With the first weekend of the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament concluding, the tournament has continued its trend of stunning upsets and has been nothing but “madness.”  After much anticipation, the bracket was revealed on March 12th, also know as “Selection Sunday.” Per usual, students were scrambling, crunching numbers, and religiously following Dick Vitale And Jay Bilas’s advice in hopes of securing the most accurate bracket and potentially winning their group pool. This tournament has grown to be one of the biggest in the country, as adults are joining in on the fun and partaking in office pools. In a study taken by the Columbus Dispatch, over 70 million brackets are filled out every year, with over 2 billion dollars being bet.

Throughout the year, upsets over the top ranked team in the country have been more common than ever. After much dispute though, Gonzaga, North Carolina, Kansas, and Villanova all came out with #1 seeds, and are the four favorites to be cutting down the nets at the end of the month. Inevitably, some other teams had different plans, starting with the senior heavy Wisconsin Badgers, who dethroned the reigning champs, Villanova, in the round of 32. On the other side of the bracket, the Big Ten Champion, #7 seed Michigan Wolverines, took down a hot #2 seed, The Louisville Cardinals. Other notable wins include #12 seed Middle Tennessee over #5 Minnesota, and #11 seed USC over #6 SMU. The real bracket buster came on Sunday, March 19, when #2 seed Duke was upset by the 7th ranked South Carolina Gamecocks. Around 10% of all brackets have the cliche pick of Duke and Coach K winning it all. With only one weekend down, plenty of upsets have already made for an interesting month. All we can do now is hope for more.