On Thursday March 20, 2025, the NCAA Men’s March Madness Tournament began. Since March of 1939, it has been a tradition of college basketball to host a single elimination tournament where 68 teams compete to win the national championship. The 68 teams are seeded from 1 to 68 based on their overall records and performances all year. Teams are then divided into four regions: East, West, South and Midwest. The tournament consists of six rounds: the First Four, the First Round, the Second Round, the Sweet 16, the Elite Eight, and the Final Four. The four remaining teams compete in the Final Four, with the winner of the championship game crowned the national champion. The NCAA championship game will be held on Monday April 7 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Individuals are able to create their own brackets, which includes all teams that are playing, and select the winners of each matchup. This year, the 2025 NCAA Tournament saw an estimated 34 million-plus brackets submitted across major online games, according to the NCAA. This includes the NCAA’s Men’s Bracket Challenge Game, ESPN, CBS, Yahoo, USA TODAY and X’s Bracket Challenge Game. There has never been a verifiable perfect March Madness bracket, according to the NCAA. The odds of filling out a perfect bracket are one in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808.
The madness in the month of March is defined by a level of uncertainty and excitement. The D1 players are at the top of their games, putting their heart and souls into every game. The intense pressure of high-stakes, do-or-die games leads to unpredictable outcomes. Fans and experts alike struggle to predict who will advance, adding to the tournament’s thrill.
The top contenders and favorites of this year’s tournament include Duke, Florida, Alabama, Houston, Texas Tech, Michigan State and Auburn. Teams such as Maryland, Arizona and Kentucky are also on the upfront. Each year there are also Cinderella teams that emerge from the pack. These are teams that are low-seeded and against all odds continue to win and knock off better teams.
For the 5th consecutive year in a row, I have filled out my own bracket and am included in two different pools. One of my brackets is entered in a pool with my mother and her coworkers, with first place earning a total of $250, second place earning a total of $100, and third place earning $50. My friends and I also completed our own brackets. I enjoy making multiple brackets in order to choose different schools as winners. This year my final four consists of Michigan State University, University of Florida, Duke University, and University of Tennessee, with Florida being crowned national champions. Every year I look forward to this intense month. I enjoy following different teams, rooting for underdogs, and being part of the excitement.