NCAAB: Bizarre Big Dance

Bizarre. Every year millions of people make brackets. And, this year, not a single person could’ve predicted this. Bizarre.

Cornell knocked off Temple. Murray State knocked off Vanderbilt. Ohio knocked off Georgetown. Butler knocked off Syracuse. St. Mary’s knocked off Villanova. Northern Iowa knocked off Kansas. You can’t ask for much more drama than that.

I’m like every other American. I watch the selection show, gripe about how my teams should have gotten a better seed, and second-guess my risky Final Four. I made my bracket and plastered the actual and theoretical brackets on my door, confusing my roommate. (Let’s just say it took a lot of explaining for her to understand the bracket.) And after all my deliberation and consideration, I was dead wrong.

After all the hype over teams seeded in controversial positions ended, it got down to the basketball. The pep bands, the school spirit, the competitive games. The seemingly nonstop stream of games for two days provides constant entertainment as each one comes down to the wire. Anything can happen during March Madness.

No one proved that better than Northern Iowa. As a #9 seed, they were more than expected to fall the #1 overall seed, Kansas. Jokingly, my dad said Kansas would lose, but even he was shocked when they actually did. Kansas waltzed in there expecting to walk all over Northern Iowa, but the Panthers came to play ball. Everyone loves a Cinderella who comes to dance, but let’s face it, most people in country were muttering their displeasure that this year’s Cinderella had to knock off the number one seed.

No one could’ve predicted the injury bug to bite the tourney, either. From West Virginia’s Darryl Bryant to Syracuse’s Arinze Onuaku, each loss has had a profound effect on how the teams approach the contest. This year’s national champion may be decided based a great deal on the injuries that have plagued multiple schools.

The schools you picked may not have made it into tonight’s Sweet Sixteen contests, but this year’s tournament is turning out how a tournament is supposed to. They’re college kids. College kids don’t get paid to play this game; they play this game because they love it. In any given game, any team can walk away with the last-second buzzer-beating win. The beauty of the college game is the unpredictability, the passion, the insanity. That’s why we’re drawn in year after year.

While I like to think that I follow so much college basketball that I could make the perfect bracket, the truth is, my roommate, who’d never heard of the Big Dance before this year, probably would have made a more successful bracket on her whims and fancies than I could’ve predicted with all my insight and stats. And honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Sure, my teams didn’t even come close to winning this year, but at least I was treated to some close, entertaining games.