March madness is upon us and this year, the Final Four will be held in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium.
“I like to fill out brackets and follow the games during the tournament,” sophomore Charlie Barnes said.
Filling out a bracket for March Madness is one part people love about the tournament. Students use many different strategies to help them with their bracket.
“I focus on the seeds and points when I’m filling out my bracket so I can see who matches up well,” sophomore Cole Dycus said.
In March Madness any team can beat anyone and that is part of what makes the tournament so unpredictable and fun to watch.
“One of my favorite parts is the upsets and Cinderella teams,” Dycus said.
There is often a “cinderella” team in each tournament that fans cheer for simply because they are underdogs.
“Last year McNeese State was a fun team to watch. I liked how they had a boombox,” Barnes said.
This year many teams have potential to be a Cinderella team even though it is a lot harder to make a run now due to the larger schools having more NIL money.
“I think Hofstra can make a run this year because they have a really good defense and are a good three point shooting team and a lot of Cinderella teams are good at shooting threes,” Dycus said.
This year Purdue is in the tournament as a 2 seed after winning the Big Ten Championship, but Indiana was the fourth team out so they did not make the tournament for the third straight year.
“I don’t think IU deserved to get into the tournament. They didn’t play well enough this year to make it,” Barnes said.
Purdue made the National Championship in 2024 as a one seed and they played University of Connecticut but ended up losing.
“Purdue making the Final Four a few years ago is another one of my favorite memories,” Dycus said.
This is the eighth time the Final Four has been in Indianapolis, with the last time being in 2021.
“I went to a few games when the tournament was in Indy but it wasn’t the Final Four,” Barnes said.
Duke came in as the top team in the tournament but many people are picking other teams to win the tournament.
“I think Iowa State will win the tournament,” Barnes said.
Iowa State is a two seed and is one of the favorites to win the tournament.
