College basketball's biggest event is March Madness! With 68 teams and only one winner, who will surprise the world? Who will win it all? That's what it's all about, the excitement, and the madness!
Conference tournament play started on Monday, February 27th and lasted until Sunday, March 12th. Sunday, March 12th was also selection Sunday, a nerve racking and exciting day for every college basketball team in contention, patiently waiting to hear their name called. Tuesday, March 14th marked the start of March Madness with the “first four” round which is basically four play-in games to see who makes the official tournament. From there comes the round of 64, in which 64 teams compete for their spot in the next round. The round of 32, and each round works in the same way, teams either move on or go home. After that is the sweet 16, and this is when things really start getting good. Then comes the elite eight, competing to see who will move on to Houston which is where the final two rounds take place, the final four, then the National Championship. This tournament determines who the best team in college basketball will be, which ended April 3rd.
Starting off in the first round, for the second time in tournament history, a 16 seed upset a number 1 seed, Fairleigh Dickinson over Purdue, busting millions of brackets right off the bat. That was only the beginning of the madness, as number 15 seed Princeton upset number 2 Arizona (in round 1) and made it all the way to the sweet sixteen, shocking the world! At that point most people’s brackets were destroyed and the upsets continued. This year's underdog story was FAU, Florida Atlantic, a team that no one talked about or really knew anything about before the tournament. They really made a name for their team on their run to the final four, their first in program history. This year was not a usual year for number 1 seeds in the tournament, only two number 1 seeded teams made it to the sweet 16 and not a single one made it past to the elite 8. A final four filled with teams seeded 4 and above, which rarely happens. The highest seed in the final four was 4th seeded UConn.
The UConn Huskies went on to win it all, over 5th seed San Diego St. with a final score of 76-59. The Huskies won their 5th title in school history and they are 5 for 5 in NCAA national championship games. Coming into the tournament UConn wasn’t a favorite to win it all with a 31-8 record. Once March came around everything started to click for them. They became unstoppable during tournament play, peaking at the perfect time, winning their next six games.
The 2023 NCAA March Madness tournament was a great time for college basketball fans. Every year I look forward to this tournament and this year did not disappoint. It was filled with upsets and nail biting endings that left fans looking forward to next season!
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