(COLORADO SPRINGS) — “March Madness” is here with the Men’s NCAA tournament starting Tuesday, March 19 with two, First Four games including a match-up Tuesday night between the Colorado State Rams and the Virginia Cavaliers.

Celebrity Historian, Raffi Andonian, joined FOX21 Morning News Anchors Abbie Burke and Craig Coffey to discuss how the sport of basketball, and the now famous spring tournament, all began.

Andonian said the first basketball game was played in the late 1800s with 18 players on a much smaller court. And “March Madness” as we know it today, got its start from a massive high school tournament involving up to 900 teams in Illinois. “It wasn’t until the 1980s that the term “March Madness” was applied to the NCAA College Basketball Tournament,” Andonian said.

The Colorado Buffaloes are also making an appearance with a matchup against Boise State on Wednesday night, March 20 in Ohio for the Number 10 seed in the tournament.

Andonian said historically Colorado has had some good runs.

“The Colorado Men’s Basketball Team has had five Sweet Sixteens including a couple of Final Fours, the Colorado Women’s Basketball Team has had seven Sweet Sixteens including one last year, and of course, on the Colorado State side you have two Sweet Sixteens for the men and a Sweet Sixteen for the Womens,” Andonian said. “So they do make some runs, so the fact that we have multiple teams playing, Colorado schools playing on the men’s and Women’s side gives a lot of hope that maybe one of those runs happens again this year and maybe make some history for March Madness!”