March Madness

Nicolas Margarit
Staff Writer

This past weekend, fans all over the United States were treated to the traditional combination of the close games, last-second shots, and surprise miracle runs that define March Madness. This year’s tournament has provided plenty of narrative, and this year, there are four clear No. 1 seeds: Auburn (South), Florida (West), Duke (East), and Houston (Midwest).

The top-seeded teams have not encountered any problems and are now looking to go further as the Sweet 16 is getting closer. Usually, the Number 1 seeds of March Madness are never this strong, but it seems all four teams are dominant this year. On Saturday, the Duke Blue Devils looked like a team on its way to the championship by crushing Baylor 89-66. At the same time, Florida escaped a potential upset by defeating No. 8 seed UConn 77-75 in a tough game that is typical of March Madness.

The SEC, which had a record-breaking 14 teams invited to the tournament this year, has certainly delivered. Auburn, Kentucky, Alabama, and Tennessee all advanced, thus proving that this year, the conference is filled with strong teams. Kentucky, the No. 3 seed in the Midwest, also played well in its match against Illinois on Saturday night, defeating the opponents 84-75. Alabama beat Saint Mary’s, and Iowa State and Ole Miss play later this evening.

Today we had our first buzzer beater which is surprisingly late for a tournament like this with Maryland beating Colorado State 72-71. Michigan State against New Mexico and Oregon against Arizona will also be playing tonight. After these games are done we will have a couple
days break and then the Sweet 16 will start. Once this stage begins the games start getting much more intense and are usually much closer games. It will be exciting to see who comes out on top.

Contact Nicolas at nicolas.margarit@student.shu.edu