BY AUSTEN MILLER (’16)

As the month of March rolls in like a lion, so does the frenzy of the men’s college basketball tournament. Millions of people, fans of basketball or not, fill out multiple brackets with their predictions on who will go all the way to the national title game that will be played at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana on April 6.

Statistics have shown in the past that nationwide, over three billion dollars in office wages will be put down on the tournament this year. Also, business owner Warren Buffet offers anyone who has a completely perfect bracket, a one billion dollar reward.

Chances of getting a perfect bracket are 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808, or 1 in 9.2 quintillion, according to Math Professor Jeff Bergen at De Paul University who calculated the odds.

March Madness does live up to its name, considering that people are in a frenzy when it comes to making predictions. Upsets left and right usually destroy people’s brackets within the second or third round of the tournament. Last year the biggest upset was when Ohio State lost to the Dayton Flyers in the second round of the tournament.

How big is March Madness? Well to give you an idea, every year, ESPN does a special with the President of the United States, and he makes his predictions on who will win.

Even students throughout the high school who don’t like basketball are interested in March Madness.

“I’m not a big basketball guy, but I think March Madness is really fun to watch,” says junior Barrett Williams. “I really enjoy watching it with friends and hanging out having fun. It brings out a different sense in people.”

The mania does not being until March 15, which is selection Sunday. Teams that have won or have not won their leagues will be considered into the tournament. After that, the first games begin March 17 and March 18 in Dayton, Ohio.

Will this be the year that someone has a perfect bracket, or will the tradition of the Cinderella story prevail again? We will surely figure out when the madness begins.