The starting five, Darius Acuff Jr., Meleek Thomas, Billy Richmond III, Trevon Brazile, Nick Pringle, jog out of the locker room and onto the court of Bud Walton Arena to the blaring sounds of Razorback fans from across Arkansas calling the hogs. Woo pig sooie!

With the breakout star, Darius Acuff, being only a freshman, people are already saying that he deserves to be drafted in the top picks of the first round.

“I have been a Hogs fan my whole life, and I haven’t seen talent like Acuff in a long time. I think he should be the one or two pick after Boozer,” said Conner Nutt, 11.

Even though football is the most watched college sport in the United States, Arkansas has never really had anything exciting going on with their football team, leading many Arkansans to watch the next big thing with basketball.

“I was never a big fan of Hogs sports until my dad introduced me to our college basketball team, and I instantly got hooked seeing that we actually had a chance to win something big in our beloved state,” said Andrew Valdez, 11.

In 2025, March Madness ranked right behind the Super Bowl in most watched sports events in the U.S., tallying a grand 666 millions viewers across 67 games, making it one of the most highly anticipated events in sports history.

“The idea of a single elimination bracket is what makes March Madness exciting. Any team can make it, and the teams who barely sneak in could make a huge run and surprise everyone,” Nutt said.

With the longest lasting bracket getting 49 consecutive games correct, fans across the country have been dedicated to predicting the perfect March Madness bracket. The odds are not in the majority’s favor; in fact, they are nearly impossible at around 1 in 9.2 quintillion.

“I know I’ll never get a perfect bracket, but just the thought that my ball knowledge could possibly fill out a perfect bracket is more than enough to make me continue filling one out every year,” said Xzavier Ramos, 11.