As teams are eliminated after each game, brackets are made to predetermine who will win next. The last sixteen teams in the tournament are set up to play one another and the bracket will soon be down to eight teams.
As March approaches, basketball fans all over get excited to find out who will come out on top. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men’s Division 1 basketball championship tournament is informally known as “March Madness.”
March Madness is a single elimination tournament that is played each spring. Bob Walsh of the Seattle Organizing Committee had been credited for starting the March Madness celebration in 1984.
At the beginning of the tournament, there are 68 college basketball teams that are divided into four regions. The teams are then organized into a single elimination “bracket”; the bracket helps to predetermine which team the winning team will play next.
Senior Trenton Beamon, who plays varsity basketball for Loy Norrix made a bracket and decided that Duke is going to win. Although he wants Duke to win, he believes that if they do not, whichever team makes it to the championship from the Midwest will win.
The tournament takes place over three different weekends, at neutral sites around the United States. Within the four regions, each team is “seeded” or ranked. The lower ranked teams play the higher ranked teams.
After each weekend, three-fourths of the teams are eliminated. For the last weekend of the tournament, the Final Four play. The games between the Final Four are typically played during the first weekend of April. The four teams consist of one team from each region. The Final Four compete in one location and fight for the national championship.
This year, the 15 seed team, Florida Gulf Coast, beat the 2 seed team, San Diego State.
According to Scott Cacciola from “The New York Times,” “The upstart Eagles became the first No. 15 seed in tournament history to advance to the regional semifinals.”
Florida Gulf Coast will now face Florida, the No. 3 seed, for a spot in the round of 8. Although there is an uproar about Florida Gulf Coast winning, Loy Norrix students are still excited about other games.
Beamon said, “Duke vs. Michigan State is going to be the best game. They are two legendary teams, with two legendary coaches, going head to head. It’s like a championship level game.”
