By Harper Lile, 8th-grade, Co-Editor in Chief, with Contributions from Caden Green, 8th-grade, Co-Editor in Chief
It’s officially March, which means March Madness is right around the corner. Sports lovers and college geeks are bracing for another exciting spring. Millions of Americans tune into the live games and fill out the brackets, either betting on money or competing with their friends and families.
The journey begins with Selection Sunday on March 15th, where 68 teams will learn their fate.
As a preview to March Madness; learn about who’s on the bubble, top seeds, potential match ups, scheduling and storylines.
Dates and Locations
The matches are hosted all across the country at different arenas.
The first four qualifying games, to fill into the 64 teams bracket, will be hosted at the UD arena in Dayton, Ohio on March 17th and 18th.
The round of 64 will begin on March 19th and the round of 32 begins on March 21. The host site cities for the first two rounds include St. Louis; San Diego; Tampa; Philadelphia; Portland; Oklahoma City; Greenville, South Carolina; and Buffalo, New York.
The Sweet 16 and Elite Eight will take place in San Jose, California; Chicago, Houston, and Washington D.C. The games are on March 26th and March 27th. The Elite Eight games will be on March 28th and March 29th.
Most importantly, the final four games and national title game will be hosted in Indianapolis at the Lucas Oil Stadium.
The Final Four Games will take place on April 4th and the National Title game, what it all comes down to, will be on April 6th.
Teams on the bubble
With conference tournaments beginning, the bubble remains highly unstable.
Ohio State, Santa Clara, New Mexico, and VCU are currently projected to fill the final spots within the 68 team-field according to FOX News.
The projected four teams first out of the tournament are Auburn, New Mexico, Cincinnati and Virginia Tech.
Predicted Top Seeds
Florida is one of the biggest risers, moving to a No. 2 seed. Many experts suggest that they could challenge for a No. 1 seed if their winning streak continues.
Florida is the 2025 March Madness defending champion.
ESPN Bracketology projects that Duke will be the number one overall seed.
Duke is led by their star player, Cameron Boozer, 6 foot 9 freshman forward. Cameron Boozer is the son of the very successful NBA player, Carlos Boozer, who won a national championship at Duke. Cameron averages 22.6 points per game and 10 rebounds per game. Boozer isn’t known for flashy plays, but is very disciplined and consistent.
Other top seeds include Michigan, Arizona, and UConn, according to NCAA.com bracket projections.
These four teams have separated themselves from the rest of the field.
The top ten rankings right now are Duke, Arizona, Michigan, Uconn, Florida, Iowa State, Houston, Michigan State, Nebreska and Texas Tech.
Uconn was projected to be a top seed until a recent bad loss against the 12-19 Marquette.
Conference
Overall, the SEC is projected to lead in teams in the tournament, followed by the Big Ten, then ACC and Big 12.
Florida is carrying the SEC and Duke is carrying the ACC. The Big 12 is stacked with Arizona, Houston, Texas Tech, Iowa State, and Kansas. The Big Ten’s best team as of right now is MIchigan but are also home to strong teams such as Illinois, Purdue, Michigan State, and Nebreska.
Recent Games Before Conference Tournament
Some exciting games took place on Saturday, March 7th that set the scene for the upcoming conference tournaments.
Texas A&M beat LSU, in triple overtime, a game that could have gone either way, until the Aggies took the lead in the third overtime. It would’ve been an upset for LSU,
Another thrilling overtime game was Oklahoma vs Texas. With roughly 30 seconds left in the game, it looked like OU had the game in the bag.
Florida beat Kentucky, during the game it seemedFlorida was dominating them with leads around the 20s, as they are the top contender in the SEC. However, the game got close at the end, with Florida only winning by 7, 84-77.
Conference Tournament Preview
The conference tournaments are soon underway, the Big 12, Big 10 and ACC have their first round on March 10th and the SEC have their first rounds on March 11th. The SEC’s top seed is projected to be Florida, Duke for the ACC, Michigan for the Big 10 and Airzona for the Big 12.
First round games in the SEC tournament include UK vs LSU, Auburn vs Mississippi State, Texas vs Ole Miss, and Oklahoma vs South Carolina. All of these games are crucial for these team’s chances at making the tournament.
First round games for the Big 12 include Arizona State vs Baylor, Cincinnati vs Utah, BYU vs Kansas State and Colorado vs Oklahoma State.
Lastly, first round games in the Big 10 include Maryland vs. Oregon and Northwestern vs Penn State.
