It’s the third month of the year which means March Madness has begun, 68 teams will compete to raise the national championship trophy and have confetti rain.

March Madness was started in 1938 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. It has grown to have over 10 million TV viewership per game and brings in roughly 1 billion dollars of revenue per year.

This year’s tournament will take place from March 16th until April 3rd in various locations. The first round will happen from March 16th to March 17th in locations spanning from Sacramento, CA to Orlando, Fl. The second round occurs between March 18th and March 19th in the same locations as the first round. The sweet sixteen will happen on March 23rd and March 24th followed by the elite eight on March 25th and March 26th in Louisville, KY; New York City, NY; Kansas City, MO; and Las Vegas, NV. The final weekend of the tournament in which the final four and championship rounds will be played will take place in Houston, TX on April 1st and April 3rd.

The number one seeds for this year’s tournament are Alabama, Houston, Kansas, and Purdue. Alabama went 30-5 on the season and won the SEC conference tournament. Houston won 32 out of their 35 games and was the regular season champion in the AAC. Kansas’s overall record was 28-7 and won the regular season championship in the Big 12. The final number one seed in the 2023 March Madness tournament is Purdue who won the Big 10 tournament Championship and had a 29-6 record this season.

March Madness is known for unpredictability and upsets and it shows with no perfect brackets left after the second day. The University of Virginia, a number 4 seed, lost to 13 seed Furman in a last-second three to win by a point. The next upset came from number 15 seed Princeton tigers who beat the 2nd seed Arizona wildcats by four points. The final upset came when number sixteen seed

beat the number 1 seed Purdue in a five-point victory. This was only the second time in NCAA history that a 1 seed lost to a 16 seed.

After the first weekend of the tournament Charlottesville High School students shared thoughts of March Madness thus far.

Charlottesville High School student Luka Matic believes, “bad decisions that were made especially in the UVA game” ultimately led to these dramatic upsets.

Freshman Jack Wielar is “Not happy about [the upsets]” because of its negative effect on his bracket. He still thinks his championship pick the Houston Cougars will come out on top and allow him to win the bracket challenge.

Who do you think will be crowned the champion?