By Kennedy Kearns, Year 12
Here at The LGB Express, we consider March Madness a time to publish many exciting and intriguing articles to spread the word about our articles and increase readership. However, March Madness important to many because of college basketball. During March, the collegiate women’s and men’s basketball teams play in the NCAA tournament. The tournament is designed so that teams have to qualify in order to take part. This also produces some of the most exciting basketball of the season, as well as often making sports history.
Another big part of March Madness is bracket-making. Many people all around the United States, and some internationally, have spent this past week, at home, at work, in school, or any place possible, making their brackets. The brackets allow people to bet on teams and players who they think will win. People compete in many leagues, and with the right amount of luck, people can win money through their bets and brackets.
In women’s basketball, two teams really stand out this year and are expected to be in the final. The Iowa Hawkeyes with Coach Lisa Bulder, and players like Caitlin Clark, Kate Martin, and Gabbie Marshall. This team is good from the three-point line, but they also use their post, centers, and forwards. The second team thought to make it is South Carolina. This team possesses range, good shots, and speed. Similarly to Iowa, they rely a lot on their own center, Kamilla Cardosa. Currently, South Carolina is 32-0 and possesses a one seed, so their chances are very high.
In men’s basketball, there are lots of teams prospected to be potentials in the final. UConn is the current favorite team, having 57% of people putting them in their final four, and of those most have them winning. Other teams who could be likely to win are Houston, Purdue, North Carolina, Auburn, and Arizona. But as the name stands, it is a time of Madness, so really any team could pull through, and major upsets should be expected, although that being said, most of these teams are one and two seeds. A team like Auburn is a 4 seed, but has a lot of potential with their quick offenses, and ability to play defense. Other teams with potential include Kentucky, Duke, Tennessee, and Illinois. Kentucky and Duke are very consistent tournament teams and have been in championships plenty of times before, while a team like Illinois has not been to many championships. However, they did win the BIG10 tournament and therefore are a threat to a smooth competition. Additionally, Tennessee, a newer team that has improved tremendously could also be a potential winner.
What makes March so exciting is that there could be huge upsets that interfere with people’s brackets, or alter everything that could happen. The Madness is just beginning, and game viewership is going to be extremely high this year in women’s and men’s basketball due to the growth in interest in the sport. Whether you root for the underdog or for UConn, it is a very exciting time to watch a lot of games each night, and it will be interesting to see who comes out on top.
