Think You Can Set the Field of 65? NCAA.com Offers Selection Sunday(TM) Challenge

Unique challenge gives fans a chance to be the NCAA(R) Division I Men’s Basketball Selection Committee

NEW YORK, March 10 /PRNewswire/ — NCAA.com, the official home of NCAA sports on the Web, is offering fans of NCAA basketball a unique opportunity as Selection Sunday approaches: Become a one-person Division I Men’s Basketball Selection Committee.

Located at ncaa.com/games/selectionchallenge, “Selection Sunday Challenge” provides fans with an interactive Web application that allows them to choose the 65 teams they think will make it into the 2009 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. Designed to teach the fan the selection process and get inside the minds of the Selection Committee, the game allows fans to create their own bracket of 65 teams, or join groups so they can play against their friends.

With NCAA.com’s “Selection Sunday Challenge,” fans use a highly interactive online application to stack the field with their favorite teams, randomly choose from all 330 eligible Division I men’s basketball programs or use the research and tools that the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee puts to use such as RPI, schedules, recent results and more.

“For years, NCAA Basketball fans have wanted a chance to set the field of 65 and ‘Selection Sunday Challenge’ gives them admission to their own selection room,” said Greg Shaheen, NCAA, senior vice president for basketball and business strategies. “Time and pressure from all directions will make for a realistic experience for fans to set their own field – and compare it with the actual bracket once announced.”

Fans have until 6:00 PM ET Sunday, March 15, to submit their predictions for the field of 65, which will include 31 conference champions and 34 at-large teams. At that time, the official field of 65 will be unveiled by the Division I Men’s Basketball Selection Committee on CBS and fans can compare their predictions to the real results.

Participants receive points based on correctly selecting teams that make the Tournament, seeding the teams, and placing them in the correct region. A leaderboard displays who is the best at predicting the bracket.

CBS Interactive is the official Online Interactive sports partner of the NCAA and produces NCAA.com.

About the NCAA

The NCAA is a membership-led nonprofit association of colleges and universities committed to supporting academic and athletics opportunities for more than 400,000 student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges and universities. Each year, more than 54,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA championships in Divisions I, II and III sports. Visit www.NCAA.org and www.NCAA.com for more details about the Association, its goals and members and corporate partnerships that help support programs for student-athletes. The NCAA is proud to have the following elite companies as official Corporate Champions – AT&T, Coca-Cola and Pontiac –and the following elite companies as official Corporate Partners – Enterprise, Hershey’s, The Hartford, Lowe’s, Sheraton and State Farm.

NCAA and Selection Sunday are trademarks owned or licensed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

About CBS Interactive

CBS Interactive, a division of CBS Corporation, is the best online content network for information and entertainment. With more than 170 million people visiting its properties each month, it is the 8th largest Web property globally. Its portfolio of leading brands, which include CNET, CBS.com, CBSSports.com, GameSpot, TV.com, BNET and Last.fm, span popular categories like technology, entertainment, sports, news and business.

SOURCE NCAA.com