The end of March Madness this year saw UCONN, the likely winner going into the tournament, taking home their second title in two years. With UCONN being favorites going into the game, many of the viewers found themselves rooting for the underdog Purdue to take the title. UCONN, however, was just too dominant throughout the game and easily claimed their second straight March Madness Championship win with a score of 75-60. The road to this championship game was incredibly entertaining and provided for one of the best March Madness’ in recent years.

This season of college basketball saw many teams excel past expectations, with schools like Iowa State and Auburn ending the season far above their original ranking. We also saw teams like USC, who were projected to be a top 25 team, end well outside of that area.

So what is March Madness? According to the NCAA’s official website, “The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament is a single-elimination tournament of 68 teams that compete in seven rounds for the national championship.”

March Madness began with Selection Sunday on Mar. 17, which decided which of the final teams would make it into the tournament, and ended with the NCAA Championship game on Apr. 8. 

Millions of viewers across the world tune in every year to watch the tournament, which of course, includes many of the students here at Millikan.

“I will definitely be following this year’s tournament since I have watched and enjoyed past March Madness tournaments,” said Marley Nonato, a MBA freshman before the tournament began. “I’m hoping Purdue will win but I think Duke will most likely take first place,” he added.

In this tournament, anything can happen. Upsets are extremely common and a one off game could be the end of an entire team’s season. The “win or you’re out” format raises the stakes and makes every game incredibly important.

We saw many upsets in the first round of the tournament with teams like NC. State and Oakland overcoming battles against high ranked teams as well as likely winners like UCONN and Purdue moving on.

The second round was a return to normal as many of the underdogs who moved on got removed by higher ranked teams with but only a few exceptions. All the number one seeds were still in the tournament at this point, but that wouldn’t be the case for long.

As the journey to the Final Four continued, number one seeds began dropping like flies with Houston and North Carolina exiting the tournament in the Round of 16. Purdue and UCONN, the two other one seeds, would not only escape this early demise but go all the way to the finals to face off in an exciting finale. Despite Purdue trying to keep the game close in the beginning, UCONN was too much for them and ultimately pulled off a blowout victory. 

The next college basketball season will begin November 6th of 2024 and will be sure to hold many new exciting journeys for teams across the nation.