March Madness

March Madness is around the corner and people are getting ready to watch college basketball!

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Phil Roeder

Cameras are rolling on the court as the Madness kicked off with the Kansas Jayhawks were practicing for the tournament at the Wells Fargo Arena.

Now that the month of March has come around again it’s time to look at the madness coming our way. For those who don’t know what March Madness is, it’s a time of the year where college basketball teams come together and play in a tournament that lasts throughout the month of March. 68 teams compete in a seven round single elimination tournament for the national championship. There are two ways a team can get into the tournament: first, if the team is eligible  for post season play or wins their conference championship they qualify; second, a team may be invited to the tournament  by the selection committee. The committee is able to choose 36 other teams to compete in the tournament, along with the 32 teams that qualified.

The best part about March Madness is making a bracket for yourself. According to the American Gaming Association almost 70 Million brackets are filled out every year by 40 million Americans. ESPN offers up a free bracket system where you can make an account and go head to head with your friends and their brackets. They even offer up $1,000,000 to anyone who can get the bracket 100% correct. So far nobody has ever filled out a perfect bracket and the tournament has been going on since 1939. Even though the chances of winning are small it is still a very fun month to follow college basketball.

Phil Roeder
The Kansas Jayhawks had a free practice for anyone to come watch. The Jayhawks were ranked first in the tournament in 2016 so many people came out to watch.
Selection Sunday N/A March 11
First Four Dayton March 13-14
First/Second Pittsburgh March 15 & 17
First/Second Wichita March 15 & 17
First/Second Dallas March 15 & 17
First/Second Boise March 15 & 17
First/Second Charlotte March 16 & 18
First/Second Detroit March 16 & 18
First/Second Nashville March 16 & 18
First/Second San Diego March 16 & 18
Midwest Regional Omaha March 23 & 25
West Regional Los Angeles March 22 & 24
South Regional Atlanta March 22 & 24
East Regional Boston March 23 & 25
Final Four San Antonio March 31, April 2