The NCAA college basketball season begins in November each year with several early season tournaments. These include the Rainbow Classic, the Champions Classic and the 2K Sports Classic. The 2018-2019 season begins on Nov 9.
NCAA basketball is divided into thirty-two conferences. All teams play a regular schedule against other members of their conference as well as out-of-conference games. Both conference matches and out-of-conference performance determine a team's chances of a tournament bid. The season ends with the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, which takes place in March and is colloquially known as "March Madness." The season ends with the Final Four Tournament in which the last four teams compete for the championship in early April. The professional NBA basketball league has an extended season lasting from late October through mid-April with playoffs lasting through early June.
