March Madness is a nickname for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Basketball Tournament, which takes place annually in March and April. The tournament is a single-elimination event featuring 68 teams from Division I of the NCAA and is widely considered one of the most exciting and unpredictable sporting events in the world.

The tournament typically begins with the “First Four” play-in games, followed by the first and second rounds, the regional semifinals and finals and finally the national semifinals and championship game. The tournament is known for its upsets, buzzer-beaters and Cinderella stories, as smaller schools sometimes upset higher-ranked teams. The tournament is set up as a single-elimination competition, which means that if a team loses a game, they are out of the tournament.

March Madness brackets has been an ongoing tradition for all fans and newcomers. They fill out brackets based on which teams they think will make it to the next round and eventually win the whole tournament. Wootton students are not shy of the betting or the punishments, “ Every year my friends and I bet on March Madness and create our brackets. The punishments get worse every year, this year it’s the cage.” junior Omar Jobe said. According to the NCAA there has never been a verified perfect bracket, although this is true the feeling and the adrenaline rush you get from predicting games and watching them are unmatched.

. Bettors every year go crazy during March Madness putting money on teams that are unlikely to win. Coming into the tournament, Alabama was the favorite with +275 odds. The Alabama Crimson Tide, Kansas Jayhawks, Purdue Boilermakers and Houston Cougars were the number one seeds in the four regions. Wootton students also bet money with friends or even online. “The prize pool this year between me and my friends is 200 dollars. March Madness is always competitive and watching it with friends is very fun.” junior Anthony Johnson said.

The views of March Madness in America are significant, with millions of people tuning in to watch the games each year. According to the NCAA, the 2022 tournament had an average TV viewership of 10.7 million viewers per game, a 13 percent increase from the previous year. Coming into the tournament, Alabama was the favorite with +275 odds. The Alabama Crimson Tide, Kansas Jayhawks, Purdue Boilermakers and Houston Cougars were the number one seeds in the four regions. “This year I think UConn will win it all because they have a strong team and are the fourth seed,” sophomore Miguel Giron said.

Every year, there are Cinderella stories of underdog teams making a deep run in the tournament. These teams capture the hearts of fans and become the darlings of the tournament, as they defy the odds and take down higher-seeded opponents. In 2018, for example, the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers made it all the way to the Final Four as an 11th seed, despite being relatively unknown prior to the tournament.