March Madness is upon us

Caleb Gross and Noah Silver|March 14, 2022

Ioanna Tsompanellis

March Madness is knocking on everyone’s doorsteps, as the biggest college basketball tournaments began on March 14th.

The 2022 March Madness tournament is set to begin Tuesday, March 15. 

Beginning March 15, 68 teams will face off to become national champions.

The NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament, referred to as NCAA March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring featuring the top-ranked college teams in the country battling to become crowned a national champion.

In last year’s men’s tournament, Baylor University was named the national champion defeating Gonzaga University in a crushing 86-70 victory. Leading scorers MaCio Teague had 19 points and Jared Butler had 22 points, who currently plays for the Utah Jazz.

In the women’s tournament, Stanford University barely defeated the University of Arizona in a 54-53 victory. Haley Jones led the team with 17 points and her opponent Aari Mcdonald had 22 points. Mcdonald is currently a point guard for the Atlanta Dream while Jones is in her junior year at Stanford.

What really brings the fans into this tournament is the nail-biting action and betting. 

The gambling hype revolves around picking teams based on both their regular season and conference tournament performances. It seems like a simple task until you try it out for yourself.

Every year people fill out brackets for who they think will win March Madness; per year there are roughly 70 million brackets filled out and yet not one has been perfect in 45 years.  

The top 10 ranked men’s teams in order are Gonzaga, Arizona, Kentucky, Kansas, Baylor, Duke, Tennessee, Purdue, Auburn, and Villanova; however, you never know what Cinderella team could come and sweep them all away. 

Gonzaga  has +350 odds to win it all this year which is the highest odds for the men’s. In comparison, Stanford, the women’s reigning national champions, has a +600 odds to win it all.

Tune in from Tuesday, March 15 to Monday, April 4 for the tournaments as the teams face off to see who will be crowned the national champion.