Opening Round or Play-In Game
The reason the game is not officially referred to as a "play-in" is because the two teams are officially in the tournament before the game is played. As recently as 1991, the NCAA has conducted play-in games (usually between champions of what were considered to be the weakest conferences) prior to the announcement of the brackets; the losers were not considered to have been in the tournament. Note that the losers of the current opening round game are still credited with a tournament appearance for purposes of sharing in the NCAA basketball contract revenues, while the winners receives a share for being in the round of 64. Consequently, in 2001, Northwestern State technically became the first No. 16 seeded team to have a win in the men's NCAA tournament by virtue of the team's opening round victory.
Read more about this topic: NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Opening Round Game
Famous quotes containing the words opening and/or game:
“She tried to found a salon, and only succeeded in opening a restaurant.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Vanessa wanted to be a ballerina. Dad had such hopes for her.... Corin was the academically brilliant one, and a fencer of Olympic standard. Everything was expected of them, and they fulfilled all expectations. But I was the one of whom nothing was expected. I remember a game the three of us played. Vanessa was the President of the United States, Corin was the British Prime Minister—and I was the royal dog.”
—Lynn Redgrave (b. 1943)