The Month of Madness

What exactly is March Madness and how does it work? by Lincoln Pendleton

According to QuotesHD, Brian Giorgis, a basketball coach said, “You never know in the tournament. That’s why they call it March Madness. Half of it is believing.”

According to a Twitter post, Trent Frazier, a basketball player said, “To walk out on the basketball court earlier and see ‘March Madness’ it was like all my dreams come true”

What is March Madness? March Madness is a single-elimination tournament of 68 teams that compete for the national championship. The best college basketball teams in the nation go headto-head in seven rounds to see who is the best. Throughout the tournament, fans get to witness buzzer-beater shots, massive upsets, and hopefully, their favorite team being the last one standing. March Madness started in 1939 and has happened every year since then, except for the 2019-2020 season which was canceled because of COVID-19. The first tournament started with just 8 teams, and has continued to grow to the 68 team tournament we have today. One of the main reasons March Madness is so popular is the way it gets fans involved. On Selection Sunday (March 12, 2023), the NCAA will release the official March Madness bracket. Millions of fans will compete in the “Bracket Challenge Game” where fans can guess who will win each game, and who will ultimately win it all. Why is this such a big deal? Because it’s a hard game to win. According to NPR’s website, the odds of getting a perfect March Madness bracket (meaning you guess all of the winners to every si-ngle game) is 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808, or 9 quintillion. “To help wrap your head around how ridiculous that is,” says NPR’s Jeff Dean, “there are 31.5 million seconds in each year. 9.2 quintillion seconds would be 292 billion years. ” According to the NCAA’s website, no perfect March Madness bracket has ever been picked. Why? Because March Madness is known for having upsets all the time. According to NPR’s website, it’s almost impossible to predict the tournament’s upsets. That’s why it’s so exciting; you never know what is going to happen. Fans still fill out brackets, some to get better brackets than friends and family members, and others for the reward of getting a perfect bracket. Fans can play “Bally Bracket”, where if they get a perfect March Madness bracket, the fan would win 100 million dollars. But what about this year? Who is supposed to win it all? According to CBS’s website, either Kentucky and North Carolina are supposed to win. As March gets closer, start to fill out your bracket and take a 1 in 9 quintillion chance of being the first person to ever get a perfect bracket.

According to QuotesGram, Cappie Pondexter, former professional basketball player said, “It doesn’t matter. It’s March Madness. You’ve got to bring it every time, every 40 minutes. That’s all we have.”

“I enjoy watching march madness with my family. It’s fun to watch the chaos and excitement.”

- Madsen Call, freshman

“Every March I fill out March Madness brackets with my firends and we compete to see who can get the best bracket. It’s fun to watch brackets get ruined by just one game or even one shot”

- Eli Nichols, sophomore

According to QuotesHD, Rick Chryst, a former athlete and coach said, “In March, the days are getting longer. March Madness is a good way to get through the month. The sites are rotated, so people really do have a chance to attend. It touches every part of the country. Not just hard-core basketball fans, it reaches out to even the casual fan. It’s something that people can really connect with.”

“I usually dont like watching basketball but March Madness is something that everyone can enjoy and watch”

- Adelaide Allred, sophomore