By Justin Walker

Sixty-eight teams. Fourteen cities. Three weeks. March Madness is one of the most exciting times in the sporting world.

College basketball fans from across the country will be watching anxiously on Sunday night to see if their team will be called. Next Tuesday, the madness begins.

But preparation began long ago for this event. And Texas agriculture has been producing all the fixin’s.

Those 14 tournament sites will feature their own court designs. It takes a total of 4,200 square feet of hardwood slabs to build a basketball court. Know where there’s plenty of timber production? East Texas. With the amount of available timber in East Texas alone, about 1,600 courts could be constructed. That’s enough to get us through the 2130-2131 season.

There are multiple Texas teams projected to go dancing this year. That means a lot of fans will be supporting their schools at the arena and from afar. It’s important they wear their colors with pride, and Texas agriculture is here to help with that, too. One bale of cotton makes about 1,217 t-shirts. And Texas farmers grew 9,523,000 bales in 2017. Fans shouldn’t have an issue finding that perfect outfit this March.

But some fans can’t be courtside. So, they’ll watch the game from their favorite restaurant. Wings are sure to be on the menu. As of February 2018, Texas is set to produce 13.3 million chickens for meat consumption. That’s a lot of wings—traditional or boneless.

Texas agriculture will be on full display this March, regardless of how our Texas teams fare. So, enjoy the madness on the hardwood, wear your school colors and enjoy those wings.