March Madness

Since COVID-19 hit the world a lot of things have looked different all over the world. One major effect it had was on the sports world. The virus canceled everything from the NBA to the MLB. One major sporting event it shut down was the NCAA tournament. The tournament has been played every year from 1939, until the year 2020. A year later March Madness is back, and while it may not look completely the same it’s just one step closer back to normalcy.

“It felt so good seeing March Madness back, life almost started to feel a little normal seeing one of my favorite sporting events happen again,” sophomore Michael Gartman said.

Every year 64 teams match up across the U.S. until there’s just one team left. This year all teams faced off in an isolated bubble in Indianapolis. Upsets and wild games are a sure thing every year but this year was different. A total of 19 upsets have happened this year while the average year you only see around 12. Along with crazy games, there’s crazy talent in this year’s tournament. From Cade Cunningham, to Jalen Suggs, all across the country, there are players trying to make a name for themselves in the spotlight.

“March Madness is by far my favorite postseason sport to watch. There are tons of big names facing off and it’s always good to cheer for my team to go far,” Gartman said.

You can have a star-studded team all season long but when it comes down to the NCAA tournament, almost anything can happen. This year’s tournament consisted of crazy upsets all the way from Oral Roberts, a 15 seed that beat talented teams like two seed Ohio State, to 11 seed UCLA beating one seed Michigan.
“This year was by far one of my favorite tournaments of all time, there were so many crazy games,” Gartman said.

In the end, there can only be one. With teams dropping left and right Baylor and Gonzaga both one seeds were destined to battle it out in the championship game. All though when the game rolled around it was no battle. Baylor outscored Gonzaga in every quarter and won by 16 points.

“While the game wasn’t all I hoped for, it was still great to see the tournament and college basketball back,” Gartman said.

From upsets to blowouts the 2021 NCAA tournament had it all. Major players to major teams were back once again competing. After a year put on hold a little bit of normalcy came back. Now with the season come and gone we await another tournament and another season of college basketball.