By Aaron Viner

March has arrived and with that, so has the most exciting month of sports.

March Madness is set to start in the next week with the NCAA Men’s basketball conference tournaments starting up, which will be a precursor to the popular NCAA Tournament that encompasses the following three weekends and culminate on Monday, April 5, with the National Championship game.

The year has seen many surprises, including the Syracuse Orange, who started out the season ranked 25 in the ESPN/ USA Today poll and not even ranked in the AP poll.  However, the team, led by Junior Forward Wesley Johnson, is now ranked number 1 in both polls.  The team is the only two-loss team in the country with their only blemishes coming from Big East conference rivals 18^th-ranked Pittsburgh and Louisville.

Another surprise was the weakness of the ACC.  Traditionally a powerhouse, the conference only had two teams ranked in the top 25 (Maryland 23^rd and Duke 4^th) as of Monday.  North Carolina has been a large disappointment this season after being ranked 4^th in both preseason polls, and now nowhere to be found around the rankings.  However they still have a shot at making the tournament if they can get a season closing win at Duke on Saturday.

Two teams that have remained top notch all year, and are favorites to win the NCAA Tournament, are Kentucky and Kansas.  They started out the season ranked 5^th and 1^st respectively.  Currently Kentucky is 3^rd and Kansas is 2^nd and have lived up to almost every expectation that was placed on them at the beginning of the season.

One team that has been flirting with the Top 25 rankings is University of Northern Iowa.  The Panthers have had a solid four-loss season in the Missouri Valley Conference, and rose as high as 18^th, three weeks ago in the ESPN/USA Today poll.  They have clinched the regular season conference title, and are the favorites to win their conference tournament.  The team is all but locked to make the NCAA Tournament.