MARCH MADNESS TOURNAMNET
By: Ellie Talich
Lots of people always highly anticipate the month of March. Sports fans often follow the weeks leading up to the day the brackets are set. The March Madness tournament is a basketball tournament that finds the national champions for women and men. It starts with 64 teams and cuts that number in half each round. Beginning at the round of 64, to round of 32, to the sweet 16, to the elite eight, to the final four, and finally, to the national championship. This. This year, the first games were played on March 18th and 19th, and then the National Championship was played on March 6th and 7th.
For the women's side, the Uconn Huskies took the title in a domination over the reigning champions, the South Carolina Gamecocks. For the men's side, the Florida Gators won in a comeback over the Houston Cougars. With the tournament being named what it is, there is never a year without great basketball and unexpected events.
Upsets are terrible for the people involved, but from the outside perspective, they are one reason this tournament is highly engaging. In the tournament's first round, the McNeese State men, ranked 12th, upset the 5th seed, Clemson. This was one of the games that messed up many brackets- over 6.6 million- which means 85% of brackets had Clesmon advancing to the second round, according to NCAA. While there were no huge upsets in the women's tournament this year, some incredible things happened. The top four number one seeds, including UCLA, South Carolina, Texas, and USC, beat their opponent in the first round by reaching triple digits.
With the tournament ending on Monday and national champions celebrating, basketball for the 24/25 season has officially ended. Depending on the team and the program, the upcoming season will begin, and a deep run in the March Madness tournament will be the goal for any team striving to do well. Basketball fan or not, the setup for the March Madness tournament is well thought out and executed nicely, but there is always room for improvement, so watch out for any changes within the next few years.