March Madness is full of upsets and celebrations

By Bella Lee Staff writer

March is the time for one of the greatest sporting events ever. No, it is not the craziness of the NFL trades, nor is it the World Baseball Classic. No, March is the home of Madness—March Madness, that is.

So far, all of the Sweet Sixteen games have occurred in March Madness, with the Elite Eight coming up next, but ever since this year’s tournament began on Tuesday, March 14, brackets have been shattered everywhere due to shocking results.

Many brackets were quickly vanquished on the first day of First Round games when No. 2 seed Arizona was delivered a shocking upset by No. 15 seed Princeton, who made it to the Sweet Sixteen before falling to No. 6 seed Creighton.

No. 4 seed Virginia was also given an upset by No. 13 seed Furman, ironically occurring exactly five years to the day that, as a No. 1 seed, Virginia became the first ever team to lose to a No. 16 seed in the men’s tournament, when they surprisingly lost by 20 to UMBC.

To the shock of many, this happened again in this year’s tournament, when 1 seed Purdue— which many predicted would win the tournament— fell to 16 seed Farleigh Dickinson. This makes three times in just two years that a New Jersey No. 15 or 16 seed made it past the first round. No. 15 seed St. Peter’s made it to the Elite Eight last year, also from New Jersey.

The Second Round games were just as entertaining.

No. 4 seed Indiana fell to No. 5 seed Miami, while 1 seed Kansas was given a surprising upset by No. 8 seed Arkansas.

No. 15 seed Princeton continued their upset streak, beating out No. 7 seed Missouri.

The Sweet Sixteen, however, had probably the most surprises of the tournament thus far.

The last two No. 1 seeds standing, Alabama and Houston, were both delivered devastating upsets, Alabama by No. 5 seed San Diego State and Houston by No. 5 seed Miami, making this year’s tournament the first ever since seeding was introduced in 1979 that there is no No. 1 seed in the Elite Eight.

No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic has been making an impressive run, defeating No. 8 seed Mem - phis and No. 16 seed Farleigh Dickinson before giving No. 4 seed Tennessee a surprising upset to send themselves to the Elite Eight.

As of this writing, the Elite Eight matchups consist of No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic versus No. 3 seed Kansas State and No. 4 seed UConn versus No. 3 seed Gonzaga on Saturday, March

25, and No. 5 seed SDSU versus No. 6 seed Creighton and No. 5 seed Miami versus No. 2 seed Texas on Sunday, March 26.

March Madness certainly lives up to its name when it comes to the different games that are played.

Upsets after upsets, teams you never thought would make it as far as they did, the list goes on. Be sure to keep up with the upcoming games to see who is remaining.

Most people’s brackets are busted this year, but the games are still fun to watch! It will be exciting to see who wins it all on Monday, April 3.