The NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament kicks off this week with, as always, a 64- team field. Schools will battle it out to try and claim one of the four spots in the Final Four – to be held in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The one-seeds in the tournament are Gonzaga University, University of Arizona, Baylor University, and University of Kansas. Baylor is the defending champion, defeating Gonzaga in 2021 when the two teams were also one-seeds.
It’s safe to say these one-seeds will be advancing past their matchups with the 16-seeds. One-seeds are 143-1 against 16’s, the loss being UMBC defeating University of Virginia in the 2018 tournament.
Outside of the one-seeds, nothing is certain. And this is where the madness comes into play. Teams that do not usually match-up play each other, and there is no telling what can happen.
Some teams, though in a lesser conference, match-up well against the brand names – pull off the most shocking of upsets.
The bracket is divided into four sections, 16 teams in each, and based upon geographical proximity to the one-seed of the section.
The bracket challenge, hosted by ESPN and other sports media sites, requires contestants to complete a full bracket before the start of the tournament, attempting to predict the outcome of every game.
The goal: to score the most points based upon correct guesses and achieve the elusive perfect bracket, never done before. Your bracket could be busted in just a matter of minutes, and therefore over with before the tournament even starts.
When looking to fill out a bracket, there are many ways to go about it. The logical way requires actual research in your attempt to predict the winners. But you could throw darts at a dart board; base it off of which team’s mascot would win in a fight; or you could go for the “all upset” bracket, just for kicks.
There is no wrong way to go about it; everyone has the same odds. Once that ball is tossed in the air, anything can happen.
An underlying but much-discussed storyline throughout this year’s theatrics: it will be the last tournament for legendary University of Duke Coach, Mike Krzyzewski (Sha-chef-ski).
“Coach K” enters the tourney in his 41st season at the helm of the Blue Devils. His record at Duke is a pristine 1,097- 302. He has won five national championships, the most recent coming in 2015. The Blue Devils are slotted as a two-seed, and to make it to the Final Four, may have to go head-to-head with the Gonzaga Bulldogs, the number-one overall team.
The first round of action takes place Thursday and Friday, March 17 and 18. Round two will be played on the 19 and 20. The Final Four is set for April 2, and the championship will be played on April 4.
So sit back, enjoy, and watch the madness unfold.
