There’s no greater sporting event in the year, 64 high class teams battling one on one for the chance to cut down the net in Glendale, securing their national title. You lose one game you’re out, you win and you’re safe…until next week. Each team fought difficult schedules and secured many victories to land a spot in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

For those of you who don’t know how it works, Division I college basketball teams are ranked in early March based upon their performances against both their conference teams and their pre conference games. After about 30 games per team, most of which are only conference games, conference tournaments begin only a week before the bracket is filled. Each conference forms a mini bracket and the winner of each conference lands an automatic spot in the major tournament. After the end of the entire regular season, the selection begins. A 10-member selection committee of very knowledgeable basketball experts decide on 64 teams and 4 sets of seeds, 1 through 16, 1 being the best. The teams are split into their respective quadrants based on geographical location and assigned teams to play in the first “round of 64.”

The reason why march madness is so popular is mainly because of the thrill of designing your own bracket, and predicting how each team will play, all up until the national champion. Nobody has ever gotten everything correct, adding more to the thrill of filling out a bracket. (Nobody has ever predicted over 39 games in a row, the record set two days ago)

So far, the round of 64 and and 32 have both been completed, so the final “sweet sixteen” have been determined. Only one number 1 seed is out so far, Villanova, as they played a much harder regional matchup than the other teams.

If you haven’t made a bracket yet, visit ESPN.com and fill out a sweet 16 bracket for a chance to win tons of awards.