new Assembly Hall on the campus of the University of Illinois.
March Madness TodayToday's March Madness is different from the original version. Nowadays an "Elite Eight" of teams advances to the state finals, but there are four tournaments — a Class A (small school) and Class AA (large school) version for both boys and girls, played in Peoria and Normal. "The Happening," a thrilling contest featuring the state's best three-point shooters and dunkers, is now a part of these tournaments as well. And starting in 1996, the "March Madness Experience," an exhibition hall full of fun, games, and good times, has allowed fans of Illinois high school basketball to join in the action.
The popularity of these events now allows the IHSA to provide more than just good entertainment for its fans. A significant portion of the fees generated from the licensing of the unified marks "March Madness" and "America's Original March Madness" are used to fund college scholarships for Illinois high school boys and girls. Should Dirk be suspended?
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Check out Razorgator.com for your NBA Season tickets including seats to the L.A. Lakers, Atlanta Hawks, Dallas Mavericks and NBA Playoff Tickets. NEWS Pistons Clintch Central Title
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Odd Man Out
Is it me, or is the Western Conference playoffs harder to get into then an ivy league college? With a week and a half remaining in the regular season the Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets and Golden State Warriors are all tied and all vying for the last two spots in the West playoffs, so who gets in?
All three teams have six games left and the Nuggets and Warriors still meet one more time, so these three teams might need more than the regular season to settle this.
I will now break down each team and tell you my guess on who of the three get in.

Complete Article Deron Williams vs Chris PaulDeron Williams or Chris Paul? Experts have debated this question since they were drafted and there still debating this question up to and including today. In the newest version of HOOP magazine in the jumpball section on pages 42 and 43 titled head 2 head, they break down both point guards based on scoring, floor game, defense, clutch play and leadership. They gave Chris Paul the edge in scoring and floor game and gave Deron Williams defense, clutch play and leadership, thus saying that Deron Williams is the better point guard of the two.
My rebuttal to this is Chris Paul is leading the league in steals and by a wide margin so how could you give the defense edge to Williams? I will now give you my head to head comparison of these two point guards using the same categories except I will add assists and turnovers.

Complete Article 10 Greatest teams in NBA history
#1. Los Angeles Lakers. Alltime Record: 2848-1799 (61.3%). NBA Titles: 14, Conference Titles: 28, Division Titles: 27, Playoff Appearances:54.Yes, the winningest team in NBA history. The Lakers reach the NBA Finals about as often as we elect our presidents. The Lakers hold a tradition unmatched by any other NBA organization (except for those bastard Celtics). Consistancy is the key here. The Lakers are one of the most consistantly successful teams in all of professional sports, as well as being "America's Team" having fans in every city and every arena, yes, even Boston. Main Rivals: Boston. Other Rivals: New York, Detroit, San Antonio, Portland
#2.Boston Celtics. Alltime Record: 2794-1963 (58.7%). NBA Titles: 16, Conference Titles: 20, Division Titles: 25, Playoff Appearances: 45.If this were the 1980's, the Celtics would be the clear #1. But the whole sucking ass for 20 years kinda screwed that up. The C's are kinda like my avatar: Dominant in the 1960's, great in the 70's, still great in the 80's and then dead by the early 90's. My, what could have been. That said, 16 titles is still no joke. Most younger fans today don't know much about the great Celtic dynasty from 1959-1976. That's too bad. A lot of history is found on that old-ass disgusting looking parquet floor. Not to mention the genius and innovations of Red Aurbach. I still miss those old "Red on Roundball" commercials. Or, whatever they were called. Main Rivals: Lakers, Philadelphia. Other Rivals: New York, Detroit.

Complete Article Team name History One might not know it from just a casual glance, but history has played a big part in the naming of most of the NBA franchises. Many of the NBA franchises get their names for the cities historical past, or from a city in which the team first originated in. This is especially true with the teams who entered the League after 1949, but even those teams have some history behind their names.
Atlanta Hawks
The Hawks were first called the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. Tri-Cities(Molina and Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa) is located in the midwest, in lands which once belonged to the Kickapoo,Sauk, and Fox indians. The three tribes fought a long war against the United Stated called the Blackhawk war after their chief Blackhawk. The Teams name was shorted to just Hawks after the team moved to Milwaukee.
Boston Celtics
The name Celtics refers to Boston’s Irish American population Many Irish believe they are ancestors of the ancient druid people called the Celts. The teams logo and mascot also reflect the Irish connections as it’s a traditional symbol of Ireland; the Leprichan.
Complete Article How to make NBA games more meaningfulTo a lot of fans the NBA is becoming mundane. No longer do you have great rivalries in the league, and the majority of the 82 game schedule is filled with unimportant and meaningless games. Division races use to mean something, but now with the adopted of the rules a couple of years ago which makes playoff seeding based more on record than division, winning the division is practically meaningless now days. Yes, being able to raise a division championship banner may make fans of teams like Denver and Toronto happy, but for teams like Detroit and San Antonio they have become expected.
The winner of a division does not necessarily mean that team is the best team within that division. Take the Toronto Raptors for instance, they won the Atlantic last year but got mauled by the Nets, a division foe, in last years playoffs.
In Baseball and Football divisions mean everything. Besides their automatic playoff bid, winning the division in those sports gives the winning fans something to brag about. This is something the NBA is lacking, but it didn’t always use to be that way.

Complete Article NBA Income Wealth, it’s the thing which makes the world go round. Since the dawn of time humans have searched for ways to get wealth and keep wealth. Humans have traded, bartered, plundered and killed for wealth throughout history. Today we are constrained by laws and civilized society but our thirst for wealth continues. That is the problem for today’s small marker NBA teams. Especially the bottom 8, or the eight smallest market teams. They struggle to be financially secure year after year and it keeps getting harder as the salary cap continues to grow.
When the NBA began to implement its salary cap a few years ago, it may have unexpectedly stepped on a landmine. The Salary cap is determined by the overall revenue of the basketball income in the NBA. So as the league is more successful so are the teams. For the mid-market and large market teams this is great, but the smaller markets are hurt by this. The NBA salary cap is $55.63 million dollars this year, up from around 53 million in 2006-07, the minimum salary is roughly 47 million dollars and the luxury tax threshold is just less than 68 million. That is a lot of money, money which many of the smaller teams are finding harder and harder to come by.
The Bottom eight teams: Memphis, Charlotte, Portland, Minnesota(Minneapolis), Indiana(Indianapolis), Utah(Salt Lake City), Milwaukee, and New Orleans, all play in cities with around 1 million people and which do not garner a lot of media attention. Their local TV deals pale in comparison to the local TV deals which the larger markets get. The Average local TV deal for an NBA team is around 12 million dollars, but of all the small markets only New Orleans and Utah received that much or more from their local television market.
Complete Article The Early Stars of BasketballWe all know about players like George Mikan, Bob Cousey, Bob Pettit, and Bill Russell, but who were the stars of basketball before these guys? Not many people know the answer to this question, few if any have heard of Bobby McDermott, LeRoy Edwards, Mel Riebe, Gene Englund, or Ed Sadowski. But in a by gone era of basketball history, these guys were the best of the best, they were the true pioneers of professional basketball.
Gene Englund
Englund was a six five forward who played his college ball at the university of Wisconsin. Englund was never really a superstar but he was an above average player who would finish 3rd all time in scoring in the NBL.
England would play one season in the NBA, appearing in 46 games during the leagues inaugural season for both the Boston Celtics and Tri-Cities Blackhawks, but by the time the NBA formed Englunds career was well over with.