KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One by one, the teams marched onto the court, lining up in rows until they had filled half the floor from baseline to midcourt, roughly 500 men’s college basketball players, coaches and team managers standing shoulder to shoulder.
The unusual display of hoops humanity is known as the Parade of Champions, and it is a signature moment at the annual N.A.I.A. Basketball Championship, one of the wildest events in college sports.
Many call the more popular — and more lucrative — 68-team N.C.A.A. basketball tournament “madness.” But compared with the N.A.I.A. event, that is just a three-week, 14-city corporate show.