Sixty-eight teams, one trophy, and true madness. Welcome to March!
March Madness is NCAA Division I basketball’s biggest event. Every March, the division’s best teams compete in a knockout-style tournament. Last year, the University of Connecticut Huskies lifted the golden trophy after a much-anticipated win over the Purdue Boilermakers. Don’t just skip to the end, though: the real good stuff comes before all of that. Just a year ago, the nation watched eagerly as the North Carolina State Wolfpack (an 11th-seed) made an incredible run before falling short in the Final Four round. In the women’s bracket, Iowa’s Caitlyn Clark broke Pete Maravich’s previous record to become the highest-scoring player in NCAA basketball history for both men and women.
Upper School Math teacher Lisa Webber says that her favorite part of March Madness is following the University of Connecticut women’s team. Junior Nica Martin agrees, saying, “I love checking to see if my bracket predictions are correct… and seeing if there are any big upsets.” Watching games and picking a team to root for is a great way to get involved in the tournament. Another fun way to get engaged is to make a bracket with your own predictions. To help you dominate over your friends, here are some of ESPN’s best tips:
- Be ready to lose: there are 9.2 quintillion possible bracket outcomes. Usually, the first day of the tournament has an upset that breaks millions of brackets nationwide. That being said, prepare yourself.
- Predict at least one upset of a 12th-seed team winning over a 5th-seed team. Since 1985, there has been an average of 1.4 of these specific upsets each year in the opening round. Similarly, expect the unexpected.
- Advance at least one team seeded 5th or lower to the Elite Eight; this specific upset has happened in 40 of the last 43 years (93%!). Don’t overthink it, though.
- Pick a No. 1 seed to win it all. Since 1979, 26 of 43 (60%) national champions were seeded first (Hembekides). Junior Danny Rozenblat, who won the women’s bracket competition last year, recommends “watching a lot of basketball games and doing a little bit of research.”
