March Madness Underway

 

Source: Wikipedia. 2000 NCAA Final Four.

My favorite annual sports event is underway with the start of tonight's First Four games for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. March Madness has been fully on with conference tournaments over the past two weeks and Sunday's selections for the 2024 tournament.

For a bit of family history, back in 2000-2001, I worked at the NCAA in the General Counsel's Office while I was a student at IU School of Law - Indianapolis. One of my first big projects was in support of the NCAA's trademarks and using new domain name dispute resolution processes to protect the NCAA brand online ahead of the 2000 NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis. That job led me to the role I have now, so it had a huge influence on me. As someone who grew up with Indiana basketball and fond early memories of Keith Smart's winning shot to deliver the 1987 NCAA Championship for IU, working for the NCAA on the tournament was amazing.

While it has been an incredibly disappointing year for the men's team, the IU Women's team is hosting a first round matchup in Bloomington this Saturday against 31-1 Fairfield in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. We'll be watching and cheering on the IU Women virtually on Saturday, and hopefully further into March.

Above is a little throwback with the logo for the 2000 Tournament, which I still have on a coffee mug from my time at the NCAA, 24 years ago. Wow, that's a bit tough to comprend. It does not feel that long ago. And yet, it was. Go teams! Have a great March.