The wait is over. My favorite time of the year is finally here, March Madness! Every year without fail, 64 Division I college teams meet in an adrenaline-filled tournament to see who takes home the NCAA championship trophy.  The tournament consists of men’s and women’s teams from schools all over the United States, and the bracket for the teams is broken into 4 main sections: the East, West, Midwest, and South. Each section has seeds from 1-16, 1 being the best and 16 being the worst. Seeding is dependant on how many wins the team has, strength of schedule, and how the team performed in its conference. If the team won its conference, it automatically makes the tournament.

The winner of the ACC was Duke; the winner of the AAC was Cincinnati; the winner of the PAC-12 was Oregon; the winner of America East was Vermont; the winner of Atlantic 10 was VCU; the winner of the Big 10 was Michigan State; and the winner of the Ivy league was Yale. All of these teams had to win a tournament within their conference. But, even if a team did not win its conference tournament, it still has a chance of making the tournament. The Sunday before the games start is called “Selection Sunday”; on this day, the NCAA Commissioners choose which teams will be in the tournament and what seed they will be awarded. There is a lot of media frenzy surrounding these announcements. Potential teams are shown sitting in a room anxiously awaiting the news. And of course, once the Commission reads off the name of each fortunate team, the camera cuts to the gym to show the entire team jumping up and down and recording this historic moment on their iphones.

The number one seeds were awarded to the same two teams as last year, Virginia and Gonzaga, with Duke and North Carolina rounding out the bracket. The one seeds play against the 16 seeds in each section. The entire tournament is a “one and done” tournament which means if a team loses then it is eliminated. Last year, Villanova beat Michigan by a score of 79-61. Villanova had two fantastic players who are now in the NBA, Mikal Bridges and Donte DiVincenzo who combined for a total of 50 of their 79 points in the championship game. The crowd could be heard chanting, “DiVincenzo, DiVincenzo”, as he was wreaking havoc on the court. By the time he was done, Villanova had another title and college basketball had a new star player.

Last year’s March Madness also produced the biggest upset of all time. A little known team out of Maryland named UMBC, a 16 seed, upset the number one seed, Virginia. UMBC was lead by Jairus Lyles and the explosive guard from Puerto Rico, KJ Maura. Odds were stacked against UMBS, as casinos gave them 1:25 chance of beating the top seed. In fact, UMBC only made the tournament because it won both conferences, and the NCAA was forced to put the Retrievers in even though expectations were very low. Awarded the 16th seed, UMBC  proved all of the doubters wrong. The upset carried over into the women’s tournament as well last year. UCONN was easily the favorite, as the Huskies were 32-0 going into the tournament. But, Morgan William, a 5’5” guard from Mississippi State, hit a pull-up jumper as the clock ran out in overtime to knock UCONN out of the Final Four.

March Madness is probably one of the most fun and exciting sporting events to watch. Although it only lasts a couple of weeks, it is full of drama and upsets. The whole idea of putting together a perfect bracket and winning a bunch of money also makes the tournament more interesting to follow. Look out for Duke this year, as the Blue Devils are favored to win with the incredibly talented Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, and Cam Reddish.