The apprehension of sitting down to watch Selection Sunday when your team is on the bubble. The indescribable feeling of unbelief when a mid-major David-esque team topples a power conference Goliath. The heart-pounding thrill of a buzzer beater to survive and advance to the next round. The glory of making the One Shining Moment montage after the championship game. These are the sights, sounds and feelings of March Madness, the most wonderful time of the year.
Every spring, the greatest show in all of sports comes around. Call me crazy, but I think the NCAA Tournament is better than the NBA Finals, better than the Super Bowl, heck I’d even go as far to say that it is better than the Olympics.
Not convinced? Here are three reasons why I think March Madness is the pinnacle of all sporting events.
Reason No. 1 – Cinderellas baby
Think about it, there is no other sport competition quite like the NCAA Tournament.
Sixty-eight teams. One champion. Lose and you’re done. Survive and advance.
Excluding the First Four play-in games, every team has the same brutal five-game path to the championship.
Compare the NCAA Tournament to the brand-new College Football Playoff, for example. For your team to make the CFP, you have to come from a major conference and you can’t really lose more than once during the year. Because of this system where only four teams make the cut, there are no Cinderella stories, simply because the system doesn’t allow it.
For basketball, however, things are different. Take George Mason in 2006. The Patriots finished their season at 23-7 and failed to even make their conference tournament championship game. By the skin of their teeth, they were awarded an 11-seed for the NCAA tourney, however, and proceeded to shock the nation by winning four games against higher-seeded opponents and reaching the Final Four.
Not impressed? What about no. 11 seed VCU in 2011, no. 9 seed Wichita State in 2013, the 2010 and 2011 Butler teams, heck even no. 10 Syracuse a year ago. All these teams made the Final Four when they weren’t even expected to go past the first weekend of games.
Being at NC State, we are part of a school with the greatest underdog story of them all. In 1983, the no. 6 seed Wolfpack unforgettably won its second-ever NCAA championship when it defeated heavy favorite and no. 1 seed Houston in the title game. To this day, there is no more iconic image than that of head coach Jim Valvano running around the court after winning the title with his arms outstretched, looking for somebody to hug.
That’s the magic of the tourney: It’s anyone’s to win. Because of previous successes, teams that get a no. 5 seed are more often than not picked to lose their first-round game versus a no. 12 seed. The belief in Cinderella is there. Who doesn’t love to see a team like Mercer knock off ACC powerhouse Duke? It’s that underdog feeling that we can all connect with that makes March feel so special.
Reason No. 2 – Games, Games and Games Galore.
There is a reason numerous studies have concluded that the Thursday to Sunday of the first round of the tournament are the least productive working days of the entire year. There is so much basketball to watch.
During the first and second weekends of the tournament, from noon until 10 p.m., there is a game on, and usually more than one. After watching all that basketball, you really need the following Monday through Wednesday to recuperate and get at least a little work done.
From a fan’s perspective, the vast number of games is great, but from a player’s perspective, it must be brutal. In order to advance to the next round, you have to bring your best performance each and every time. Win on Friday and you get one day to rest. The sea of opponents only gets tougher and tougher with each win, and the stakes climb higher and higher.
If you manage to win your region and make the Final Four, that is an amazing feat, but you still have two more games to play if you want to be crowned the king of the dance.
Compare this to the NFL playoffs, where teams get nearly a full week between games. In college football, teams in the CFP get nearly a month before their semifinal game. And in the NBA, there really is no sense of urgency like the NCAA tourney until an elimination game.
Reason No. 3 – Bracket Challenge Anyone?
While it’s true that the tourney is better when your team is in, there is an alternative to keeping it enticing the whole way. Filling out a bracket is the best way to keep you glued to the tourney, because, well let’s face it, what if you’re right? Even though the odds of making a perfect bracket are one in 1 trillion something, there’s a first for everything.
Gather up your friends, coworkers, peers, grandma, whoever, and start a challenge. Make a bracket. Make two. Screw it, make five. As long as there’s a method to the madness, you’ll be fine. Start with your gut feeling bracket, the one that just feels right. Then, make one where your team wins it all. Then, make a bracket that’s impossible. Sometimes the craziest brackets are the ones closest to perfection.
So go ahead, pick your Cinderellas, call the shots, this year, you WILL be right. A no. 14 seed to the Elite Eight? Why not. A no. 7 seed cutting down the nets in Phoenix? Sure. A no. 16 seed over a no. 1 seed? Well, let’s not get carried away.
So there you have it, three reasons why March Madness is the most wonderful time of the year. As for 2017, claim a team early so everyone knows you’re no bandwagoner, kick back and enjoy the show. With all the memories of past tournaments swirling through my head, I cannot wait to see what the 79th installment has in store.
The 2017 NCAA Tournament will begin on March 14 in Dayton, Ohio. The First Four includes Wake Forest and North Carolina Central University.
