Welcome Back To The Madness

After a year off due to the pandemic, March Madness returned and lived up to its name.

Baylor Bears capture first National title in dominating fashion.

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Baylor Bears capture first National title in dominating fashion.

Wyatt Clewett, Photojournalist

 

Although this past year has been tough, we can still come together as a community to take part in a tradition we celebrate nationwide called March Madness. This college basketball tournament is where the best college teams in the nation all come together to compete in one big tournament against one another during the month of March. While the tournament usually has games all over the country, this year, with Covid, took a new look on. All 67 games took place in the state of Indianapolis and the many arenas that are there.  

In the final two powerhouse teams went head to head, both Gonzaga and Baylor were number one seeds, and viewed as the best 2 teams all year long.  Baylor started strong and rode a tenacious defense and impressive shooting from 3 point range to capture their first national title with a convincing 86-70 victory.

¨Even though my team wasn’t in it I still enjoyed watching the exciting tournament,¨ said TCU fan and 7th grader Brody Snider.

March Madness isn’t itself without a few big upsets, so let’s dive into these underdog victories. The first upset takes place in the first round where the number thirteen seed Ohio knocked out the number four seed Virginia with a nail biting sixty-two to fifty-eight score.  The next colossal upset takes place as the number fourteen Abilene Christian sneaks past number three seed Texas with another close 53-52 final. Another eye opening underdog triumph was when the 13 seed North Texas claimed victory over the number four seed Purdue with a score of 78-69. The last shocking upset in the tournament was shown when Syracuse the number eleven seed triumphed against #3 West Virginia.

Another thing that makes the March Madness tournament special is the surprising runs teams make as they stride towards victory against all odds. The first shocking outing was when the Oregon State Beavers made it all the way to the elite eight knocking out some big names such as Tennessee, Oklahoma State, and Loyola Chicago. Mr. Shay, a teacher at the Travis Ranch school, and avid Beaver alumni was amazed and proud of his alma mater. ¨They completely overperformed, even when being picked as a 12 seed we still made it to the elite eight which was amazing. I hope this further improves recruiting and starts a new tradition for our school.¨

Another astonishing showing was Oral Roberts as they fought against all odds to make it to the sweet sixteen sending home many big name like Ohio State and Florida. The final stunning run was the UCLA Bruins who played their way from being the eleven seed to the final four. On their run they knocked out; BYU, Abilene Christian, Alabama, and even the number one seed Michigan. In the end they fell short and lost to Gonzaga in the final four, in what many experts called the best game in decades. ¨I was devastated as UCLA lost, but I was still proud of what they accomplished,” added Charlie Bell. 

As we remember the exciting moments of this year’s tournament we look forward to the next and prepare to root on our teams in next year’s big dance and once again become mesmerized by the storylines that arise.