March Madness finally returned, as the field of 64 men college basketball teams put their all on the line over the last three weeks to win the prize possession, the NCAA Men’s Division 1 Basketball Championship. This season was unpredictable and no team was dominated. Selection Sunday was March 13 as the committee picked the top 64 teams.
March Madness is an event where all College fans, Alumni, and people come to watch the excitement it brings. Filling out brackets against friends and seeing which bracket did the best by the end is what it’s all about. Last year there were an estimated 70 million brackets filled out with 9 million in bets on the tournament alone. Americans love to root for the underdog teams and upsets that occur throughout. Predicting what teams will fall is the part that brings drama to the sport.
“I believe my bracket is pretty good, I have some upsets but in the end I think Michigan State will win against Kansas 71-69,” said Tyler Bucci, senior.
Selection Sunday on March 14 was where all the madness begins. The committee picked the teams and placed them in the four regions. This year number one seeds were Kansas, North Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia. Kansas and North Carolina were the favorites in this year tournament to face in the championship game in Houston. People had Carolina winning due to their senior leadership and ability to play defense.
Since the brackets are set, people around school have created groups and bids against each other to see who had the best bracket. This year there were around 13.4 million brackets completed.
Barack Obama chimed in for the fourth straight year and made his selections. His bracket was correct in 2009 when he selected UNC to win it all. This year he chose Kansas to win a nailbiter against UNC.
No team had fewer than four losses this year, which is very opposite from years before. The Duke Blue Devils were the champions last season as they defeated the Wisconsin Badgers 68-63, behind a gutsy performance by Grayson Allen. Duke was not the favorite this year, but made a run to the Sweet 16 before falling to Oregon.
“My favorite part about March Madness is probably all of the upsets and how unpredictable the tournament can be. Almost any team has a chance of going deep in the tournament,” said Kevin Page, senior.
The tournament was crazy as soon as the first game began. Upsets created many shocked faces to say the least. To name a few, Yale beat Baylor, Little Rock beat Purdue, and Mid Tennessee beat Michigan State. At least of 22% picked Michigan State to win the whole thing. The first weekend was considered the best weekend with all the excited that it brought for the college fans. In the end UNC and Villanova stood between each other in the title game after demolishing their opponents in the Final Four.
The Villanova Wildcats won the NCAA title against UNC 77-74 on a game winning shot by Kris Jenkins. The trail of events that aspired before was dramatic with Chapel Hill coming back down from 10 points with five minutes left when everybody thought the game was over. In the final moments Marcus Paige was able to deliver a circus three pointer shot to tie the game 74-74. With 4.7 seconds left Kris Jenkins, trailed behind his teammates and knocked a deep three pointer down as the buzzer hit. It was the first championship in thirty-one years that the Wildcats won.
“That game was amazing, I believe it was the game of the century,” said Joey Radman, senior.
