March Madness: Buzzer beaters, busted brackets, broken hearts
As 64 basketball teams from every collegiate conference in the country go head-to-head in a single elimination tournament, the name “March Madness” is quite fitting; however, the basketball being played on the court is only a part of what makes this annual tournament so great.
Let’s start with the brackets. Whether you are choosing the teams based on their skill or on their team’s mascot, trying to predict the winners of each game allows everyone to get involved in the action. No matter how hard a person tries, though, their bracket will inevitably be busted, and they will feel like an idiot for picking a random Mid-Major to upset Duke, Kentucky or another blue-blood school. But they can’t feel too bad about themselves unless they think their ball knowledge is among the elite — the 1 in 9.2 quintillion odds are simply not in their favor.
Another fun aspect of the tournament are the wild storylines. This year, we saw the McNease State team manager Amir “Aura” Khan take the world by storm by leading the team onto the court with a speaker, rapping the lyrics to “No Flockin’” by Kodak Black. He became the first manager in NCAA history to secure NIL deals. One could even argue that his presence alone helped No. 12-seeded McNeese State upset No. 5-seeded Clemson in the first round.
Unfortunately, we haven’t seen as many “Cinderella” stories this year as we have in years past, with the lowest seed in the men’s tournament Sweet 16 being No. 10-seeded Arkansas — a team still considered to be one of the best in the Southeastern Conference, which is arguably the best conference in the country.
Some other notable teams that look especially good include Arizona, led by senior guard Caleb Love; Duke, led by their star freshman forward Cooper Flagg; and Maryland, which probably has the best starting five in the country.
In the women’s tournament, it seemed like there were only a few real contenders with a chance to win this year. However, with University of Southern California star JuJu Watkins tearing her ACL in the team’s second-round matchup against Mississippi State, every team has gained back some hope.
My bracket has No. 3-seeded Notre Dame women’s team defeating No. 2 UConn in the championship, which is still a possibility after the first two rounds of the tournament. In my men’s bracket, I have No. 4 Maryland defeating No. 1 Houston in the championship, which is also still very possible as of Tuesday, March 25. However, my bracket is far from perfect.
Throughout the college basketball season, I only tune in to about 10 or so games, but as soon as March Madness begins, I watch every game that I can. The combination of bracket-making, fun storylines and a single-elimination structure makes the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament one of the most special times of year for sports fans.
