March Madness. The greatest tournament in sports filled with upsets, madness, and happiness. However, while March Madness is filled with craziness it’s also filled with disappointment. 

The biggest disappointment and biggest surprise go hand and hand this year as two seed Kentucky lost in the first round to 15 seeded St Peters. Another disappointment was the Tennessee Volunteers who after coming in with an SEC tournament championship under their belt they lost in the second round to the Michigan Wolverines, a team which many thought shouldn’t even have made the tournament. Other disappointments that were less significant were those of Iowa, Connecticut, and Baylor as all these teams lost in the first weekend when they were all picked as sweet 16 teams by the experts. The second biggest disappointment had to be Gonzaga however as they came into the tournament as the overall number one team in the country and struggled in every game they played as they were played closed by 16 seed Georgia State, eight seeded Memphis, and were finally defeated by four seeded Arkansas as the Razorbacks finally dethroned the Basketball giant and made their second elite eight in a row.

Now the good stuff. The most surprising team has to be St Peters as they were the first 15 seed to make an elite eight ever. What makes it more remarkable is the size of the school which has less enrollment than Bowie ( St Peters: 2,355 Bowie: 2,875), they also spent twelve times less money than Kentucky on basketball showing really how monumental this upset was. Another notable upset was North Carolina as coming in as an eight seed many had them losing to Baylor in the second round, however the Tar Heels ended up going to the National championship ultimately losing to Kansas by three points as point guard Caleb Love missed two game tying threes in the last 20 seconds. Michigan also turned heads as coming in at 17-14 many thought they shouldn’t have made the tournament, those who said this have ultimately ate their words as Michigan overcame a halftime deficit of seven to take down the Colorado State Rams in the first round and overcame a five point halftime deficit against Tennessee making it their fifth straight sweet 16 appearance, This charge was led by star Center sophomore Hunter Dickinson who was lights out in the tournament along with senior guard Eli Brooks and sophomore forward Terrence Williams II. However the Wolverines fell short as Villanova outlasted them in the sweet 16.

Ultimately however it was Kansas who took the Trophy this year. One of the most overlooked one seeds in recent memory, many didn’t think Kansas would do it. However, with stellar play by stars Ochai Agbaji, Remy Martin, and David McCormack the Jayhawks powered through and dominated opponents which led to the first championship for Kansas since 2010 coincidentally that year’s final four was also in New Orleans.

With College Basketball season to an end, we reflect on this Tournament and can say it was outstanding from the upsets and cinderallas to the pure basketball played by blue blood universities, you can confidently say that there was madness in March.