NCAA March Madness 2004 arrived in 2003 courtesy of EA Canada, upholding the single-elimination format that defines America's most-followed college tournament: sixty-four teams, one game to stay alive, and the constant threat of an upset knocking out a favorite.
Like the rest of the series on Xbox, it bets on capturing that March atmosphere — the bracket, the tension, the breakout teams — over the more calculated structure of a long regular season. One more piece of the brief but intense stretch in which EA sustained college basketball as its own franchise on the console, before redirecting its efforts toward other sports with greater commercial weight.
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