March Madness is a beloved college basketball tournament hosting 68 college basketball teams competing to be the best team in the nation. The bracket consists of the first four playing to make the tournament, then the Round of 64, the Round of 32, the Sweet 16, the Elite 8, the Final 4 and finally, the National Championship. Fans participate in March Madness by making brackets to predict. the winner. Although it’s mathematically impossible to make a perfect bracket, resting at 1 in 9.2 quintillion, there are ways to shift the odds slightly in your favor by analyzing teams with strong brackets, seedings, star players and team injury records.
Some teams are known to be especially successful in March Madness, having won multiple championships and boasting 1st rate seedings. These teams include: Duke, Gonzaga, Houston, Florida, UConn, University of North Carolina, Arizona, Kentucky, and Michigan State. Typically these teams are good picks but that doesn’t always mean they are guarantors for success . A hallmark of March Madness’s popularity is its competition and frequent upsets of fan favorite teams. For example, Fairleigh Dickinson University, seeded 16th, beat Purdue in the first round, a team seeded 1st. Furthermore, 15th seeded St. Peters reached the elite 8, a first in program history. March Madness is where players become legends, or falter under intense pressure. These players can make or break brackets . Whether a team’s star player gets injured, a future NBA prospect rises to the occasion, or a previously unknown player propels themselves to superstardom, carrying their team farther than expected, March Madness is full of exhilarating moments.
Every year millions of sports fans participate in March Madness, many of whom collaborate, advise and strategize with each other to make brackets. For example Mr. Gittings, Computer Studies teacher, believes “Arkansas is going to go on a crazy run”. For some fans, hearing that a four seed would win it all sounds crazy but Mr. Gittings thinks that Arkansas has the best chance to win. Mr. Gittings also mentions that Duke is overrated due to their comparatively easy game schedule. Just like Mr. Gittings, Mr. Mills, Dean of Students, believes that Duke is a little overrated because their conference, the Atlantic Coast Conference, is less competitive than the Big 10 or Big 12. For Mr. Mills, picking a team to win is not that simple, he looks at the teams that are top 25 in defense and offense to see if they are actual contenders. Realistically, however, teams that are seeded fourth or lower and are successful in their conference tournament are the only true contenders. Teams like Arizona, Purdue, Duke, Michigan, Michigan State and UConn fit that criteria and are rightfully fan favorites to win it all. Although fans and professional sports analysts alike analyze mountains of data to predict the outcome of the tournament, only seeing it unfold in real time can truly make these predictions a reality. As the games continue heating up March Madness just keeps getting better, proving itself to be one of the best sporting events in the world.