<P> The tournament teams include champions from 42 Division I conferences (which receive automatic bids), and 36 teams which are awarded at - large berths . These "at - large" teams are chosen by an NCAA selection committee, then announced in a nationally televised event on the Sunday preceding the "First Four" play - in games, currently held in Dayton, Ohio, and dubbed Selection Sunday . The 68 teams are divided into four regions and organized into a single - elimination "bracket", which pre-determines, when a team wins a game, which team it will face next . Each team is "seeded", or ranked, within its region from 1 to 16 . After the First Four, the tournament occurs during the course of three weekends, at pre-selected neutral sites across the United States . Teams, seeded by rank, proceed through a single - game elimination bracket beginning with a "first four" consisting of 8 low - seeded teams playing in 4 games for a position in the first round the Tuesday and Wednesday before the first round begins, a first round consisting of 64 teams playing in 32 games over the course of a week, the "Sweet Sixteen" and "Elite Eight" rounds the next week and weekend, respectively, and--for the last weekend of the tournament--the "Final Four" round . The Final Four is usually played during the first weekend of April . These four teams, one from each region (East, South, Midwest, and West), compete in a preselected location for the national championship . </P> <P> The tournament has been at least partially televised since 1969 . Currently, the games are broadcast by CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV under the trade - name NCAA March Madness . Since 2011, all games are available for viewing nationwide and internationally, such as in the Philippines and Canada . As television coverage has grown, so too has the tournament's popularity . Currently, millions of Americans fill out a bracket, attempting to correctly predict the outcome of 63 games of the tournament (not including the First Four games) </P> <P> With 11 national titles, UCLA has the record for the most NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championships; John Wooden coached UCLA to 10 of its 11 titles . The University of Kentucky (UK) is second, with eight national titles . The University of North Carolina is third, with six national titles, and Duke University and Indiana University are tied for fourth with five national titles . The University of Connecticut is sixth with four national titles . The University of Kansas (KU) & Villanova are tied for 7th with three national titles . Since 1985, when the tournament expanded to 64 teams, Duke has won five championships; North Carolina and Connecticut have each won four; Kentucky & Villanova have three; Kansas & Florida have two; and UCLA, Indiana, Michigan State, Louisville have one . During that time Villanova, Michigan, UNLV, Duke, Arkansas, Arizona, Connecticut, Maryland, Syracuse, and Florida all won their first championships . </P> <P> The NCAA has changed the tournament format several times since its inception, most often representing an increase of the number of teams . This section describes the tournament as it has operated since 2011 . For changes during the course of its history, and to see how the tournament operated during past years, go to Format history and Expansion of field, below </P>

When did march madness go to 64 teams