For most fans, the drama of March Madness begins when the bracket is revealed. For Martin Newton, Samford alumnus and current Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics at Samford, it starts months earlier and unfolds behind closed doors, fueled by long hours, debate and a relentless commitment to getting the March Madness tournament bracket right.
Newton is now in his fourth year on the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee and currently serves as vice chair. Next year, he will take over as chairman of this 12-person committee, responsible for selecting and seeding the 68-team NCAA Tournament bracket.
That work begins in November. Committee members are assigned conferences and they track teams, watch games and study metrics. By the time March arrives, each member is expected to have a comprehensive understanding of the national landscape.
“You’re keeping up with college basketball. You know what’s going on,” Newton said. “Then we get together for a week before Selection Sunday, and we go through the process of selecting seeding and then bracketing the tournament. It’s a fun process, but it’s a very tiring process.”
Once conference tournaments begin, the process intensifies. The committee gathers in person, this year in a hotel in Indiana, for a weeklong stretch leading up to Selection Sunday. Inside, the environment is similar to a basketball think tank.
“We do not leave the hotel or go outside for anything. We have all of our meals provided. There’s one room with a bank of computers, and each of us has our own setup. I’ve literally got five screens in front of me, plus my computer where I keep different team sheets and materials I work from,” Newton said. “We also have a meal room with a bank of TVs, probably 12 to 15, where we’re constantly watching games. So, it’s an early start in the morning and going to bed early in the morning as well.”
The committee’s primary task is twofold: select the 37 at-large teams to join the 31 automatic qualifiers, then seed all 68 teams.
Using a combination of seven different tools, including resume metrics, predictive metrics or wins above the bubble, among others, members debate, compare and ultimately vote teams into the bracket. Then comes what Newton calls the most tedious part: scrubbing.
That means comparing teams’ line by line, from No. 1 overall seed to the final at-large selection. Every decision is discussed, and every vote matters.
However, just when the bracket is nearly complete, championship games on Selection Sunday force the committee to prepare multiple contingency brackets depending on outcomes still unfolding in real time.
That deadline is firm: at 5:30 PM, the bracket must be finalized and submitted to CBS Sports in time for the nationally televised selection show.
Despite the pressure, Newton says the process is grounded in fairness and integrity.
Committee members are required to leave the room when their own school or conference is discussed. They are also prohibited from voting in those situations, eliminating conflicts of interest.
That structure, he believes, is what separates the NCAA Tournament selection process from other postseason systems that often face criticism.
“These principles and procedures have gone over a test of time,” Newton said. “What I have found to be true is people truly come into that room trying to do what’s best for the game, what’s best for all the teams, making sure that they get it right. We try to come in and do what’s right.”
For Newton, the experience is both professional and deeply personal. A former Samford basketball player who graduated in 1983, returned to his alma mater in 2011 after a 26-year career in sports marketing with Nike and Converse, plus a stint at the University of Kentucky.
His basketball roots run even deeper. His father also served on the selection committee and even chaired it, as Newton will next year, making them the only father-son duo in history to both hold that role.
As he prepares to step into the chairman position next year, Newton is embracing both the responsibility and the opportunity.
Even as he helps shape the national bracket, Newton remains closely connected to Samford’s own teams. This year, he expressed pride in the university’s women’s basketball program and its postseason run, praising their resilience and growth.
And, according to Martin, the madness begins exactly the way it should.
Staff Reporter
