March Madness Consumes College Campuses, Nation

MATEO VAZQUEZ ’21
STAFF WRITER

Chaos and insanity are now flooding college campuses all over the country, that is if you are a Division I school. That’s right, March Madness and its intense basketball games are where records are broken and legends are created. However, for Trinity and other non-division I schools and their basketball teams, March Madness is not a feasible dream. Yet that does not mean you still cannot enjoy the highly unpredictable entertainment. 

On such a diverse campus like Trinity many students root for their home state team if they happen to make the tournament. Or maybe you love CT so much that you would root for the UConn Huskies historically dominant women’s team. For those who don’t have a dog in the fight, you can make a bracket and predict who will come out as the champion, and if you create a perfect bracket on ESPN you will have the opportunity to win a $10,000 Amazon Gift Card and a trip to the 2018 Maui Invitational.

However, according to Sports Illustrated, your chance of crafting a perfect bracket is 1 in 9.2 quintillion, but there is still a chance so why not try! Yet, there is so much more to the tournament than just winning or losing. Each year one of the best parts of the tournament is watching the underdog teams, whoever they may be that year, upset the competition. For example, this year the University of Virginia Cavaliers, the number one overall seed in the tournament lost to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County,  a 16th seeded team. Not only did UMBC beat UVA, but they did so by dominating the second half, placing the final score at 74-54 which is an unprecedented upset.

This year an 11th ranked seed, the University of Loyola Chicago, has not only upset teams such as University of Miami and the University of Tennessee, but they have advanced to the final four which is unheard of for a school that many counted out during the first round of the tournament.

Because of Loyola’s advancement and the crazy first-round upsets, many brackets have been busted. In fact, there is not one perfect bracket that remains. But don’t worry- ESPN still gives out rewards for the most accurate bracket that was entered. Of the remaining teams, the favorites to win are the University of Villanova, which would be their second National Championship win out of their past three appearances, and the University of Kansas (both teams are 1-seeds).

However, as history and the current tournament demonstrates, March Madness almost never goes according to plan. So, on March 31st make sure to tune in for the 2018 “Final Four” from San Antonio, Texas. Who knows maybe we will get to see an underdog win the tournament after all.