It takes the whole month of March for the madness to subdue and for a clear champion to emerge in the wild world of college basketball.

But for the 72 fencers who are competing in this weekend's NCAA championships, it will take less than two days for the tournament to play itself out.

The No. 3 Penn State men's fencing team will send 10 of its finest members to compete against the nation's best in the two-day tournament.

Like the women's tournament, the men will first compete in the round robin to determine the team championship, with the top four fencers from each weapon then facing off for individual medals on Sunday afternoon.

Most of the hype is surrounding the saber team, who qualified the maximum of two starters and two alternates.

Freshman Ian Farr and sophomore Martin Zagunis are the favorites after finishing first and third, respectively, in the Regional competition earlier this month. For Zagunis, the second time at nationals will be much different.

"Competing last year as a freshman definitely affected me," he said. "I didn't do as well as I wanted, but I took a lot away from it and that will help me this weekend."

Although Farr will be competing in his first national championships, don't expect him to be timid or tentative.

"I've fenced with Ian my whole life," Zagunis said.

"But I've never seen him fence like this. I know it sounds cliché, but he is definitely in the zone."

As for an explanation for his top-notch performances lately, Farr says it's nothing more than just putting all of his talents together at the right time.

Personal accolades aside, the most important part of the weekend for the fencers will be earning as many points as possible in the team championship race. Each victorious bout counts as one point.

Holding the team championship as a separate event, but one that is important because it counts toward the individual championships, is what makes this tournament unique.

"If you go out there and you lose a bout, you can't get down on yourself because you lost a point for the team," Zagunis said. "You have to keep your head about you the whole time or you're going to lose, and that hurts everyone."

The saber fencers won't be the only Penn State athletes vying for those crucial points; both epee and foil disciplines will try their hands at getting a little piece of that proverbial "Oh, how sweet it is" pie.

Foil All-American and Regional champion Ian Schlaepfer will try to lead the team to victory. He'll be joined by teammate Jacob Clark, who posted a solid junior season for Penn State this year.

The men's epee will include last year's bronze medallist and three-time All-American Adam Wiercioch, and sophomore Alexander Bruscke. Wiercioch had one of his best years and is striving for nothing less then gold.

In the realm that is collegiate fencing, this weekend is more important than any other is, but Zagunis admits that his head won't be completely in it. His sister took the year off to train for the Olympics and will find out if she qualified this weekend.

"This weekend has so much potential," Zagunis said. "When Sunday night rolls around, I could be a national champion and have a sister who is going to the Olympics. But to be honest, all that I'll be worrying about is how my bracket is doing."