The month of March just wrapped up, so March Madness is at the finish line. The annual NCAA Division I Men’s College Basketball Tournament, which features 64 teams each playing single-round elimination games, kicked off in mid-March and finished up earlier this week. The NCAA gives 68 teams a bid to the tournament. The tourney is split up into four regions, and each region has teams seeded from one to 16. Eight of the lowest of these 68 teams play an early-round known as the First Four to compete to make it to the 64 teams that make up the traditional first round. For this year, the University of Kansas Jayhawks defeated the North University of North Carolina Tar Heels in a thrilling 72-69 game to win the Championship game.
Like most years, the 2022 tournament featured some amazing game-winners, poster dunks, upset wins, intense games and unpredictable Cinderella stories. March Madness draws a great amount of attention from not only basketball fans but sports fans in general from all over the world. However, there is no bigger attraction to the madness than from college students. And with Muhlenberg being a Division III school and not being featured in the tournament, there is no bias among the student body, leading to many students rooting for different teams across their brackets, usually being the team they picked to win it all.
Jacob Klaff ‘24, a diehard University of Alabama sports fan, spoke about the disappointing result his team had in the tournament, losing in the Round of 64 to Notre Dame despite being ranked as six seed. “It was definitely not an enjoyable moment. Watching our best player, Jahvon Quinerly, tear his ACL in the first few minutes of the game was a horrible feeling. Once it was said that he was out for the game it just went downhill from there. Hopefully next year the team can rebound from a down year and make a better run at the championship in 2023,” said Klaff.
Despite Klaff’s team being eliminated in the first round, he spoke about how he was still able to enjoy the tournament saying, “I think college basketball, specifically March Madness, is one of the best parts of being a sports fan, as well as it being arguably the best few weeks as a sports fan every year. Even with ‘Bama being eliminated early on, making my bracket with all of my friends is always a great and competitive time. The trash talking when your bracket is doing well is always amazing, however, when your bracket is doing poorly, hearing your friends chirp you can get nerve-racking. However, it’s all a part of the tournament which makes it so enjoyable. Watching the Saint Peter’s run this year was awesome as well, especially as a New Jersey native.”
As Klaff spoke about, the story of the tournament was the Cinderella story run of Saint Peter’s University; a 15 seed who were able to reach the Elite Eight, the first time a seed that low has progressed that far in the tournament. Men’s basketball forward Brandon Goldberg ‘24 spoke about how the historic run of Saint Peter’s amped him up for the Mules’ season next year. “Seeing the Saint Peter’s team do what they did created excitement for our team’s season next year. It’s been two months since our season came to a close, and watching a school with around the same undergraduate population as us go to the Elite Eight gave me high hopes for the season next year. And even though we’re a Division III school, there’s no reason we can’t go on a run next year and win our tournament.”
The National Championship game is always the game that draws the most attention, as it’s usually the biggest basketball game of the year in the world and one of the biggest sporting events in general. Isaiah Lobelo ‘24 spoke on how he watched the game. “Me and all my friends put all of our work and other responsibilities to the side to watch the game. We ordered five pies of pizza, boxes of wings and drinks to our Benfer suite and all sat down and watched the game together. It’s rare that the eight of us are all able to chill together, because we all have responsibilities throughout the week, so it was definitely a great bonding moment to have everyone in the room relaxing watching the big game.”
With March Madness past the finish line now, it’s time to wait for next year, which will hopefully be just as exciting.The NCAA gives 68 teams a bid to the tournament. The tourney is split up into four regions, and each region has teams seeded from one to 16. Eight of the lowest of these 68 teams play an early round known as the First Four to compete to make it to the 64 teams that make up the traditional first round.
