Showdown In San Antonio In 2008

Created Saturday, 21 July 2007 22:11

The National Collegiate Athletic Association or NCAA is an association which comprises of over a thousand individuals and institutions that organize sports programs of colleges in U.S.A. It has its headquarters in Indianapolis and its president is Myles Brand. There are many sports which come under the NCAA such as football, baseball, soccer and basketball. The NCAA has three divisions in its setup, Divisions I, II and III. Schools under Divisions I and II can give their students sports scholarships.

The basketball tournament was played for the first time in 1939 after it was thought of by Phog Allen, the basketball coach of the University of Kansas. There were only eight teams that played in the first few years of the tournament. Since 2001, there are sixty-five teams that compete.

There has been a bit of controversy surrounding the origin of the term “Final Four”. The NCAA has stated that the term was coined by Ed Chay, a sportswriter, in 1975 in an article he had written. The NCAA started using that term from 1978 onwards and even has a trademark on it.

The NCAA basketball tournament gained more popularity after it started being telecast nationally in 1954. Since then it has also been shown on NBC, CBs and ESPN thus expanding its popularity all over the country.

The tournament has a number of rules, including one which prohibits teams from playing in their home courts. Some teams have been lucky at times to play games in cities close to their home towns. The Final Four usually play in the third weekend of the tournament. On Saturday they play the semifinals and Monday is the day of the Championship game.

The Final Four in 2008 is slated to be held in San Antonio. The first time San Antonio had hosted the Final Four was in 1998 at the Alamodome. It had the honor again in 2004. It has been awarded the same honor for the third time for 2008. Tickets for this event are already being sold and there is a huge demand for them. You can buy tickets for the championship game only or for all the games. Either way you need to be prepared for an exciting showdown in San Antonio in 2008.

Reed Terry is the author and webmaster of Sports Tickets a resource site for sports tickets.