Many know March as the month of basketball. It’s a month where friends come together to have friendly competitions over the accurate predictions of how the tournament will play out. It’s a time for betting, bonding, and for some- relaxing. When picking brackets, many simply look at the ranked number and then choose the better team, but smart bracket predictors prepare for some upsets that the tournament has to offer.
The name “March Madness” is from Henry V. Porter of the Illinois High School Association. This started as an annual tournament for high school boys basketball with a number of Illinois schools. Once the teams in the Sweet Sixteen were established, they would all play at the University of Illinois Huff Gymnasium and usually would have sell-out crowds. March Madness originated from a small tournament between high schools to one of the biggest college basketball tournaments played.
This year, there were some major upsets. The teams that lost against lower-seeded teams were UCONN, Kentucky, LSU, and Baylor. Now as for the teams who lost later in the season, their games were not as big upsets, but I for one was shocked at the losses (Arizona, Gonzaga). I think that you can truly never predict what could happen in a tournament because a team could easily play a bad game and lose, or a key player could get injured during the tournament and what could’ve been a long journey for them ends because they had to play without that teammate.
So to recap the 2022 March Madness tournament, Kansas was the champion. The final four teams were Kansas, Villanova, UNC, and Duke. Some of the best players in this tournament were Jaden Ivy - Purdue, Armando Bacot - UNC, and Paolo Banchero - Duke. All of these players played very well in their games and without them, who knows if their team would have made it as far as they did in the tournament. Jaden Ivey, a sophomore and a guard for Purdue, plans on entering the NBA draft and some see him as one of the top players to look out for. Armando Bacot, a forward for UNC, rolled his ankle on a loose floorboard and had to be taken out of the championship game against Kansas. Many say that if it wasn’t for him getting injured, UNC might have won. Lastly, Paolo Banchero, a forward for Duke, is within the top 5 picks for the NBA draft.
A major upset early in the tournament was St. Peter’s winning against Kentucky. With Kentucky being the second seed in the East and St. Peter’s being the fifteenth seed in the East many were shocked by this outcome. The game ended with St. Peters winning, 85-79. Although like earlier mentioned, many try to predict possible upsets within the tournament, looking at many of other people's brackets, I have yet to see one person who picked St. Peter’s to win instead of Kentucky.
The March Madness tournament has been a long-standing tradition originating from a small group of Illinois high schools. This year, there were many upsets that only some predicted, but there were some top players that many were eager to watch play. With a very predicted champion -- Kansas, some just easily predicted a win.