Once upon a time, the world was a simple place. March Madness was comprised of 64 teams, the first round was called the first round, the second round was called the second round, and that led into the venerated Sweet 16.
Then the NCAA -- as it is wont to do -- had to go and muck everything up. The NCAA added four play-in, pseudo-tournament games in 2011, called them the "First Four," then insisted on calling the round of 64 the tournament's "second round," and the round of 32 its "third round."
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In the process, they confused fans, and forced us to use jargon that denigrates one of the most magical spectacles in all of sports.
Finally, on Monday morning, the NCAA gave March Madness some of its dignity back. The "First Four" gimmick will remain, but the NCAA will no longer continue trying to impose its convoluted change in nomenclature designed to boost the relevance of a play-in round that will never be relevant to anyone but the eight teams involved.
Rounds of 64 and 32 will return to being called the first and second rounds in 2016: pic.twitter.com/IO1NJH9mss— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) November 17, 2014
The reversion to proper nomenclature doesn't take effect until 2016, however, so we'll have to plod through one more month of confusion in March 2015.
Meanwhile, you can get prepped for the budding college basketball season by checking out our top 25 breakdown.