Take one look around the field of college basketball. Not one team has set themselves apart from the rest as the favorite to win the NCAA Tournament, and with competition as fierce as it is this season, there is no doubt in science department head Dan Gant’s mind that March Madness will take over the Mill again this season.

“Anybody can guess,” Gant said. “You don’t really have to know anything to just put a guess out there. It’s not like you have to be knowledgeable about basketball. Anyone can fill out a bracket, and then everybody feels like they can play.”

The 68-team tournament to decide the national champion of college basketball might just be the most entertaining part of any sport in the world. It’s hard to find a group in classrooms around Starr’s Mill not talking about who they picked in their brackets.

“The whole tournament is horrendously distracting for students,” English teacher Brandon Kendall said. “Some classes are worse than others. It’s tough getting students’ minds off of the games, so sometimes I’ll just play a really interesting movie.”

However, the odds of making that perfect bracket are slim to none. To put it in perspective, CNN Money calculated the odds of winning the lottery at one in 175 million. According to a math professor at DePaul University, the odds of making a perfect bracket are one in 9.2 quintillion.

Those numbers improve when factoring in a person’s basketball knowledge, but at best, it still ends up being about one in 128 billion. Yet, despite the odds, people are still captivated by the chance at being the first to be perfect.

“There’s a lot of hype behind the brackets and people love doing it,” junior Tristan Jones said. “I just think it’s too hard [to make a perfect bracket].”

Those upsets and the “Cinderella stories” are what keep fans interested. People never expected teams like 2008 No. 10 seeded Davidson team, featuring a young Steph Curry, to advance to the Elite Eight, or the No. 9 seeded Wichita State Shockers to end up in the Final Four in 2013.

“I like to watch for the upsets,” Kendall said. “I don’t want any of the major seeds to win. I’m looking for an eight seed to win or something like that. Preferably, I’d love to see a 16 seed win but that’s obviously not going to happen.”

This season’s bracket, released on Sunday night, features No. 1 seeds in Kansas, North Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia. Kansas is considered the favorite to win with North Carolina as a close second, but No. 2 seeds Michigan State and Oklahoma have the season résumé to potentially make it to the Final Four.

“I could see North Carolina losing to Kentucky in the Sweet Sixteen,” senior Alex Gray said. “I feel like they have a little bit of a choke factor.”

On the other end of the spectrum, there aren’t any obvious lower-seeded teams that have a chance at making a run.

One popular upset pick is No. 11 seed Northern Iowa from the Missouri Valley Conference, who is playing against No. 6 Texas in the first round. The Panthers have won eight of their last nine games, including a hard-fought conference championship game where they earned the automatic bid into the tournament.

Another team that could advance is No. 12 seed Yale, who is making their debut in the March Madness tournament this year against another Big 12 team in No. 5 Baylor in what could be a potential upset.

“I’d have to say that my first round upset alert pick would be Yale over Baylor,” Gray said. “They’re probably the best team in the Ivy League, and I don’t know if I trust Baylor.”

Students are picking several different teams to win the tournament, and not many have the same team. Sophomore Javon Humphrey has No. 3 seed Texas A&M winning it all, senior Will Hunter could see either No. 4 Iowa State or No. 6 Notre Dame making a run, and Jones thinks that Kansas will win.

“I’ve been watching some of their games and I just think both teams [could win], and they both just have good shooting,” Hunter said. “Matt Thomas is probably the best for Iowa State and Matt Ryan is good for Notre Dame.

Regardless, top-seeded teams beware, as statistics show that at least one will fall in the opening round. While No. 1 seeds have never lost to No. 16 seeds in the opening round, No. 2 seeds are slightly more likely to lose.

The No. 2 seeds have won all eight matchups against No. 15 seeds by double digits the last two seasons. However, between 2012-2013, No. 15 seeds topped the No. 2 seeds in three of the eight games.

No. 3 seeds are 31-5 in the opening round since 2007, and a No. 4 seed hasn’t lost in the opening round in two years. No. 5 seeds, however, lost 15 of 28 matchups with their No. 12 seed opposition in the first round between 2008-2014 but won all of their opening round matchups last year.

Based off of previous tournaments and this season’s upsets in college basketball, unpredictability will create the true madness this March.

“It’s fun to watch and just so competitive,” senior McKay Mayfield said. “March Madness is the best of the best, and it’s always a good time to fill out a bracket.”