Madness here early for college basketball

March Madness—one of the craziest annual events in sports.

It not only generates tons of publicity, but also attracts even those who don’t watch college basketball.

Millions of people, basketball fans or not, try to get that perfect bracket.

By this point in the season,  there are always a few teams that pull away from the rest and look like real championship contenders, but this year has been quite different, and there are no real front runners so far.

Since the beginning of the season when Michigan State started as No. 1, there have already been seven teams to claim that No. 1 spot.

That is already a record for different number of No. 1 ranked teams in one season, and there is still about a month to go before the big dance.

It is not just the No. 1 team who isn’t safe though.

Through Jan. 24, 14 AP Top 5 teams have lost to unranked opponents, setting a record for the most through January in the common AP polls era.

Not only are there major shake ups in the poll almost every week, but there have been some unexpected things that have happened so far.

Duke had previously won 150 straight home non-conference games before suffering a stunning defeat against Stephen F. Austin.

Kentucky had a 50 game non-conference win streak at home before also being taken down by unranked Evansville.

And yes, both Duke and Kentucky were No. 1 when they were upset.

Another team who had championship expectations has had quite the unexpected year: North Carolina.

The Tar heels have had their first losing record in January in 18 years.

This North Carolina team also made history by losing to Clemson at home because before that game, Clemson was 0-59 at Chapel Hill.

A team that has had a bit of an unexpected start is San Diego State who stands as the only team to be undefeated this season and has been quietly rising up the ranks, earning a No. 4 ranking as of press time.

The Aztecs look to become only the eighth Division I school to have an undefeated regular season since the beginning of the tournament in 1939.

Rutgers also shook up the basketball world after finding themselves in the top 25 rankings for the first time in 41 years.

Another team that has made a return to the polls after a long hiatus is Penn State, who had not been ranked in 23 years.

This season has been quite the outlier already, and with the rest of the regular season still to go, plus conference tournaments and the National tournament itself, there will most likely be more to come.