It’s that mad month for hoops again

Benjamin Merril, Staff Writer

March Madness returns. But bigger and better than ever. March Madness is the NCAA D I men’s basketball tournament that takes place throughout the second half of March, bringing with it a plethora of exciting games, last second buzzer beaters, rim crushing dunks and huge upsets.

Filling out brackets consumes tens of millions of fans whether at home, work or school. But how does one pick all the right teams? Well, hate to break it to you, but you probably won’t, since a perfect bracket has never been filled out in the history of March Madness and probably never will;that is, without a lot of luck and a stroke of skill.

Mr. John Norris, head coach of the boys basketball team and defending champion of the WJ 2017 March Madness bracket challenge, advised, “Pick the best team!” He added, “But you gotta go with a little gut. There are a lot of good teams that I got to see play, and it all comes down to match-ups. Some teams match up better than others.”

With millions of people filling out their March Madness bracket challenges, millions have already had their brackets “busted” due to the historic upsets that have taken place. This year’s tournament made history when underdog University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), a 16 seed, took down the top ranked team in the entire tournament, Virginia. Not only did they win, but they won by a margin of 20 points. This is the first time in March Madness history that a 16 seed conquered a 1 seed.

(Bill Wilhelm, via NCAA Photos)

According to Sports Center’s Instagram page, over 3,000,000 people chose Virginia to win it all. Virginia was picked to win by more people than any other team in the tournament according to ESPN’s Tournament Challenge. Sports Centers Jay Bilas stated, “This is the most stunning collapse of a number one team that I’ve ever seen.” Bilas continued, “Virginia was… Horrible.”

With over 1,400,000 people on the ESPN Tournament Challenge choosing the 3 seed Michigan State Spartans as the champion of March Madness, their brackets are officially busted. They suffered a close loss to underdog 11 seed Syracuse with a score of 55-53, destroying brackets world wide.

After the first two rounds of March Madness, odds are your bracket is shredded. Thus the name “March Madness.” And Coach Norris? He picked Michigan State to win it all. For myself? Well, I was that guy who picked Virginia.