Fans have made it to March, and surprisingly, the madness is still on the way. In just over a week, 68 selected teams will begin their journey for college hoops immortality.
Last year’s tournament brought a significant amount of madness, as not only a 16-seed won round one, but 15-seed Princeton University advanced to the Sweet 16, and not a single one-seeded team survived to see the Elite Eight.
“My favorite part of March Madness is being on Spring Break and watching it at the beach with the fellas,” said Sean Davis, a senior exercise science major.
March Madness will take over the country, with games happening in 13 states. First and second-round games will take place in Brooklyn, Charlotte, Indianapolis, Omaha, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, Spokane and Memphis. Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games will take place in Boston, Dallas, Detroit and Los Angeles.
This year’s Final Four and national championship will take place at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The stadium is traditionally the home of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals but will be transformed into a basketball arena for the event.
The tournament will kick off with Selection Sunday, in which the bracket will be locked. Play-in games for 16-seeds will be played on Tuesday, March 19, with first-round games commencing on Thursday, March 21.
Following tradition, this year’s field will be made up of every single Division One conference champion. The other teams will be placed in the tournament with selection by a committee based on their cumulative season performance.
Conference tournaments have a large say in what teams will get into the tournament. These tournaments will finish between March 9 and 16.
The popular predictions are that Purdue University, the University of Houston, the University of Connecticut and the University of Tennessee will be this year’s one-seeds.
“The rankings should mean something, but the tournament always brings chaos,” said Tucker Sutton, a senior accounting major. “Bracketology is similar to being a weatherman; the professionals can only be so right or completely wrong.”
Houston will be a team to watch, as they are currently the No. 1-ranked team in the country. The Cougars have a record of 26-3 this season and a cumulative record of 119-17 over the last four seasons.
No. 4-ranked Tennessee is entering the Southeastern Conference, or SEC, tournament as perhaps the hottest team in college basketball. Last week, the Volunteers got a 92-84 win against No. 11 Auburn and an 81-74 road win in Tuscaloosa against No. 14 Alabama.
Gonzaga, the usual suspects in the tournament, are at risk of missing the tournament for the first time since 1998. Their performance in the West Coast Conference tournament will be watched by the masses, as the common favorites sit on the bubble.
The University of Florida Gators are likely to make a return in this year’s tournament after missing out last year. With an 11-6 conference record and an outside chance to win the SEC tournament, they will hope to do so or earn selection from the committee.
The Gators famously won back-to-back tournaments in 2006-2007, becoming only the fourth team to successfully defend their crown and the first to do so since the 1960s.
“I’m excited to watch the tournament, and I’m hoping my Buckeyes make it,” said John Nagy, a senior mass communication major. “It will suck to have those choke artists at Purdue as the Big Ten’s top representative.”
