By: Nicholas Blackwell
It’s March 1993, Michigan has the ball. They inbound it to Chris Webber; Webber dribbles to the right side of the court in the NCAA Final against North Carolina. Webber puts his hand up calling the timeout, the timeout that the team did not have. This play ended up giving North Carolina the ball and Michigan a technical foul. North Carolina went on to win the game 77-71. Moments like these make the NCAA Tournament a one of a kind experience where on no matter what day anybody can win.
“I love the NCAA Tournament because there is always a Cinderella team that comes out and surprises everybody,” senior Annie Moore said.
The NCAA Tournament is comprised of 68 teams, wait 68? In 2001 the Mountain West Conference was given an automatic bid status in which they get a seed in the tournament. Every year, selection Sunday occurs on CBS; in which CBS holds all the rights to broadcast the entire tournament but lets get to the good part.
One aspect of the tournament is that a 16th seed always has the opportunity to take down the number 1 seed in their region of the bracket. Last season, VCU made it all the way to the final four after beating teams that were ranked all season such as Kansas Jayhawks. Butler University was also an underdog taking down Pittsburgh University making it to the final four for the second connectivity season. This season everyone is wondering who is going to be that underdog to “shock the world.”
“I think that Indiana University this year can make it really far in the tournament,” junior Landon Howard said. “They have beaten some highly ranked teams such as Kentucky and Ohio State and can take down top seeds in the tournament.”
Then there are always those fans that jump on the bandwagon. This year the Kentucky Wildcats won the regular season SEC Conference but lost in the SEC Conference final to Vanderbilt, while also getting overall number one seed. But always be watching for that upset alert.
“I really think that Kentucky can get upset early because of their inexperience and young squad that they will take into the tournament,” Howard said.
