As the college basketball season continues to inch towards March, teams slowly show who wants to win more. College basketball is tricky, as the March Madness tournament rarely ever mirrors the regular season. It’s called March MADNESS for a reason.

College basketball has seen a spike in chaos, especially in the tournament. In the past five years, two teams who were ranked in the 16th seed were able to overthrow teams ranked in the 1st seed. For comparison in the 150 games of 1st vs 16th seeds, dating back to 1939, 1st seeds were 150-0. Furthermore, only eight 15th vs 2nd seed matchups have ever gone in the 15th seed’s favor. That is, until now, when we’ve seen at least one 15th seed beat a 2nd seed in the past three tournaments. 

When making a bracket, keep in mind that anything is possible, except for a perfect bracket, which may seem impossible. If you were to flip a coin on each game, the odds of a perfect bracket would be about 1 in 9 quintillion. Now, if you happen to know a bit about the sport, your odds are still not looking great and would be about 1 in 120.2 billion. Who knows – this could be the year someone gets a perfect bracket.

In order to predict the upside on certain teams and see flaws in others, it helps to watch the teams throughout the year. Even this past season, the best bracketologists had San Diego State and Florida Atlantic University nowhere near the Final Four, and yet, it happened.

TuHS junior and recreational basketball player Caden Howe shared some of his insights on the upcoming tournament. 

“Clemson has a good chance to be a sneaky team in this year’s tournament, with their 6’10’’ center, PJ Hall,” Howe stated. 

Hall averages nearly 20 points a game and is within the top scorers for the Athletic Coast Conference (ACC). 

Howe also explained how he goes about crafting his bracket. 

“I kind of just go with my gut, to be honest,” he said. “If it is a team that I know has a good reputation and I know some players, I’ll choose them.”

As Howe said, reputation is a key element. It has to do with experience in the tournament and just how a team is known to function. 

The question this year is, will reputation matter? Or is another school going to come out of nowhere in March and steal the show?

March Madness fans look forward to tournament