As March comes to an end so does the Annual NCAA Division I Basketball tournament, also known as March Madness. Over 60 million people decided to make a bracket for the tournament, many including Old Saybrook High School students, unfortunately no one got it completely right. The odds of making a perfect bracket is 1 in 9.2 quintillion! Many students in OSHS prayed for UConn to win the entire tournament while there were others hoping for teams like Duke or Michigan to win.
This 64 team bracket debuted in 1939 as a tournament for Division I NCAA men’s and women’s basketball teams. 68 teams are picked by a committee in charge of “Selection Sunday”, where teams bite their nails at the stress of being selected for the tournament or not. Teams first go through the round of 64, then advance to the round of 32, after going to the Sweet 16, then the Elite 8, the Final Four, and finally the national championship. This month-long tournament was created by Henry V. Porter, an official with the Illinois High School Association. In 1939, the Oregon Ducks came out victorious in the first ever March Madness tournament. On average, the tournament makes 1.3 billion dollars annually!
Some students were very excited for this upcoming tournaments, stating,”This tournament is always fun to watch because my friends and I always get to hangout more to watch these games.” Many students said that this year’s tournament wasn’t too dramatic in the aspect of seeing many upsets except for the number nine seed Iowa Hawkeyes. Tavin Royster says,”The run they had really surprised me, being able to beat Florida the number one seed and Nebraska the number 4 seed.” However, one special moment that most students say they will remember forever is when UConn player, Braylin Mullins hit the game winning shot in the match UConn vs. Duke in order for UConn to have a spot in the Final Four. Many OSHS students said they felt more connected to their friends and family because they were able to watch the games together and have something to look forward to. For example, James Ashe stated,”Ever since my sister has gone to UConn and most of my friends are UConn fans, I feel like I am surrounded by UConn especially during March Madness so I always talk to them about it and feel included in the games that they play.”
Along with the men’s side of March Madness, the Women’s Tournament was equally as captivating as the men’s side. Most of the students at Old Saybrook and around the country rooted for UConn on the women’s side, mostly because they were the favorite to win it all. Going into the tournament, they had not lost a game all season, and won the tournament last year. It’s safe to say that when they lost in the Final Four this year to South Carolina, it was a huge upset that nobody was expecting. Old Saybrook student Noah Nygard states, “I was watching it with my whole family, and none of us expected UConn to lose, especially by 14. We all chose UConn in our brackets to go all the way.” This is only some of the madness that March held this year on the women’s side, with many other upsets early on. One main upset that shocked everyone was when the 10 seed Virginia beat the 2 seed Iowa in double overtime in the second round. After all of this, UCLA ended up being the victors of the women’s tournament, capping off a crazy run. This March tournament has been nothing short of amazing which raises the question, will next March be just as crazy as this year?
