For those who aren’t familiar with March Madness, it is an annual NCAA basketball tournament that consists of college basketball teams across the United States. Each team is given a “seed” or ranking and these rankings decide opponents for the first round.
The seedings are used to make sure teams with high ranks don’t play each other at the start of the tournament, so you typically see teams with a high seed number playing against lower seeds.
The 2024 College March Madness tournaments began on March 19, and the final four are scheduled for March 31.
With 68 teams chasing that champion title, it’s difficult to predict an accurate final bracket and allows for various outcomes. Kansas could make a comeback after taking wins in 2022 or Uconn could take a back-to-back championship.
One popular opinion this year is Uconn and Purdue will make it to the final four and either team will win the finals. Gary Parish, a sports columnist with CBSS sports, has this exact prediction in his bracket and he said: “Watching UConn become the first back-to-back national champion since Florida in 2006 and 2007 would be a blast. And let the record show that the Huskies are the betting-market favorites.”
Despite this information, Parish has Purdue winning for dramatic effect since it would be quite the comeback after they lost to a No. 16 seed in the opening round of the 2023 tournaments.
College Basketball analyst Andy Katz made his D1 men’s basketball bracket picks with the NCAA. His final four consisted of UConn taking a win over Arizona, and Purdue taking a win over Kentucky, with UConn winning the overall. He stated: “…with the way UConn has played in the biggest moments, I think they win back-to-back championships.”
Although Uconn and Purdue seem to be fan favorites, any team has a fair chance of a win. Anticipations are high as people across the country await the result of all 67 games.