Each year, people across America and at Wheeling Park High School feel the excitement of March Madness by watching and creating the brackets that they think will be perfect. Spoiler alert, they’re not, as the chance of achieving a perfect bracket is one in 9.2 quintillion. To put that into perspective, there are 7.5 quintillion grams of sand on Earth, meaning that you have a better chance of choosing a specific grain of sand on the whole Earth than picking a perfect bracket.
March Madness is the annual NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, held across three weekends from mid to late March to early April. Both the men’s and women’s tournaments feature a field of 68 teams, and with that come thrilling matchups along with inspiring upsets. The teams are arranged in seeds and into four regions based on how they performed throughout the regular season; there are four teams per seed, ranging from one to sixteen, but seeds eleven and sixteen include six teams. Four of the six teams in both the eleven and sixteen seeds play preliminary games on Tuesday and Wednesday for men’s and Wednesday and Thursday for women’s before the rest of the competition plays, and this is called the First Four. These teams are then split up into their four regions: East, West, Midwest, and South. The winner of each region makes the Final Four in Indianapolis, Indiana, for men’s and Phoenix, Arizona, for women’s. The Final Four is the semifinals, and after both semifinals, we find the eventual winner in the national championship game.
In the men’s bracket, the favorites to take home the title are Duke University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Arizona, as they have been the three strongest teams this season and are all one seeds. Duke is the overall number one seed, but if you are picking a bracket, they are tough to pick, as they have been given a tough region and are down a few starters, but also have the expected national player of the year on their team in freshman Cameron Boozer. Some other teams that are expected to also make a deep run are the University of Houston, the University of Florida, which won the national championship in 2025, and Iowa State University. All of the previously mentioned teams are one or two seeds, and with 31 of the last 40 champions being a one or two seed, it’s safe to choose one as your winner in the bracket that you make.
The men’s tournament had its first games played on Tuesday, in the First Four. Howard University won its first-ever game in its fifth appearance in March Madness, beating the University of Maryland, Baltimore County 86-83, who in 2018 were the first-ever sixteen seed in either men’s or women’s March Madness to beat a one seed when they upset the University of Virginia. The second game on Tuesday night featured a game-winner from the University of Texas’ Tramon Mark, knocking off North Carolina State University 68-66, which the latter went on an incredible run in 2024 to the Final Four as an eleven seed. The first night of March Madness showed just how special it can be, with two games going down to the wire. The second night began with Prairie View A&M University getting its first-ever March Madness win by controlling Lehigh University 67-55. Similar to UMBC, Lehigh pulled off an incredible upset all the way back in 2012, beating two-seeded Duke 75-70. The last game of the First Four for the men’s ended with Miami University (Ohio) continuing their magical season by beating Southern Methodist University 89-79.
The First Round for the men’s tournament began on Thursday, and the Madness of March was apparent from the start. The first game of the day was the Ohio State University versus Texas Christian University, and even though the Horned Frogs were up by fifteen points at halftime, the Buckeyes mounted a comeback, taking a four-point lead with over five minutes left. They would eventually come up short in the end with TCU defeating Ohio State 66-64 after the Buckeyes’ Bruce Thornton’s half-court heave was off the mark at the buzzer. The first big upset of the day was twelve-seeded High Point University knocking off five-seeded University of Wisconsin 83-82 behind a miraculous performance from three-point specialist Chase Johnston, who dropped eleven points in the final five minutes and the eventual game winner with eleven seconds after being down eight points. That game was followed up by number one overall seed Duke nearly falling to sixteen-seeded Siena University in what could’ve been only the third time a sixteen-seed beat a number one seed, but a strong second-half performance from freshmen Cameron Boozer and Cayden Boozer helped the Blue Devils advance. The next notable upset was Virginia Commonwealth University getting the best of the University of North Carolina 82-78 in a game that went to overtime. Sophomore Terrence Hill Jr. had thirty-four points for the Rams in a comeback for the ages, as VCU came back from down nineteen points. UNC now holds the embarrassing record for the largest blown lead in the First Round of March Madness in the men’s tournament since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The final big shock of the night was the University of Texas taking down Brigham Young University 79-71. Although expected number one overall pick in the NBA draft, AJ Dybantsa put up thirty-five points, but it was not enough for BYU as Texas led for 98% of the game.
For the women’s tournament, the dynasty of the University of Connecticut looks to return as they are 34-0 heading into March Madness, and are led by twelve-time national champion head coach Geno Auriemma. While they haven’t come out on top at the end of the season since 2016, the Huskies of UConn are the number one overall seed. The teams with the next best odds of winning at the Final Four in Phoenix, Arizona, include the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Texas, and the University of South Carolina, who won two of the last four behind the leadership of Dawn Staley, and all of the aforementioned teams are one seeds. Similar to the men’s, women’s March Madness has been won by the one seed in 33 of 43 championships, showcasing the dominance of being a one seed.
The first night of the First Four for the women’s began on Wednesday, and the first game was dominated by the University of Nebraska, where they beat Richmond University 75-56. They were favored in this game, and they showed why as they led for 94% of the game. The second game on Wednesday night for the women’s was far closer than the first, with Missouri State University defeating Stephen F. Austin State University 85-75. As in the first game, the favored team won, but Missouri State didn’t take a comfortable lead until halfway through the third quarter. The second night of the First Four for women’s basketball on Thursday featured two nail-biter games. Southern University got the best of Samford University 65-53 in a game where the largest lead wasn’t until 55 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and although the University of Virginia was up as much as nine points, Arizona State University cut the lead all the way down to one point before eventually falling to the Cavaliers 57-55.
We asked both Wheeling Park High School basketball coaches, Coach Jebbia and Coach Young, who they think will win March Madness in both the men’s and women’s tournaments:
“I think the women’s is going to be UConn. Geno Auriemma is the best coach in the country. They have the best team, and I feel like Arizona is going to win the men’s. I think they have a lot of pros on their team, and they just looked pretty good when I saw them play West Virginia. So I’m going with Arizona and UConn,” said Wheeling Park girls’ basketball head coach Ryan Young.
“Men’s I’m picking Arizona. I’ve seen them play a lot through the Big 12. I think they have a lot of pieces to be able to do that. It’s tough to go against UConn in the women’s,” said Wheeling Park boys’ basketball head coach Michael Jebbia.
With March Madness just beginning this weekend for both men’s and women’s tournaments, I raise the question: Who do you have winning both tournaments? The favorites like Duke and UConn, or are you rooting for the upsets?
