On the first day of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, many Americans rediscover college basketball for the first time in a year. Unfortunately, these poor souls just barely miss out one of the sport’s special treats.
That is conference tournament week—or, more accurately, the zany two-week run-up to the NCAA tournament in which the field’s 31 automatic bids are decided. From here some of the sport’s most memorable moments have sprung, like UConn guard Kemba Walker’s game-winning shot in 2011, or Michigan’s 2017 Big Ten tournament title after a near-catastrophe.
