The NCAA Basketball Championship, aka “The Road to the Final Four” and “March Madness,” has grown into one of the most-watched tournament sporting events in the world. Kansas City is proud to have hosted more of its championships than any other city in the nation. Needless to say, college basketball fans are tuned in to watching the bottom of the championship iceberg. But fans wanting to see the tip of the iceberg are huddling up right here in March. Post-season college basketball tips off March 1 when the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) brings its Men's and Women's Basketball Championships to Kansas City's historic Municipal Auditorium March 1- 4. Reserve your tickets to see scrappy athletes from one of the top NCAA Division II conferences in the nation. Next up is the Big XII, one of the nation's premier sports conferences, presenting the Phillips Big XII Conference Men's Basketball Championship at Sprint Center March 7 – 10. The Raphael is host hotel to Big XII Conference executives and administrators. Tickets are always in high demand so reserve soon to catch the highly competitive field of ten teams battle for a championship and March Madness seeding. For pure love-of-the-game fans, the NAIA 81st Annual Men's Basketball Championship held March 14 - 20 is as good as it gets. Reserve your tickets and enjoy the best of small college basketball in historic Municipal Auditorium where post-season tournament basketball began. Kansas City's basketball post-season run concludes with the NCAA Women's Basketball Regional Championship March 23 & 25 at Sprint Center.Need more college basketball? Visit the College Basketball Experience, an interactive facility where fans of any age can immerse themselves in the game. Test your skills or challenge a friend or family member in Pop a Shot, Beat the Clock or any of the other basketball skills activities. You can even make your own call of a historic game at the ESPNU Broadcast Desk. Still more? Learn about the legends that have made the college basketball game great at the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. And if you're hooked on basketball history or tradition, make the 45-minute drive west to Lawrence, take a right on Naismith Drive and check out the DeBruce Center, home to the “Original Rules of Basketball.' The rules are hand-written by the game's inventor, James Naismith, who also happens to be the first basketball coach at the University of Kansas. You also visit historic Allen Fieldhouse, home of the Kansas Jayhawks basketball team and the Booth Family Hall of Athletics.
