This year, the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Men’s Basketball Tournament — otherwise known as March Madness — has delivered upset after upset. On day one, the No. 12 seed High Point University took out No. 5 seed University of Wisconsin-Madison in the first round to achieve the school’s first-ever NCAA tournament win, eliminating over 7 million brackets from perfect bracket contention, according to ESPN.

But the surprises didn’t end there. If there’s anything college basketball fans should take away from this year’s tournament, it’s that come March, nobody is safe. 

Nobody expected No. 1 seed and tournament favorite Duke University to fumble a game-high 19 point lead and fall in the Elite Eight, but the unpredictability of March Madness is what continues to bring fans back. 

Despite the near-randomness of college basketball at this time of year, many fans are confident in their predictions and stand by them through and through.

So, with Final Four weekend soon to be at our door, we asked a few bold students from the Midpeninsula to share their picks on which team will take it home.

Palo Alto High School senior Max Nicole played it safe for the most part, predicting highly-seeded teams to find success.

“I had Duke and Arizona in the final, with Duke winning it all,” Nicole said. “Iowa was cooking, but the top seeds, especially with NIL, are dominant.”

Palo Alto High junior Jayden Dhaliwal didn’t think the final games would play out as predictably, however. In his bracket, he only had one of the four No. 1-seeded teams competing in the Final Four.

“I had UConn beating Duke and playing Illinois in the Final Four,” Dhaliwal said. “I was a big Arkansas playing Michigan guy. And as it stands right now, I have Michigan going all the way. Give me the Wolverines.”