The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a cluster of these college teams, rooting from 1939 and holds single elimination tournament every spring. It was founded by Dr. Peter Graham, colloquially known as March Madness and the Big Dance. The tournament is played over 3 weeks at hosting college, and the national semifinals or the Final Four is recently the most prominent event in USA’s basketball history.
The Roots of NCAA
Before there was National Collegiate Athletic Association or NCAA, the IAAUS or the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States was established to set the rules for amateur sports in the US. The latter was established on the 31st of March 1906. It became the NCAA in 1910. But, then, women’s athletics are under the organization named the AIAW or the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. In 1982, NCAA began offering national championships for women. Thus, members of AIAW joined NCAA.
NCAA was housed in Kansas City from 1951 to 1999 until it moved from Overland Park, Kansas to a four-story building on the western part of downtown Indianapolis in Indiana.
Now, how about checking on the roster of the teams making up the entire history of NCAA:
- ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE: Composed of 12 teams from the Atlantic sites of USA
a.) Clemson Tigers
b.) Boston College Eagles
c.) Duke Blue Devils
d.) Florida State Seminoles
e.) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
f.) Maryland Terrapins
g.) Miami Hurricanes
h.) NC State Wolfpack
i.) North Carolina Tar Heels
j.) Virginia Cavaliers
k.) Virginia Tech Hokies
l.) Wake Forest Demon Deacons
- BIG EAST CONFERENCE: 8 of the top teams across the East of USA
a.) Cincinnati Bearcats
b.) Connecticut Huskies
c.) Louisville Cardinals
d.) Pittsburgh Panthers
e.) Rutgers Scarlet Knights
f.) South Florida Bulls
g.) Syracuse Orange
h.) West Virginia Mountaineers
- BIG TEN CONFERENCE: The big ten is composed of 11 teams from all over the 10 biggest states of USA
a.) Illinois Fighting Illini
b.) Indiana Hoosiers
c.) Iowa Hawkeye
d.) Michigan Wolverines
e.) Michigan State Spartans
f.) Minnesota Golden Gophers
g.) Northwestern Wildcats
h.) Ohio State Buckeyes
i.) Penn State Nittany Lions
j.) Purdue Boilermakers
k.) Wisconsin Badgers
- BIG 12 CONFERENCE: Like the big 10, there is also the big 12 only that these are composed of 12 of the biggest teams
a.) Baylor Bears
b.) Colorado Buffaloes
c.) Iowa State Cyclones
d.) Kansas Jayhawks
e.) Kansas State Wildcats
f.) Missouri Tigers
g.) Nebraska Huskers
h.) Oklahoma Sooners
i.) Oklahoma State Cowboys
j.) Texas Longhorns
k.) Texas A&M Aggies
l.) Texas Tech Red Raiders
- CONFERENCE USA: This is the cluster from across the USA
a.) East Carolina Pirates
b.) Houston Cougars
c.) Marshall Thundering Herd
d.) Memphis Tigers
e.) Rice Owls
f.) SMU Mustangs
g.) Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles
h.) Texas-El Paso Miners
i.) Tulane Green Wave
j.) Tulsa Golden Hurricane
k.) UAB Blazers
l.) UCF Golden Knights
- MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE: 9 of the mountain side teams of the USA
a.) Air Force Academy Falcons
b.) Brigham Young University Cougars
c.) Colorado State University Rams
d.) University of New Mexico Lobos
e.) San Diego State University Aztecs
f.) TCU Horned Frogs
g.) UNLV Rebels
h.) University of Utah Utes
i.) University of Wyoming Cowboys
- MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE: This is the cluster from the middle section of the USA
a.) Akron Zips
b.) Ball State Cardinals
c.) Bowling Green Falcons
d.) Buffalo Bulls
e.) Central Michigan Chippewas
f.) Eastern Michigan Eagles
g.) Kent State Golden Flashes
h.) Miami-Ohio Redhawks
i.) Northern Illinois Huskies
j.) Ohio Bobcats
k.) Toledo Rockets
l.) WMU Broncos
- PAC-10 CONFERENCE: The 10 top collegiate teams from the most known states of the USA
a.) Arizona Wildcats
b.) Arizona State Sun Devils
c.) California Golden Bears
d.) Oregon Ducks
e.) Oregon State Beavers
f.) Stanford Cardinal
g.) UCLA Bruins
h.) USC Trojans
i.) Washington Huskies
j.) WSU Cougars
- SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE: The conference of 12 of the most known Southeastern colleges
a.) Alabama Crimson Tide
b.) Arkansas Razorbacks
c.) Auburn Tigers
d.) Florida Gators
e.) Georgia Bulldogs
f.) Kentucky Wildcats
g.) LSU Tigers
h.) Mississippi State Bulldogs
i.) Ole Miss Rebels
j.) South Carolina Gamecocks
k.) Tennessee Volunteers
l.) Vanderbilt Commodores
- SUN BELT CONFERENCE: 8 of the colleges from dessert-like states in the USA
a.) Arkansas State University Indians
b.) Florida Atlantic Owls
c.) Florida Intl Golden Panthers
d.) Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
e.) North Texas Mean Green
f.) Troy Trojans
g.) Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin Cajuns
h.) Louisiana-Monroe Indians
? WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE: This is the 8 colleges from the Western side of the USA
a.) Boise State University Broncos
b.) Fresno State Bulldogs
c.) University of Hawaii Warriors
d.) Idaho Vandals
e.) Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
f.) Nevada Wolfpack
g.) New Mexico State Aggies
h.) San Jose State University Spartans
i.) Utah State Aggies
? NCAA INDEPENDENT TEAMS: The teams not affiliated in any of the conferences.
a.) Notre Dame Fighting Irish
b.) NAVY
c.) Army Black Knights
These 11 clusters and 1 independent are the reason behind the success of collegiate basketball across USA. They are what make up the NCAA basketball history, and for as long their organizers keep on supporting team sports the saga will remain.
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