This year’s NCAA March Madness tournament started with fans agonizing on who to pick to win their brackets. Guessing, flipping coins, and just going with their guts, these fans will do just about anything to have a chance at creating the perfect bracket. ESPN added to the madness by breaking their own record for how many people filled out their tournament bracket. Over 14 million people submitted a bracket to ESPN with a chance at the perfect bracket. Altogether, an estimated 70 million brackets were filled out. According to the American Gaming Association, Americans added up together will bet $9 billion on these brackets. There is a crazy amount bet on these games and this is a lot of pressure to make a good bracket. But the odds to create a perfect bracket are insanely small. The odds are 1 in 9.2 quintillion. Any person has better odds of becoming president than getting a perfect bracket.
“I go eyes closed, I just guess. I know a decent amount about basketball but the bracket is hard. You never know and I feel like guessing gives me a better chance than going through the records and the stats. Also it helps win you more games that have upsets,” NHS sophomore Mike Cotton said.
The round of 64 was played on March 16 and 17. People have such a hard time predicting what upsets will happen in the round of 64. Only a few people have a perfect pricket after this round. One of the most exciting rounds in the draft, this year there were six upsets in the round of 64. USC over SMU, Xavier over Maryland, Mid Tennessee over Minnesota, URI over Creighton, Michigan State over Miami and Wichita State over Dayton. Out of those upsets, only Xavier would go on to win against FSU in the round of 32. That game wasn't the biggest upset in the round of 32. The 8 seed Wisconsin's win over 1 seed Villanova was. This was a huge win for Wisconsin knocking off the number 1 seed in the East bracket. Then it was the 7 seed Michigan’s win over the 2 seed Louisville. Another huge upset was South Carolina’s win over Duke. Duke was one of the favorites to win it all and they got knocked out in the round of 32.
“The first Friday of the big dance provided us with some of the moments and images that are destined to be remembered from this tournament when all is said and done. We had two early session games go right down to the final buzzer, we had one ridiculous dunk that’s going to be hard to dunk over the next two weeks, and we had some ridiculous and hilarious things happen both on and off the court,” said SB Nation’s Mike Rutherford after the round of 64.
South Carolina came out of the gates hungry for a tournament title. It was their first time being in the tournament since 2004 and now they have made it to the final four. They defeated 3 seed Baylor and then the 4 seed Florida to get there. The other final four teams were 1 seed Gonzaga, 1 seed UNC and 3 seed Oregon. Along with a Cinderella story like South Carolina, this is Gonzaga’s first appearance in the final four ever and Oregon hasn’t been in the final four since 1939, the first year of the NCAA tournament. They won it all that year and it has been their only title. UNC is the only final four team without a big story behind their run.
Gonzaga ended South Carolina’s Cinderella story as they beat them 77-73. This was Gonzaga's first appearance in the championship game.
“South Carolina’s best player, Thornwell got off to a slow start and Gonzaga took advantage. Gonzaga knew what they were doing and they played a great game,” NHS sophomore Robbie Morrill said.
Then, UNC beat Oregon in the final 77-76. This was UNC’s tenth appearance in the championship game and they have won 5 of them. UNC won by getting 2 offensive rebounds in the last seconds of the game.
“Oregon lost their focus at the end of the game. They didn’t finish what they started. I think they were nervous and there was bad coaching. It was their first time in the final four in a really long time and that showed. UNC’s experience helped them a lot. It seems like they are always doing good in this tournament,” Morrill said.
UNC faced off against Gonzaga in the final game. While Gonzaga got off to a hot start in the first half, UNC fought back to make it a 3 point game at the half with Gonzaga winning. But the roles switched going into the second half. UNC came flying out of the half but Gonzaga had some answers until the final minutes. Justin Jackson hit a go ahead 3 and then UNC scored the final eight points to win the game 71-65. UNC’s point guard Joel Berry had 22 points to lead the Tar Heels to their first championship since 2009. UNC lost to Villanova in the champion last year, so they got their redemption.
“The whole tournament was crazy. It kept me on edge and I just can never stop watching the games. Players like Josh Jackson and Frank Mason from Kansas kept it entertaining. They were flashy players and they always knew what they were doing. Flashy players make the tournament great,” NHS sophomore James Schumacher said. No one had a perfect bracket this year even with a record number of brackets filled out. America will have to wait until next year to see if someone will finally have a perfect bracket. Predicting the madness might just be impossible, but we will have to see.
Image Courtesy of The Feminist Wire