A chaotic season of college basketball has come to a close. March Madness is here for the next few weeks. The tournament is ready to throw the sports world into a frenzy. Underdog schools will take the country by storm, making impossible runs through the bracket. The excitement of single-elimination tournaments never fails to make an impact on fans. Tens of millions of people, whether they choose from their head or heart, will fill out brackets, trying to complete the impossible perfect bracket. Last year alone, 17.3 million brackets were filled out via ESPN’s Tournament Challenge, according to espnpressrooms.com. This year’s tournament has one of the most loaded fields in recent memory, with a dozen teams having a real chance of cutting down the nets in Houston.
The preseason #1 team, North Carolina, started off slow against weaker competition and began a free fall all the way out of the tournament entirely. The top ranked spot has been shared between schools like Purdue (26-5, 15-5 Big Ten), Houston (29-2, 17-1 American Athletic), and Alabama (26-5, 16-2 Southeastern). The Crimson Tide, who are the top seed overall, have been the center of controversy lately. Freshman phenom Brandon Miller, who is projected as a top-five pick in the NBA draft, is currently being investigated regarding his role in capital murder. This same offense lost Alabama another player, Darius Miles. Some of the perennial powers, or “Blue Bloods”, have also had their share of success, with both Kansas and UCLA earning one or two seeds. Other storied programs, including Duke, Michigan State, and Kentucky, have failed to even crack the AP Poll’s top 25 rankings for much of the season. However, all three were able to make late-season surges and earned top-seven seeds.
The Big 12 and Big 10 conferences have been the most complete leagues across the country from start to finish. The Big 12 concluded the season with eight of 10 programs in the field of 68. The Big 10, led by aforementioned Purdue, boasts nine out of its 14 schools as tournament-bound. UCLA and the West region’s second seed, Arizona, have obliterated the weak Pac-12 this season. These two schools, along with USC and Arizona State, are the Pac 12’s only representatives in March. Looking to the other side of the country, the Big East is the host of this year’s biggest surprise. Marquette cracked the rankings just once before the New Year, but since the turn of the calendar, the Golden Eagles have dominated the Big East. They are 13-2 in 2023, and have reached 6th in the rankings. Villanova, on the other hand, has not been the same team fans are used to seeing. The Wildcats are not even in contention to make the tournament. They have won two national championships since 2016. The ACC has suffered a bit of a down year, as just five squads will be competing. Look for Virginia, an experienced and defensively-minded team, to potentially make another run at the Final Four, which will be held in Houston. Duke’s late season success makes them a dangerous team in the East region. The semifinals will be on Saturday, April 1st. The title game is shortly after, taking place on Monday, April 3rd.
The SEC has also been a strong conference, led by the previously-mentioned strong Alabama side. Tennessee and Texas A&M have also had great seasons, and are another two of the eight SEC sides going to the Big Dance. Locally, Rutgers has had another solid season in a competitive Big Ten. However, the Scarlet Knights are the second team out. Ivy League champion Princeton automatically qualified by defeating Penn in the Ivy League title game. Seton Hall failed to qualify after a mediocre year (17-14, 10-10 Big East).
The tournament will be broadcasted on four main networks: TNT, TruTV, TBS, and CBS, which will broadcast the semifinals and championship game. Tune in on March 23-24 for the Sweet 16. The Elite Eight will be broadcasted on March 25th and the 26th. Enjoy the madness!
A graph depicting the average number of March Madness viewers over the last decade.
Credit: statista.com
