THANKS,

March. It’s the month filled with madness. It’s the month filled with thrills. It’s the month filled with upsets, crazy fans, buzzer-beaters and skipped school days.

It’s March. March Madness that is.

For thousands across the nation, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is one of the top sporting events in the country.

Lasting about three weeks, the tournament captivates audiences throughout the United States. From the big name teams like the Indiana Hoosiers and the Louisville Cardinals, to the small schools like the Florida Gulf Coast University, the tourney is sure to appeal to various states and cities.

This year, the tournament has already been filled with multiple upsets, from unheard of Florida Gulf Coast University taking down powerhouse Georgetown in the South region, to Harvard defeating New Mexico in the West region-both in the first round

64 teams. One goal.

One winner.

Number-one seed in the West this year was hometown favorite, the Gonzaga Bulldogs. The Zags managed to slip past Southern University in the round of 64, but couldn’t quite get the job done in the round of 32, losing to Wichita State University.

Talk about a bracket-buster.

For many fans in Washington State, their brackets are busted. Gone. Burned to ashes.

However, while Gonzaga seemed to be a Washington favorite to win it all, many students wisely chose differently.

Student Jeremiah Michel picked Miami to win it all. Though, while his pick, Miami lost in the Sweet Sixteen, his bracket made it farther than multiple others across in the nation.

When making a bracket, one must not only take into account the records of the teams in the regular season, but also the conference they play in, the teams they have gone up against, the level of talent each conference has, the level of star power on each team, how well the teams have previously been against AP ranked teams, coaching abilities and more.

Sophomore Jeremiah Michel said that he fills out his bracket by first looking for upsets and then the teams he believes are overrated or underrated.

Michel in fact picked Gonzaga to lose early on and he also predicted the shocking upset by Harvard over New Mexico.

For senior Gabey Lucus, she picks her bracket by looking specifically at how well each of the separate teams function as a group; their cohesiveness so to speak.

Some people go the safe route and pick the top-seeds to win each game of each round they play. If you were one of those people this year, I’m sorry.

People that picked UNLV to defeat California? Nope, they were wrong. Saint Louis picked to beat Oregon? Wrong again.

At first, at the least to the committee, the Pac-12 wasn’t as strong as the other conferences so they in turn ranked them lower in the seedings. Wow were they wrong.

Three Pac-12 schools have made it to the Sweet Sixteen.

Any method one chooses to fill out their bracket, it’s bound to have at least one mistake. It’s just the reality of the situation.

No one can choose the perfect bracket and if someone did, well, it was never recorded.

That’s why we call it March Madness. The games are just so unpredictable and any team can win on any court at any time against any team.

Case and point, Butler in 2010 and George Mason University’s run to the Final Four in 2006.

That’s what the fans of college basketball live for. They live for the upsets, the stomach-lurching, chest-pumping, ridiculous games that make you want to just turn off your television set because it’s too nerve-wracking to watch another second of a close game.

For example, Ohio State vs. Iowa State game in the round of 32. Thank goodness for Aaron Craft.

March isn’t just the time for spring and new spring clothes. It’s time for basketball and a lot of it.

March Madness 2013. Let’s go.

Time to name a national champion. Bragging rights will be included.