With the expansion of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in recent years, a whole new round was added to the tournament called the Opening Round. To be fair, it’s not quite a full round, as it only includes eight teams. But even if the Opening Round is just glorified play-in games for the Big Dance, it’s still four extra games, which is why there is always demand for last-minute NCAA Opening Round tickets. Plus, just like the rest of the NCAA Tournament, you never know what’s going to happen, and you never know what the winner of each game will go on to accomplish, which is why cheap NCAA Opening Round tickets tend to be in short supply.

The Little Guys

For years, teams given a no. 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament have been the tournament’s whipping boys, usually getting dominated by a no. 1 seed in the First Round before leaving the tournament. But the Opening Round provides the little guys with a chance to shine. Every year, there are two games between a pair of no. 16 seeds, who play for the right to advance to face a no. 1 seed. However, it gives those smaller programs a chance to play in front of a national audience and officially record a win in the NCAA Tournament, which for those teams is a dream come true.

Hey, You Never Know

In virtually every year that the Opening Round has been played, at least one of the teams participating has gone on to win at least one game in the NCAA Tournament. The teams participating in these games are anything but an afterthought. In fact, the likes of Tennessee in 2014 and Syracuse in 2018 have advanced to the Round of 16 after participating in the Opening Round. On top of that, VCU in 2011 and UCLA in 2021 made it from the Opening Round to the National Semifinals, so you never know when one of the teams playing in the Opening Round will make a magical run in the Big Dance.