Considering I am a female college student who doesn’t religiously follow college basketball (let alone the NBA), it seems that my interests in March Madness would be slim. However, the sports world goes crazy for March Madness (hence the name) and anyone can join in on the fun by filling out a bracket. The Tournament is one of the biggest college sporting events of the year and if you haven’t heard the buzz about brackets, seeds, Cinderella stories, and The Big Dance this week, you’ve probably been shut up in the library studying for midterms. Even though we don’t have a school to root for in the tournament, with 64 teams there is room for everyone to pick a favorite school and get into the action. Even President Obama fills out a bracket every year!
Most brackets were due sometime this week and games begin on March 21. For the not-so-avid college basketball fans, I’ll highlight the basics of bracketology (this word is only considered real from March 21 to April 8). 64 teams are divided amongst four regions: North, South, East, West, with the teams seeded from 1-16 in each. The first seed plays the 16th, the second plays the 15th, and so on until all the games are filled. After each round the number of teams is cut in half. So, we start off with The Big Dance, then the third round, the Sweet 16, the Elite Eight, Final Four, and finall, the Championship game.
What makes the Tournament so exciting is all of the upsets, or Cinderella stories. If you pick the number one seeds to win every game, you’re probably going to have a bad bracket. The Final Four has only consisted of the four number one seeds one time in the 75 years of March Madness history. Yet, a number one seed wins the Tournament almost half the time. This years’ number one seeds are Louisville, Gonzaga, Indiana, and Kansas, so make sure you have at least one of those teams in your final four. The favorite amongst sports analysts seems to be Louisville, while teams like Duke, Kansas, Ohio State, and Michigan State have also been favored.
Overall, making a winning bracket is pretty tough to do, as nobody can predict upsets. But that’s what makes the Tournament so great. Any team on any given day can take away the chances from a higher seed. Sometimes it’s not the teams with the “pros-in-training” who play the best, but the smaller name schools. So fellow Oles, over your spring break (wherever you may be!) follow college basketball’s biggest names and games on TV. You’ll probably find yourself getting into the game, and next thing you know you’ll be a die-hard fan for somebody (hopefully it’s not Duke).