The odds of filling out a perfect bracket are 1 in 9.2 quintillion, yet every year millions of people fill one out.

This is March Madness – The highly anticipated NCAA tournament. 

Basketball fans really love the tournament, but people who are less knowledgeable or less interested in the sport are still involved. Roughly 50 million people fill out brackets for fun, or some people illegally play for money.

Dallastown building substitute teacher Avery Strayer said he loves the NCAA tournament.

 “[I like] Being able to watch so many high-intensity games at once along with watching teams go on Cinderella runs even if they bust my bracket,” Strayer said.

Stayer isn’t the only one at Dallastown who loves March Madness. Sophomores Brady Canaan and Jake Cadd said they love watching basketball and filling out brackets.

“I play in lots of brackets every year, and my family and I all compete and we have a good time,” Canaan said. “Having basketball all day and the bracket-making process is my favorite.”

“I take 2 hours out of my time to make as many brackets as ESPN will let me,” Cadd said. “I play in a family pool every year.”

The first step to the tournament is Selection Sunday, which was held on March 16. Some teams relaxed as their names got called, but others were on the edge of their seats biting their fingernails.

Thirty-one teams weren’t as stressed because they had just won their conference tournament. 

Winning a conference tournament automatically gives a bid to the big dance. However, the other 37 teams are patiently waiting to hear their name called. They have to win an at-large bid determined by their record, quadrant wins, and strength of schedule.

At 7 p.m. on Sunday, brackets were released, and fans scrambled to their phones to look at the head-to-head matchups. Whether filling out brackets competitively or just for fun, most people fill out brackets.

“Usually [I] make 1 bracket in a few minutes without really looking at it too much,”  Strayer said. “The second bracket I fill out is one I take more time to go over and look at specific matchups.”

You will also see fans picking teams by their logo, seeding, or even their mascot. 

Brackets are people’s greatest pride during the tournament, and their hopes are stolen by people they didn’t even know existed — until now.

Former Loganville Principal Scott Carl also watches March Madness a lot.

“I like the weekends of March Madness. Basketball is on all the time,” Carl said. “I like the excitement of the close games, especially when an underdog has a chance to win.”

Every year teams make Cinderella runs, which makes filling out brackets so challenging. What you rarely see is the highest seed losing to the lowest seed. A No. 1 seed has only ever lost to a No. 16 seed twice in history. UMBC upset Virginia in 2018, and FDU upset Purdue in 2023.

“I love to see a good underdog story, and it’s always fun seeing lower seeds beat the higher-seeded teams,” Canaan said.

The round of 64 started on March 20-21. Shortly after, the round of 32 started on March 22-23. Advancing teams get a break, and the Sweet 16 starts on March 27-28.

Quickly after that round the Elite 8 starts March 29-30. The remaining teams will go on their Journey to San Antonio, Texas, to compete in the Final Four on April 5. The final two teams will stay put and compete for a national championship on April 7 at 8:50 p.m. 

The Big Ten conference was hot in the first round, and all 8 teams won. The Southeastern Conference broke a record for the most teams from a conference in the tournament with 14 teams making the tournament. However, only 8 of the teams won in the first round. 

One of the most notable upsets of the tournament so far was in the second round. Ten-seed Arkansas, coached by John Calipari, stunned 2-seed St. John’s, coached by Rick Pitino. The final score was 75-66—the Razorbacks advanced to Sweet 16 to face Texas Tech.

Another notable upset occurred in the first round. Twelve-seed McNeese State, coached by Will Wade, upset the 5-seed Clemson, coached by Brad Brownell. Clemson only scored 13 points in the first half, and their 2nd half effort wasn’t enough to win. The final score was 69-67.

While many brackets have been busted, that won’t stop people from watching the remaining games in the tournament.

That’s the beauty of March Madness.