One of the most anticipated and exciting months in all of sports: March. The madness showcases all of the country’s young basketball talent in a 68 team tournament. College powerhouses such as Kentucky and Wisconsin travel to courts in Ohio, Florida, Los Angeles and many more in search of the NCAA championship trophy. There is no shortage of upsets and underdogs this year as teams like Maryland and Butler always seem to find their way into the later rounds make for an exciting few weeks.

In 2012-13, there were 347 men’s Division I college basketball teams, and each one begins every basketball season with one dream: winning the national championship. But before these teams can win the tourney, they must make the field of teams that are even invited to participate. A selection committee that comprises different university athletic directors and conference commissioners chooses teams for the tournament. The selection committee meets between the Thursday and Sunday before the date picked for the tournament’s first game. Its job is to figure out the teams deserving of an invitation. The decisions are announced on television during Selection Sunday. Thirty-one teams receive an automatic invite to the tournament, which is their reward for winning their respective conferences. Thirty of these teams win their tickets to the tournament through conference tournaments while the remaining invites are left in the hands of the selection committee. Of the teams left in the pool, certain teams are assured a spot in the tournament, others don’t make the cut, and then there’s a third group called “bubble” teams that could go either way. Teams are invited to the tournament based on a system known as the Rating Percentage Index, or RPI. Teams’ RPIs are calculated based on certain factors: ranking in national polls, conference record, road record, wins versus ranked opponents, and the way a team finishes the regular season. For those teams that aren’t invited, there is no appeals process; the committee’s decisions are final. The only other postseason hope for the teams left out is the possibility of playing in the National Invitational Tournament or NIT, which invites another 32 teams for  tournament play. Teams are seeded from 1 to 16 and in the first round, a team seeded 1st will play a 16th seed and so on, but after the first round, seeding makes little to no impact on what teams play who.

College basketball is known as one of the countries most exciting sports and junior Frank Lombardo would agree. When asked to describe his favorite part about March Madness Frank responded with “Just how unpredictable it is, considering anything can happen in one game.” While no #1 seeds have ever been knocked out by a #16 seed, many low seeds have pulled amazing upsets. In 2012, #15 Norfolk State defeated powerhouse Missouri in the round of 64 and later that same day Duke was defeated by #15 Mercer. In 2011, 32-2 Kansas was defeated by unranked bubble team Virginia Commonwealth, who would later make it all the way to the Final Four. Teams favored to take home this years trophy include regular season undefeated #1 ranked 31-0 Kentucky Wildcats, last year’s runner-ups. When asked who he thought would win this years Division 1 College Basketball Tournament, Kansas fan Frank Lombardo responded saying “The Kansas Jayhawks will no doubt win it all this year.”

The 2015 NCAA tournament kicks off in just a few days when the first games are played on March 17th in Dayton, Ohio.