When March rolls around, most high schoolers and college students are focused on their plans for spring break. For fans of college basketball, however, March is a symbol of the crazy, unpredictable, and exciting time that is known as March Madness.

March Madness describes the sixty-four team tournament of NCAA Division I basketball. The teams represent the best that college basketball has to offer, with each team being assigned a seed based on their ranking. In the bracket, number one seeds seemingly have the smoothest route to the championship, facing off against lower seeds that are not as talented. The rankings are assigned by the tournament committee, and take into account the strength of the schedules, the best wins, and the worst losses.

As of right now, ESPN’s Bracketology has Villanova, Kansas, North Carolina, and Gonzaga as the number one seeds. However, this year of college basketball has been full of madness. No team is undefeated, and there is not one team that stands above the others. This will make the selection process even more tedious and difficult for assigning seeds. In addition to the committee, students at Pleasant Valley are having a tough time trying to decide who to pick for their ultimate victor.

C.J. Carter, senior, is unsure yet. “I really don’t know who to choose because everybody has lost, but I know for sure that nobody should be sleeping on Iowa State.” Nick Jordahl, junior, also has uncertainty about the tournament. He said, “I have no idea who’s gonna win, but I wouldn’t put Syracuse out of the running.”

College basketball still has one more week of regular season to go until the conference championships begin. These last two games still have a tremendous effect on March Madness and how it will all play out. The big three universities in Iowa are all in position for qualifying for the tournament.

Iowa State has made a great run in the past few weeks. The Cyclones have won six straight games and are now ranked number 24 in the nation. ESPN has them as a sixth place seed in the tournament. Currently, it appears ISU will have the best chances of the Iowa schools. The University of Iowa is a long shot for the tournament at 16-13, with just a 2.9% chance of making it into the tournament. If the Hawkeyes can close out the last two games and make a run in the Big 10 tournament, however, they still have a shot. The University of Northern Iowa is another long shot for the tournament, standing at 14-15 and a 1.5% chance of making the tournament.

Whichever team is going to come out at the end, this March is bound to be full of madness. The first games start on Tuesday, March 14.