Don't Miss the Big Dance
March Madness is in full swing. If you didn’t know, men’s and women’s college basketball is coming to a close as the Big Dance is knocking out competitors from left to right. In college basketball, people refer to the final Division I NCAA tournament as the “Big Dance” because everyone wants to be invited to the biggest tournament in college basketball. The top teams in Division I basketball are facing off in epic battles on basketball courts around the country. If you lose, you pack your bags and go home. If you win, you are on your way to facing another opponent. Everyone who plays in the NCAA tournament wants to win. Each game is bigger than the last.
The bracket busters, Cinderella teams (the ones who are given the spotlight and shine so brightly), and the underdogs all come together in one tournament to decide who the best team in college basketball will be. Challenges are created each year to hype up the competition. If you can make all the right guesses on which teams will win, you could be paid one million dollars each year by Warren Buffet. No one has ever received the money from Warren because the teams not considered to have any chance at winning a game, win a game. The underdogs come from nowhere, but they rise to the occasion to beat the expected winners. This past weekend, the world saw as these teams dominated the floors.
On the men’s side, there were upsets and triumphs. The seed numbers are determined by a committee which rate the different teams based on their competition and amount of wins during their season. The following are the biggest stories coming from this weekend’s games.
A Big Upset: Wisconsin beat the tournament’s overall #1 seed and returning National Champs from last year, Villanova, by three points. It was a battle the entire game.
Triumph: A team that started their journey playing in Dayton, University of Southern California (USC), has made it all the way to the second round. Their journey has been longer than all the other teams still in tournament play.
Expected: The expected winner of the match-up between Northwestern and Gonzaga was the Gonzaga Bulldogs pulling off the win by five points.
A Big Upset: The #2 seed, the Duke Blue Devils, lost to the #7 seed, South Carolina Gamecocks, by 7 points. Now, this was not expected at all.
Triumph: Xavier, in Cincinnati, Ohio, will be playing Arizona in the Sweet Sixteen after beating Florida State in the second round.
Expected: Kansas moves right along in their tournament play after beating Michigan State by twenty points.
Triumph: Butler defeated Middle Tennessee to move on to the Sweet Sixteen, and the University of Kentucky slid by with a victory against Wichita State. (Wichita State was the team to take down the University of Dayton Flyers.)
Expected: Kansas moves right along in their tournament play after beating Michigan State by twenty points.
Upset: Unexpectedly, Michigan defeated the Louisville Cardinals. The Michigan team has been through a lot these past weeks due to their “slight” plane crash and winning the Big Ten Championship.
In women’s college basketball, you know who the top teams are including: the UConn Huskies, the South Carolina Game Cocks, the Notre Dame Irish, and the Baylor Lady Bears. However, Quinnipiac, a #12 seed, defeated the #5 seed, Marquette, by nearly 19 points. In addition, the UConn Huskies are the projected winners of the entire tournament. This team has already made history by not losing a single game since November 17, 2014 when UConn lost to Stanford. The Huskies defeated the University of Albany by 60 points during their first tournament game on the bracket this year. Overall, the Big Dance never fails to come full of surprises and triumphs all at the same time. Stay tuned for more updates on March Madness!
