The beginning of March brings much excitement and I’m not talking about spring break. You can smell the energy in the air and the freshly waxed basketball courts. The plump orange filled basketballs just waiting for the games to start. The arenas silent in anticipation for them to be jam packed with screaming fans and the court ready to be stomped on by the talented athletes from all over the country. People across the all over filling out their brackets hoping to have the “perfect” one as if that is even within their reach. We all hope to predict who is going to win each one, but at the end of the day the surprises are what makes it so interesting. There is just so much history waiting to be made and upsets to be had.
The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament started out with 68 teams and has slowly dwindled down to the final 2 teams to play in the championship game. Kentucky being the obvious dominate team to enter the tournament trying to defend their perfect season. Duke following closely behind with the direction of Coach K. Although there were such obvious games that we could predict the outcome if our life depended on it, but there were the heart wrenching upsets that destroyed everyone’s perfect brackets. Who would have guessed that fourteen seed UAB would beat three seed Iowa State by one point? Who would have known that fourteen seed Georgia State would defeat three seed Baylor by one point as well? We can all say how much we despise the upsets that happen in the tournament, but that’s where all the excitement comes from.
Sweet Sixteen: A seven seed Wichita State team quickly lost their lucky streak as they fell to a number three seed Notre Dame 81-70. No surprise that Kentucky completely destroyed number five seed West Virginia 78-39. In a big ACC matchup Louisville defeated NC State 75-65. Michigan State continued their underdog run to defeat three seed Oklahoma 62-58. There were no surprises in the West and South as Wisconsin, Arizona, Duke, and Georgia moved on to the Elite Eight.
Elite Eight: Notre Dame went on to play the big bad monster, Kentucky, in a close and exciting game. They ended up losing within the last few seconds 68-66. Michigan State held onto their good luck as they beat four seed Louisville in a 76-70 victory. Another set of predictable wins as Wisconsin and Duke defeated Arizona and Gonzaga to claim their spots in the Final Four.
Final Four: All I really have to say is WIS-CON-SIN. The forerunner in the competition thus far, Kentucky, was trying to go for their perfect season was defeated in a jaw clenching game 71-64. Wisconsin goes on to play Duke in the championship game. A strong Duke team lead by Coach K defeated Michigan State 81-61. Michigan State had a great run, but could not pass the Blue Devils.
Make sure to check out number one seed Duke take on number one seed Wisconsin in the 2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship game on Monday, April 6th at 9:18pm. You can watch live here or on CBS. It is sure to be a good one!