March Madness dribbles onto the scene this week as the Round of 64 begins. Two teams from Indiana, Purdue and Butler will compete for a spot in the championship game, which will be held on April 2 in San Antonio on TBS.

Play-in games started on March 13, with Radford defeating LIU 71-61, and Saint Bonaventure beating UCLA 65-58. The play-in games continue the evening of March 14, starting with Texas Southern versus NCCU and Syracuse against ASU to follow. The teams who compete in these early games are not yet in the tournament, as these eight are vying for the last four spots in the Round of 64.

Even with these early games, brackets are not due until March 15 at 12 P.M. EST, when the Round of 64 officially begins. Many students at FHS are busy finalizing their brackets, which can be located at such sites as ESPN. For students who want to complete a bracket, but are confused on who to pick, sophomore Andrew Trosen has some advice.
“You can pick the random button at many websites, and that will give you just about as much chance as anybody else,” Trosen said.
Clicking this button on many bracket-making websites  fills in the bracket automatically. The choosing is completely random, but, because these games are often unpredictable, it has the same probability as most other brackets.

However, for students who are looking for a perspective from a devoted college basketball fan, freshman Joel Coston has a team in mind he believes will get very far in the March Madness bracket.

“I picked UNC [University of North Carolina],” Coston said. “I feel like they always seem to win, so it’s safe to go with them.”
Games can be tuned into this year on CBS, TBS, TNT, and TRUTV. Games will be in abundance this week as the tournament begins, but as teams go down one-by-one, only four will eventually meet in San Antonio for the Final Four.