March Madness is America’s annual college basketball tournament. To make the event more exciting, basketball fans fill brackets predicting which team may win the tournament. There are even competitions between fans to see who makes better predictions. This year, March Madness is again sparking excitement among thousands of college basketball fans across America, including students and teachers at SIS.

“March Madness is always exciting,” Morgan Miller, an avid basketball fan, said. “Even though my team, the Oregon Ducks, is not playing this year, March Madness is exciting because it is a one-game elimination tournament, anything can happen. It is also fun to guess what might happen during the game.”

Accurately filling the bracket is very rare. According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), only 192 brackets among 20 million were perfect. However, the unpredictable nature of basketball games is what makes March Madness sensational. 

“There does not seem to be any massively strong teams,” James Tyvand, another basketball fan, said. “I think many school teams’ players have similar talents, so it is unpredictable which team will win. Because I am from the U.S. west coast, I tend to pick a lot of teams from the west. I filled in two brackets this time: one for the University of Tennessee and Duke University for another.” 

Politicians and celebrities use social platforms to express their fondness for March Madness. Former U.S. President Barack Obama has recently posted on his Instagram page his filled brackets. Among many celebrities, American television host Jimmy Fallon also participated in March Madness. President Obama and Fallon picked Gonzaga and Stanford respectively. 

As March Madness approaches its end, students, teachers, and fans across America and also in SIS hope their predictions match the results.