Hoop hype: NCAA brackets get America talking again

The average bet per bracket is $30. And while it may hurt the pocketbook, the tradition is priceless.

March 17, 2022 - 3:40 PM

Shirts with the face of Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt hang from the railing during the March Madness watch party for the Loyola University Chicago Ramblers versus the University of Michigan Wolverines NCAA Final Four game, March 31, 2018, at Gentile Arena at Loyola University Chicago.

Wagering on all those parlays and long shots on the betting app — fun.

Filling out a bracket and waiting for the upsets to begin — that’s why they call this March Madness.

Legal sports gambling across wide swaths of the United States might have made the next three weeks’ worth of NCAA Tournament games easier to bet on individually, but it didn’t change one simple truth:

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