From Selection Sunday to the Final Four, March Madness delivers great play, great drama and great stories year in, year out. It all starts when we sit on the edge of our seats on Selection Sunday waiting for the most coveted tournament bracket of the year.
Not only do we care about the No. 1 seeds, the matchups, the toughest regions and the teams that were snubbed but it goes beyond that. We’ll listen to the talking heads about how chalky the bracket will be, what No. 12 seed has the best chance of taking out the No. 5 seed (three of four did this year), who is the mid-major sleeper that could make a deep run (Buffalo?) and what conference will prove to be the best of the year (Atlantic Coast Conference?). In the beginning, it’s about the actual bracket; one that will be scoured over and then filled out as office pools and the ESPN One Million Dollar challenge take center stage.
With play-in games notwithstanding, the interest in the bracket quickly transitions to the court. The first weekend of the tournament, 48 games in four days, is the most frenzied basketball time of the year. This is where the Madness gets its name.
Most years the upsets are aplenty, the little guy beating the big guy, David versus Goliath and it’s not a slingshot that generally wins, it’s more likely the 3-point shot. Many a worker develops a bad cold at this time of year in order to stay home and watch the games, from noon to midnight, Thursday and Friday, with the winners moving on to the next round, Saturday and Sunday, for the opportunity to punch their ticket to the Sweet Sixteen.
The Sweet Sixteen, another four-day cycle, 12 games, with the stakes growing higher as the Sweet Sixteen teams will be whittled to eight (The Elite) and then ultimately four (The Final).
By this time, if Cinderella is still around, she isn’t a fairy tale anymore, has not turned into a pumpkin, and she’s one of the 16 teams that is still standing, and belongs. Cinderella was out in full force this year, No. 5 seed Auburn knocking off two of the bluest-bloods in all of college basketball, baby-blue, No. 1 seed North Carolina and big-blue, No. 2 seed Kentucky. The other, No. 3 seed Texas Tech, followed suit with wins over No. 2 seed Michigan and No. 1 seed Gonzaga.
In addition, add Big Ten champion Michigan State and ACC regular season champ Virginia and you have the makings of an “Astounding April.” (We need to call it something, it’s not March anymore.)
This year’s Final Four — Auburn, Texas Tech, Michigan State and Virginia — represent four of the five power conferences, not a usual occurrence, but one that makes for incredible bragging rights for their respective leagues. These four are made up of a five seed and a three seed who have never been this far, a blue-blooded two seed that upset the biggest name in the tournament (Zion) and a one seed that hasn’t been to the Final Four in over 30 years (and just a year ago was the first one seed to ever lose to a 16 seed in tournament history.)
Most devoted basketball fans know which team is which, but even if you don’t, who cares, at this point it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is the chaos, the craziness, the bracket-fights — March Madness truly never disappoints.
Chloe Burdette, a Sports Editor for the Voice, can be contacted at CBurdette21@wooster.edu.