The madness began in familiar fashion to 2025 — with First Four winners Miami (which could be making its own Cinderella story this year) and Prairie View A & M— in Dayton, Ohio. From here, it’s a non-stop sprint of wall-to-wall hoops, Cinderella stories, and absolute chaos. 

Today, March 20, the first round continues after Thursday’s Very Bad Day for some higher seeds, with both basketball blue bloods No. 6 North Carolina and No. 5 Wisconsin falling. Also, No. 11 Texas managed to blast past No. 6 BYU, while No. 11 Virginia Commonwealth University gritted out a thrilling comeback, persisting into overtime to best the Tarheels after being a staggering 19 points down (the largest in First Round history). Talk about heart! Thank goodness I had VCU advancing in my bracket over the wildly inconsistent Heels.

The action keeps rolling into the Second Round on Saturday, March 21, and Sunday, March 22, followed by the Sweet 16 on Thursday, March 26, and Friday, March 27. From there, the stakes only get higher with the Elite Eight on Saturday, March 28, and Sunday, March 29, all leading up to the Final Four on Saturday, April 4 (6:00 and 8:30 PM ET on TBS) at Lucas Oil Stadium. 

If you love this tournament as much as I do, you need to clear your schedule, call in “sick,” and make sure your remote has fresh batteries!

And if you like to do a bit of the old sports betting, as Dick Vitale might yell, “it’s prime time, baby”! 

March Madness Odds 

If you’re trying to pick a national champion, good luck. If you’re trying to pick a perfect, or at least 90-percent correct, bracket, then forget it! 

As of this writing, only 14,000 perfect brackets remain, according to NCAA —and another 6,000 to 8,000 will be busted in about an hour, when the winner of No. 7 Kentucky vs. No. 10 Santa Clara is decided. So far, Santa Clara is giving the Wildcats fits, in yet another win for parity.

Every year, we convince ourselves that the top seeds are “locks,” and every year, March Madness humbles us. That’s the beauty of it. The moment when a 12-seed (or higher) you’ve never even heard of suddenly becomes America’s Team, and you’re left holding a busted-up bracket. 

Let’s be real — there’s a reason perfect bracket challenges come with life-changing payouts. Picking 60-plus winners in a row isn’t impossible. However, the odds of doing such a feat are higher than hitting the Mega Millions lottery.  

Upsets in March Madness aren’t just possible, they’re inevitable. 

Still, if you’re feeling bold (or just lucky), here’s how the betting landscape currently shakes out. Michigan enters as the slight favorite at +325, with Duke right on their heels at +333 and Arizona not far behind at +475. Florida also sits firmly in the contender tier at +600, while Houston rounds out the top group at +1000. From there, the odds begin to stretch out, with teams like Connecticut (+1600), Illinois (+1800), and Iowa State (+2200) lurking as dangerous challengers capable of making deep runs. 

Further down the board, you’ll find traditional powers and potential sleepers like Kansas (+3500), Michigan State (+4000), Purdue (+5000), and Gonzaga (+5500) — all teams with the talent to get hot at the right time.  

If your gut is telling you to ride with a long shot not listed here, now’s the time to trust it,  because if they make a run, those odds will disappear fast. 

As for NCAA champion wagers (who are nowhere near the favorites), I am liking St. John’s, Vanderbilt, UConn, and Michigan State. They all have good odds of winning the championship.  

Sure, Michigan, Duke, and Arizona will likely be there in the end, but they are the heavily favored teams. And remember, if the favorites always won, you wouldn’t need a 9-5 job. 

So embrace the chaos, and get ready for those “did that really just happen?” moments. In this game, it’s about surviving the madness.