It happens every year. The month of March brings what is arguably the greatest postseason in sports. There was no mistake in calling this tournament March Madness. The unpredictability of each and every game is what makes the NCAA Tournament exciting and refreshing. This year has been more unpredictable in my mind than any other year that I can remember. The first major upset occurred in the 5 vs. 12 seed game when Yale came out strong and upset Baylor. Each year, there are one or two players who emerge in the tournament and play their hearts out. In the first round, this player appeared to be Makai Mason. Mason, a sophomore at Yale, played the game of his life, setting a career high in points against the highly favored Baylor team. To do so in the NCAA tournament made this accomplishment even more thrilling.
By far, the most surprising upset occurred when Middle Tennessee defeated Michigan State. Entering the tournament, Michigan State was given a two seed; however, Michigan State was widely chosen as a favorite to win the championship. As I watched the game, it appeared to me that Michigan State looked lost. Truthfully, they looked unprepared. I don’t mean to discount Middle Tennessee; they came out to play, and defied everyone’s expectations. They treated that game like it was their championship, and in some senses it might have been. Michigan State, in all likelihood, treated this game like a stepping stone to the next round. It was seen as a cake walk… Michigan State was already looking ahead to playing teams like Virginia farther down the road. This game should’ve been a given! What Middle Tennessee did in this game was further prove that there is no such thing as a given in March Madness.
In the first round of play, it was apparent that some teams took their higher seeding for granted. It started from the opening tip of the first game, when Duke was given a scare by UNC Wilmington. No one would’ve expected UNC Wilmington to appear to be the offensive powerhouse in that game, but that’s exactly what happened. Luckily for Duke, they turned it around in the second half and ended up winning that game. In the second round, Duke took on a Yale team coming off a great win against Baylor. Duke came out strong, taking a commanding lead in the first half. The second half was a different story. With a huge lead, Duke seemed to try to coast through the second half. Yale seemingly had no chance to come back. With eleven minutes left in the second half, the lead had been cut from 23 points to single digits. Duke nearly blew back to back games against 13 and 12 seeds respectively.
In watching the tournament, the one thing I’ve learned is that nothing can be taken for granted. There is no such thing as a guaranteed win. That’s what truly builds the excitement for college basketball year in and year out. We all take cracks at trying to pick a perfect bracket. Year after year, brackets crumble as the unpredictability of sports plays out. The Madness is what makes this sport great.
