By Garrett Aleckson —

Every March, the nation is captivated by a 68-team tournament that decides the champion of NCAA Division I men’s basketball. The unpredictability of the games has played a huge role in the tournament’s ubiquitous nickname: March Madness.

Every year, people all over the country fill out millions of brackets. SportsCenter tweeted that over 11.57 million entries were submitted in the ESPN tournament challenge.

My bracket took early hits, thanks to two No. 14 seeds beating two No. 3 seed teams. The upsets that historically happen—the No. 12 seed over the No. 5 seed—didn’t happen at all this year. Despite the early round madness, I correctly predicted three out of the four teams that made the final four. Let’s see how other fellow students did.

Junior, Alex Johnson seemed as if he wasn’t affected by the early round madness at all, saying:

“I picked all four final four teams correctly. I also had Georgia State pulling off the upset.”

Johnson will be cheering for the Wisconsin Badgers not only as a fan, but also because of his bracket.

“I definitely have Wisconsin winning the tournament,” said Johnson.

Junior, Troy Mengel didn’t have the same fortune that Johnson had.

“I had Virginia going to the final four, so Michigan State messed that up. I also had Iowa State going to the Elite Eight, but they lost to No. 14 seed UAB,” said Mengel.

Mengel did not consider the home team, when choosing the winner of the tournament, saying:

“I chose Kentucky to beat Duke in the championship. So, I’m worried about Wisconsin and Michigan State.”

Junior, Sam Ripp also had some misfortune due to the first round farce fest.

“The team that busted my bracket was UAB. I had Iowa State going all the way to the Championship game,” said Ripp.

Ripp actually cheers for Wisconsin, but chose Kentucky as the champion, saying:

“I went with the cheaters pick and chose Kentucky to win, even though I really hope Wisconsin wins it all.”

There is no science behind March Madness—it’s pure madness. We can only fill out our bracket, and watch as the madness consumes us, and our brackets.

Duke University beat the University of Wisconsin-Madison 68-63 in the championship game April 6.

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