Excitement grows as March Madness nears
The opening tip-off of March Madness, America’s biggest college basketball tournament, is around the corner. The first round is made up of 68 teams, with the action starting on the 20th of March.
The first round of March Madness will be held at the Rupp Arena at the University of Kentucky. The tournament, which is also often referred to as the Big Dance, was started in 1939. This is a single-elimination tournament. Each stage takes two days to complete, and it takes two and a half weeks to complete in total. Teams that make it through the first round will advance through to the second round. Also teams that progress past the second round play in the Sweet 16. The winners of the Sweet 16 will advance to the Elite 8. After which the winning teams will play in the National semi-finals. The two winning teams will play in the National Championship on the seventh of April. 2024 saw the University of Connecticut walk away as the National Champions for a second year in a row.
Difficulty of predicting brackets in NCAA
Each year millions of fans take part in the March Madness predictions, and for many, predicting brackets is the best part of the experience. There are different scoring systems, but the main goal is to predict as many brackets as possible. Predicting a perfect bracket is almost impossible, with the odds of predicting a perfect bracket being 9.22 quintillion to 1. The closest prediction came in 2019 with a perfect 49 games. The tournament is considered one of the biggest sports events in the States, with an estimated 60 to 100 million brackets being filled out each year.
Bracket predictions are so popular that billionaire Warren Buffet has offered a billion dollars for getting a perfect prediction. Employers have seen an increase of people taking sick days or even postponing meetings to watch games during the Big Dance tournament.
Teams that could make it to the Sweet 16
Let’s have a look at teams who could be contenders at this year’s March Madness. While it is hard to predict who will win this year, there are teams that have done well this season. This can potentially give us an indication of which teams will make it through to the final 16.
Potential Teams
Here are a few teams that have the potential to make it through March Madness. The odds will vary from bookie to bookie. We will therefore focus on the probability of the strongest teams in the tournament.
The Tennessee volunteers are in with a chance sitting at 6.25% to 7.7%. Also one of the top 10 teams to go through with 9.1% to 10% is the Florida Gators.
Michigan State who has standout performer guard Jase Richardson on their team. Has a 3.4% to 3.8% chance. The St. John’s Red Storm under the leadership of Coach Rick Pitino, also won their first season title in 40 years. They have a 3.8% to secure the title.
The Kansas Jayhawks started the season off as a main contender. Unfortunately, challenges within the team have made their chances 1.6% to 2%. The Marquette Golden Eagles holds a 22-7 record and has a probability of 1.2% to 1.3%. The Connecticut Huskies won last year and have a 6% chance of reaching the Final Four and 1.2% to 1.6% of winning the title again.
The top four seeds for the upcoming March Madness are the Auburn Tigers with 22.7% to 23.5%. The Duke Blue Devils have 22.2% to 22.7%. The Alabama Crimson Tide has a 7.7% to 8.3% chance, and the Houston Cougars have 11.8% to 12.5%.
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It is anyone’s guess as to which team will take home the trophy. Surprising results often come from teams that are considered underdogs in the tournament. Why not try and create your own bracket for this year’s tournament? Have a look at which sites offer the best markets and odds, so shop around a bit and have a look at the promotions on offer.
Lastly, LeBron James has become the first player in NBA history to score 50,000 career points. On a night when his Los Angeles Lakers easily defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 136-115, LeBron James, the NBA’s all-time top scorer, added yet another noteworthy milestone to his illustrious career.
In front of a cheering home crowd at Crypto.com Arena, the future Hall of Famer made a three-pointer in the first quarter, becoming the first player in NBA history to score 50,000 points in both the regular season and the playoffs.
Before Tuesday night’s game, the four-time NBA MVP had accumulated 41,837 points in the regular season (first all-time) and 8,162 points in the playoffs (first all-time), for a total of 49,999. He needed just one more point to hit the milestone.
