The 2023 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments, often referred to as March Madness, begin today at 12:15pm.

The tournaments are single-elimination; they are played each March through April and feature 68 collegiate teams from across the United States battling to be crowned national champions.

Out of the 68 teams that qualify for the tournament, 32 of the teams are automatic qualifiers. Teams are automatically qualified if they win their conference’s tournament. Within those conference tournament winners, four No. 16 seeded teams competed in play-in games to enter into the March Madness tournament.

The remaining 36 teams are given “at-large bids,” meaning the teams are chosen by a committee that also decides where the teams stand in the tournament.  Within those at-large bids, the bottom four No. 11 seeded teams also play to compete within the 64-team bracket for the tournament. 

An anomaly occurred within this year’s men’s tournament: Fairleigh Dickinson University did not win its conference tournament, but the team was still named the automatic qualifier from its conference. 

FDU is part of the Northeast Conference and was the No. 2 seed in the conference’s tournament; the No. 1 seed was Merrimack. In the semifinals, Fairleigh Dickinson took on No. 3 seed Saint Francis University; FDU won 70-50. FDU was then crowned the automatic qualifier of the Northeast Conference, as No. 1 seeded Merrimack was ineligible due to its four-year transition from Division II to Division I (Merrimack is in its fourth year of the transition). So, even though Merrimack defeated FDU in the Northeast Championship, 67-66, FDU advanced to the 68-team bracket.

Fairleigh Dickinson is one of two schools representing New Jersey in March Madness on the men’s side of the tournament; Princeton is the other. No. 16 seeded FDU played No.16 seeded Texas Southern in the First Four, advancing to play No. 1 seeded Purdue for the first round of the 64-team-bracket competition. No. 15 seeded Princeton will take on No. 2 seeded Arizona in the same round.

On the women’s side, Monmouth and Princeton will represent New Jersey. No. 16 seeded Monmouth will take on No.16 seeded Tennessee Tech in the First Four, and No. 10 seed Princeton will take on No. 7 seed NC State in the first round of the 64-team-bracket competition.

In last year’s men’s tournament, No. 1 seeded Kansas defeated No. 8 seeded University of North Carolina in the Championship, 72-69. Kansas was trailing 40-25 at halftime, but Kansas outscored UNC 47-29 in the second half.

Last year on the women’s side, No. 1 seeded University of South Carolina defeated No. 2 seeded UConn, 64-49. South Carolina ended the first quarter up 22-8 and continued to dominate UConn. 

Every year, people fill out brackets for the March Madness tournaments, predicting the winners. According to ESPN, each year there are roughly 70 million brackets filled out, and not one has been perfect in 45 years. For perspective, the odds of filling out a perfect bracket are one in 9.2 quintillion. The longest streak of correct picks in an NCAA tournament bracket to start the March Madness tournament is 49, which occurred during the 2019 men’s March Madness tournament.

Here are some teachers’ March Madness champion picks for both the men and women’s sides, respectively. 

Mr. Buchanan: Alabama and South Carolina 

Mr. Cleary: Kansas and South Carolina

Mr. Coleman: Kansas and South Carolina

Ms. DeQuintal: Duke and Duke

Ms. Ely: Gonzaga and Indiana

Mr. Gallione: Houston and South Carolina

Mr. Jasper: Gonzaga and UConn

Mrs. Marchiano-Rauscher: Houston and South Carolina

Mr. Puccio: Texas and South Carolina

Mr. Villone: Anyone but Purdue and anyone but Indiana

In the First Four games, which are the play-in games for the 64-team-bracket competition, No.16 seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi defeated No.16 seeded Southeast Missouri State, and No.16 seeded Fairleigh-Dickinson University defeated No.16 seeded Texas Southern University. On the women’s side, No.11 seeded University of Pittsburgh defeated No.11 seeded Mississippi State University, and No.11 seeded Arizona State University defeated No.11 seeded University of Nevada.

Tune in for the first round of the 64-team-bracket competition, starting at 12:15pm today: University of Maryland takes on West Virginia University.