One of the most exciting times in the sports year is upon us: March Madness.  And the name fits — with the nation’s 68 best college basketball teams competing to see who is the best, the entire country is watching.  Even at MHS, basketball games will be displayed on the projectors in the commons during the day, and, if you’re lucky, your teacher may project the games on their smartboards during work time in class.

            But perhaps the most maddening part of the tournament is the bracket challenge, as all around the country competitions are held to see who can make the most accurate predictions.  Almost everyone, including President Obama, makes their picks in the hopes of gaining pride or (occasionally) money.  This year, however, will be even more exciting than usual as the stakes for the tournament have been raised even higher.

            This year Quicken Loans has put a $1 billion award for anyone who can perfectly predict the turnout of this year’s March Madness tournament.  This prize is no joke, as billionaire Warren Buffett is supporting Quicken Loans by providing the $1 billion himself.  Buffett, a huge basketball fan himself, says “millions of people play brackets every March, so why not take a shot at becoming $1 billion richer by doing so.”  And if you can believe it, there’s even more being awarded than just the $1 billion- the top 20 close-to-perfect brackets will be awarded $100 thousand each.

            Now, you may be wondering: Can it really be that hard to come up with a perfect bracket? Well, the odds of predicting the bracket perfectly are 1 in 128 billion, and there has never actually been an officially documented perfect bracket.  The odds of even just getting the first two rounds perfect are 1 in 13,460,000.  In perspective, the odds of winning the powerball lottery are 1 in 175 million.  That means that you are over 700 times more likely to win the lottery than to get a perfect bracket.  But a March Madness bracket can be filled out for free, so why not give it a try?

            Sadly, Warren Buffett’s competition is only available to ages 21 and older, so no MHS students will be walking away with the grand prize this year.  Despite this, there are still plenty of opportunities for Minnetonka students to take part in bracket challenges, as the MHS Student Government is hosting their own.  Though no one will be awarded $1 billion for having the best bracket in this competition, there will still be prize gift cards.  Even if you cannot win $1 billion, it is fun to simply take part in all the Madness.