The phrase Final Four relates to college basketball, and that’s why the television uses the ‘road to Final Four’ in their news coverage. Every professional sport has a formula for determining the winning champion. In college basketball, the Final Four is a level where women and men in Division 1 play in the semifinal round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. All eyes are, therefore, on four big teams. Two games are the determining factors of which teams reach the finals.

A team that makes it to the Final Four has already won the first four tournament games. Two more are remaining for it to grab the national championship banner. The finals happen in April and are part and parcel of the March Madness psyche. Traditionally, men’s basketball semifinals occur on the first Saturday of April while the women follow on the following day- Sunday. Semifinal winners will again compete with each other in the finals on Monday, the following week.

The Rewards

During the basketball tournaments, the NCAA makes a lot of revenue, most of which comes from TV contracts. The money is channeled to the member schools or conferences. Sharing of that revenue is based on various factors such as the scholarships awarded, and the performance of the teams. NCAA requires the conferences to distribute the money equally to their member schools. Most of the cash is used to cater for team expenses so that smaller conferences may get a larger portion.

Examples of Strong and Weak Teams

In men’s basketball, the UCLA has the highest record of NCAA championship wins with a whopping 11 titles. The University of Kentucky comes second with eight wins while the University of Carolina boasts six wins. On the other hand, Harvard has experienced the longest drought in the tournament for about 66 years. But in 2013, they resurfaced. Other schools like Tennessee Tech, Bowling Green, and Dartmouth have been on drought for 45 years and more.