College basketball fans across the nation are preparing themselves for the annual phenomenon known as March Madness. Fans will spend the next three weeks proudly rocking their team colors, cheering at the top of their lungs at some of the biggest arenas and stadiums in the country, and keeping their eyes glued to their TVs at home. Starting tomorrow, 68 NCAA teams will begin playing for the coveted National Championship title, which will ultimately be determined on April 6 in Indianapolis.
This past Sunday was Selection Sunday, in which 36 at-large teams were added to the 32 teams who were the champions of their conferences and therefore entered into the tournament by default. Big name schools such as UNC, Michigan State, and Kansas were given at-large bids to the tournament while some schools that are not as well known, including North Dakota State, Belmont, and Eastern Washington, were already granted automatic bids. The 68 total teams were ranked in order from first to last and then split into four regions – Midwest, East, West, and South – with each team ranked from 1 to 16 in their respective regions.
The games will begin on Tuesday, March 17 with the first round taking place in Dayton, Ohio. This first round will be played amongst the four lowest ranked at-large teams and the four lowest ranked automatic bid teams. The 64 that remain after the first round will then move on to play in the second and hopefully third rounds. Following the third round is the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four and finally the National Championship game, where one team can do what the other 67 teams in the tournament can only hope to do and win it all.
In addition to cheering for their team in person, at home, or at the local bar, fans can also make the most out of their March Madness experience by picking brackets. The bracket pools you can enter range from Warren Buffet’s bracket, where he offered $1 billion last year to anyone who picked a perfect bracket, to the ones you can create with your friends and co-workers. No one in history has ever picked a perfect bracket as the chances are 1 in 9 quintillion. If you don’t know what a quintillion is, just know that your chances are very very small…in fact, damn near impossible. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still win your bracket pool and collect a nice chunk of change.
Each year, March Madness brings a ton of excitement, drama, and suspense that culminates in the National Championship game. Who will be the Cinderella team that will go further than anyone could ever predict and shock the world? Will UCLA be able to silence the haters and prove that they deserve to be in the tournament? Can Kentucky take its perfect record from the regular season and continue it all the way to the Championship game to win it all?
Let March Madness begin! Are you ready?
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