It’s everyone’s favorite time of the year again. Yes, I’m talking about March Madness!

If you’re not familiar with the term March Madness is a time when Men’s & Women’s Collegiate Basketball Teams across the United States compete in a 64-Team Tournament.

The Stories & Emotions create the madness through this tournament. You'll see classic David vs Goliath battles where a lower division ranked school will take down a powerhouse school. Players go from unknown prospects to national stars in a matter of days! Tears of joy & defeat will flow from the players eyes as they play their hearts out in the most competitive tournament known. The emotions from the players, coaches, and fans will be all over the place!

I can feel my juices going just as I type about it! If you’ve never experienced excitement from basketball this can certainly be your introduction. 
This tournament is unique based on the interaction between fans & live games through tournament brackets.

A bracket is a sequence or series of games between participating teams involved in a single-elimination competition. Here is a visual example of what the tournament bracket looks like.

Each year the 64 Teams participating in the tournament are announced just a few days before the first game. Here, fans will have the chance to predict who will win each game and be crowned champion.

According to Sports Illustrated, approximately 60 to 100 million brackets are filled out each season. When it comes to making selections, there is a 1 in 120.2 billion chance in predicting every game correctly. This is also known as the “Perfect Bracket”. 

There is not a single person in the history of the tournament that has filled out a 100% correct March Madness bracket and this tournament has been around since 1939! That doesn’t stop the world from trying to be the first ever to have a perfect bracket.

I personally think the Memphis Tigers (Yes, this is my hometown so I’m Bias!) will create a huge underdog story and take it all in the Men’s Division. In the Women’s Division, I’m going with experience and I’m selecting University South Carolina!

If you want to participate, you have until March 16th before the first game tips off. You can sign up and make your own selections on multiple sports sites. The most common sites are ESPN and NCAA Official Page.

Will you take the 1 in 120 billionth chance at picking the perfect bracket? If so, comment below who you think will be the last team standing in this year’s tournament.

Also, be sure to check out our ideas section where Community Members share feedback about how they would like Basketball added as an activity type within Strava.

Thanks for reading!