This year’s March Madness tournament was one for the books! The world has never seen so many upsets and unbelievable Cinderella stories in a span of one month before, but that is what makes the madness of this event so special and worthwhile. In my opinion, this has been the most exciting March Madness in history!
The chaos started in the South bracket, when the world was taken by surprise that the No. 16 seed, University of Maryland-Baltimore College defeated the No. 1 seed Virginia, 74-54. It’s always expected for higher seeds to blow out low seeded. With that being said UMBC made history, by being the first No.16 team to blow out a number one team. Virginia was sent home way too early, and sent nearly everyone’s bracket to the trash. At this point, viewers and teams knew there was going to be a lot in store in this year’s tournament … it was only the first round.
Just when we thought this tournament would pan out as usual, another upset struck by No.11 Syracuse, who danced their way all the way to the Sweet 16, defeated No.3 Michigan State, 55-53. And from this game forward, we saw close nail-biting games that were determined by buzzer beaters.
Causing upsets was great headlines; however, many people argued that this is not good for the number March Madness views. People watch this tournament, to see big name programs face other top teams, not teams like UMBC that has never been heard of before.
As we continued to watch, the South bracket was shocking. The top four teams were no wear to be found as they were sent home early by upset after upset. The No.9 Florida State knocked out No.8 Missouri, No.1 Xavier, and then No.4 Gonzaga. The East on the other hand stayed true to norm by having the strongest team weeding out the weak.
Finally, the last team that keep the Cinderella story alive was No.11 Loyola-Chicago. Their basketball program has become very popular as they took on some of the toughest competitors, such as No.6 Miami, No.3 Tennessee, No.8 Nevada, and No.9 Nevada State. They were an unknown team up until now. Since everyone’s team was out of the bracket, everyone joined the Loyola-Chicago Bandwagon. It was hard not to as they had the sweetest chaplain, 98 year-old Sister Jean praying over them. Sister Jean became a celebrity too as she stole the world’s heart away with her kind-hearted, personality.
Loyola-Chicago made it all the way to the Final Four until Michigan ended their fairytale, 69-57. Michigan went to take on Villanova, and Villanova won it all, 79-62. Villanova was named the 2018 Champions, which was done twice in three years by them. It was well deserved as all of their tournament wins were by double digits.
This March Madness was the craziest of them all and gave the world something to see!