March Madness Trivia Quiz

UCLA leads all programs with 11 national titles, including an unprecedented run of seven consecutive championships under coach John Wooden from 1967 to 1973. Kentucky is second with 8 titles, followed by North Carolina (6), Connecticut (6), Duke (5), and Indiana (5). UConn has won more titles than any other program since the year 2000, making them the modern dynasty of the sport.

The field is 68 teams. Four "First Four" play-in games reduce it to 64, then six rounds of single-elimination basketball follow: the Round of 64, Round of 32, Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four, and National Championship. Teams are seeded 1 through 16 in four regions (East, West, South, Midwest). Seeds 1 through 4 are considered top lines; getting a 1-seed is the highest honor the selection committee can bestow. Selection Sunday — typically the second Sunday in March — is when the full bracket drops, triggering the annual national bracket-filling frenzy.

The deepest upset in tournament history — a No. 16 seed defeating a No. 1 seed — has happened twice: UMBC over Virginia 74-54 in 2018, and Fairleigh Dickinson (FDU) over Purdue 63-58 in 2023. Other legendary Cinderella stories include NC State's 1983 championship run with a 17-14 regular season record, Villanova's 1985 title as an 8-seed, George Mason reaching the Final Four as an 11-seed in 2006, VCU's Final Four run from the "First Four" in 2011, and Saint Peter's becoming the first 15-seed in Elite Eight history in 2022. Every single year adds new names to this list — it's the reason fans watch every first-round game.

John Wooden (UCLA) is universally recognized as the greatest, with 10 national titles including 7 straight — a record that may never be challenged. Mike Krzyzewski (Duke) won 5 titles and retired in 2022 holding the record for most NCAA Tournament wins ever by a single coach: 101 tournament victories. Adolph Rupp, Roy Williams, and Bob Knight each won 3 championships. Billy Donovan is the only coach in the modern era to win back-to-back titles (Florida, 2006–2007). Tom Izzo at Michigan State has made 9 Final Fours — the definition of consistent excellence — while still pursuing that elusive second ring.

The NCAA Tournament generates over $1.3 billion in annual revenue for the NCAA, with the television rights deal the largest single source. WalletHub estimates that unproductive work hours during the tournament cost American businesses around $1.9 billion — as millions of employees fill out brackets and follow games during the workday. Pizza orders increase by about 19% during the tournament, and beer production spikes by approximately 3.5 million cases. Since 1986, the winning team receives the actual hardwood floor from the Final Four arena, which schools auction off panel-by-panel to raise program funds.

"One Shining Moment" is the highlight montage CBS has aired after every NCAA Championship game since 1987. Written by David Barrett, it was originally scheduled to air after Super Bowl XXI — but the game broadcast ran long and pre-empted it. CBS pivoted to the NCAA Championship instead, and a tradition was born. Performed over the years by Luther Vandross, Jennifer Hudson, and others, the song has become as synonymous with March Madness as the bracket itself. Players have described appearing in the montage as one of their proudest career moments — being frozen forever in that annual tribute to the tournament's greatest plays and biggest emotions.

If you pick every game by coin flip, the mathematical odds are 1 in 9.2 quintillion (2 to the 63rd power). With expert basketball knowledge, statisticians estimate roughly 1 in 120 billion. No verified perfect bracket has ever been submitted to a large public contest. Warren Buffett famously offered $1 billion for a perfect bracket through Berkshire Hathaway — the prize has never been claimed. The closest on record was an ESPN bracket in 2019 that survived 49 straight correct picks before busting. The tournament's upsets are precisely why brackets are simultaneously infuriating and irresistible.

The Florida Gators won the 2025 NCAA Championship, defeating the Houston Cougars 65–63 in a tense finish in San Antonio at the Alamodome. Walter Clayton Jr. was named Most Outstanding Player. It was Florida's third national title and first since the Billy Donovan era in 2007. The 2025 tournament featured only the second-ever all-1-seed Final Four in history, matching the landmark 2008 tournament.

The tournament has launched or cemented some of basketball's greatest legacies. Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) won three consecutive Most Outstanding Player awards at UCLA — the only player to ever do so. Magic Johnson put on a show in 1979 that launched his legend before he'd played an NBA game. Carmelo Anthony became the first freshman to win the MOP award in 2003. Steph Curry averaged 28.6 points per game in the 2008 tournament, nearly carrying Davidson — a school of under 2,000 students — to the Final Four. Christian Laettner holds the record as the all-time leading NCAA Tournament scorer, and his 1992 Elite Eight moment is considered by many the greatest play in college basketball history.

Some numbers that define the tournament: 88 — UCLA's winning streak under Wooden, still the longest in college basketball history. 44.2 — Pete Maravich's points-per-game average at LSU, the all-time college scoring record, set without a three-point line. 61 — Austin Carr's single-game scoring record in the 1970 tournament, the most points ever in one game. 149 — Loyola Marymount's score in their 149-115 win over Michigan in 1990, the highest-scoring game in tournament history. 0 — the number of verified perfect brackets ever submitted to a large public contest. 2 — the number of times a 16-seed has beaten a 1-seed (UMBC in 2018, FDU in 2023). 68 — current tournament field size, up from just 8 teams in 1939. 40+ million — estimated Americans who fill out brackets annually.

Selection Sunday is March 15, 2026. The First Four play-in games run March 19–20. The Round of 64 begins March 21–22, the Round of 32 March 23–24, the Sweet Sixteen March 26–27, the Elite Eight March 28–29, the Final Four on April 4, and the National Championship Game on April 6, 2026. Indianapolis hosts the 2026 Final Four — a city that has staged more Final Fours than any other in history and embraces the event as its sporting crown jewel.