The NCAA tournament has been held annually since 1939, but there was very little madness in that first March.



Ohio State basketball coach Harold Olsen created the eight-team tournament in response to what he considered to be an arbitrary selection process used by the National Invitation Tournament, which began the previous year.



Olsen presided over the National Association of Basketball Coaches and thought his organization could stage a better tournament with the best eight teams as selected by committee. The NCAA agreed to the plan.

Ohio State, of course, made the first tournament field and defeated Wake Forest and Villanova in the regionals in Philadelphia to earn a spot in the championship game against Oregon, which had beaten Texas and Oklahoma. That first championship game, played at Northwestern, ended with Oregon winning 46-33.



Here is a graphic look at some of the tournament's history ...