March Madness
Ethan imitates Bennett Stirtz from Iowa (#9 Seed), an impressive shooter.
Photo taken by: Ethan Tarr
The biggest college tournament in the world, and arguably the most entertaining. Full of unthinkable upsets, crazy comebacks and big stars head to head with underdogs. There are #1 teams like Duke and Florida that seem unbeatable, facing off against teams on the other side of the spectrum like High Point University and Iowa that are lucky to even be in the tournament. A tournament so big it brings workplaces problems of inactivity because everyone is locked into and invested in this tournament. This is March Madness.
Over 40 million brackets were created this year by college basketball fans hoping to create a perfect bracket matching every correct twist and turn in this hectic event. Creating a perfect bracket could win a fan millions upon millions of dollars; with the chance of even winning a billion dollars by submitting a perfect bracket with no mistakes. Will we get the chance to see the big teams fall this March and will there be games that end in madness? These questions show why tens of millions of people watch each and every game.
Starting with the first round the world was standing up in anticipation, and some crazy upsets went down. The top team in this year's tournament, Duke University was almost taken out by the 16th seed Siena super early on trailing most of the game. But Duke was able to hang on and win by 6 points at the end of the second half. Unpredictable games like this explain the hype of March Madness.
A great number of top teams came in with only players and not the teamwork, chemistry, and desire to win. This limiting factor ate up some big teams like Clemson, Villanova, Wisconsin, BYU and Georgia resulting in them getting eliminated from the tournament. Also, many high ranked teams with players looking towards entering the NBA were eliminated in the first 2 days! A team like High Point University wasn't even given a look at, other teams disrespected them by not scrimmaging them, and giving them a chance at some warm up games. They proved themselves by winning a huge upset by beating the #5 seed Wisconsin. We learned from this that the skill of the team is not always shown by the seeding. Upsets like these prove how impossible it is to create a perfect bracket and how much chemistry can affect a team.
Moving on to the next Round of 32 there was some domination happening. Back to back big teams were winning showing why they deserved their high seed. Three teams especially stood out; Texas, Iowa State, and Santa Clara. Texas pushed through the Round of 32 and had a close one even into the Sweet 16 up against Purdue. This game was close going until the last play of the game where Texas missed a game tying 2 pointer. Another dominant team, Santa Clara, a team that gave Kentucky, one of the best teams ever, a run for their money. Both teams hit back to back 3-pointers to force overtime. The game was super close till the end, Kentucky's defense came up big. For reference, Kentucky’s star player Otega Oweh, who is already being scouted by NBA teams, hits the biggest shot of his life letting the only words the announcer could say being, ¨OHHHH, HE GOT IT, YOU CAN'T MAKE IT UP!¨ Showing how intense these games can be.
For Iowa it was, different, they played the game of their lives up against the #1 seed Florida and won! But their run didn’t stop there, they continued on and beat the number 4 seed to move on to the elite 8. A team like this no one would’ve thought to make it this far.
But with three #1 ranked teams still being in the tournament will Iowa who is a #9 seed, get anywhere close to these big teams. Or will the big teams that had everyone's vote dominate and pull through for a chance at their players to be recognized by NBA teams. Tune in to the Elite 8, Final 4 and most of all the Championship to see the yearly madness go down.
Ethan watches the Texas Longhorns (11 Seed) work hard against the Gonzaga Bulldogs (3 Seed).
Photo taken by: Ethan Tarr
