An unpredicted turn of events: The rollercoaster that was this year’s March Madness

This year’s March Madness has been an up-and-down season for many teams and fans. There have been many upsets in this year’s college basketball tournaments that no one could have predicted. 

March Madness started off with its first four on March 15-16 with the two Midwest and two South 16th seeds playing against each other. Meanwhile, the two Western Conference and two Eastern Conference 11th seeds played each other to gain their deserved positions. 

With all of the spots chosen after the first four kicked things off, the teams were flying, busing and driving all across the country to reach their destinations. They were to either prevail and continue their journey or cut their season short and reflect on where they went wrong. For Rutgers, Bryant, Wyoming and Texas A&M, this was just a taste of what the truth is. These teams were given a chance at the tournament, but fell short at the first four.

One of the first upsets that happened was the game between North Carolina and Baylor. North Carolina is the underdog, as Baylor was the runner up last year and is also the number one seed in the Eastern Conference. North Carolina beat Baylor 93-86.

The other major upset was the reigning champion Gonzaga being beaten by Arkansas 68-74 in the Sweet Sixteen. Then Arkansas, the fourth seed, was beaten by second seed, Duke.

Then, a team that came out swinging was Miami (FL). They came into the tournament as seed 10. They beat seed 7 USC, then just two days later, they beat the second seed Auburn with a margin of 18 points, 79-61. Then they played another team that was doing surprisingly well, Iowa State. Miami came out on top, putting up 70 points compared to Iowa State’s 56. Then with just one day’s rest, Miami got back up and got shut down by the Kansas Jayhawks in a loss that ended 76-50.

Despite having all this drama, the biggest bracket breaker was, in fact, none of these teams. It was none other than Saint Peter Peacocks. They are the first team to reach the Elite 8 as a 15th seed. They had to go through second seed Kentucky, seventh seed Murray State and Purdue. 

Who will be the next NCAA Men’s Champion? Will it be the number one seed Kansas or will it be the underdog, eighth seed North Carolina from the shadows? 

Update: Congratulations Kansas Jayhawks!

By Gabriel Sanders