Another March madness has come to an end. This year’s tournaments were full of upsets, let downs, surprises and excitement.
Even though the men’s tournament ended the same way it did last year, with UConn dominating their way to a championship, there were plenty of new faces, Cinderella stories, and tournament heroes.
The Connecticut Huskies absolutely destroyed everything in their path in the tournament as they trailed for all of 2 minutes the entire tournament.
They won their 6th national championship and joined John Wooden’s legendary 1967-1969 UCLA team’s by winning both championships by 15 or more.
This tournament did feature some of its usual suspects such as Kansas, Kentucky, Gonzaga, Duck, UNC, and Michigan State. Some unsung heroes of the tournament were 14 seed Oakland, who was led by now March Madness legend Jack Gohlke and upset Kentucky in the first round.
DJ Burns, led the 11 seeded NC State Wolfpack all the way to the final 4. The Purdue Boilermakers were also back as a number one seed after years of let downs and losing to lower seeds. Zach Edey finally led them to a National Championship appearance where they would eventually lose to UConn. Purdue now holds the NCAA record for most tournament wins without a title.
In the women’s tournament we saw a drastic change in women’s sports, which was spearheaded by Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and other stars.
This year’s tournament had many TV viewership records and ticket sales milestones. Some even argued that the Women’s Final Four was more exciting than the Men’s.
Iowa’s Caitlin Clark broke many records this season including the all time NCAA scoring record. She led the Hawkeyes back to the national championship where they were beaten by the undefeated and unstoppable South Carolina Gamecocks. This year’s women’s tournament has proved that women’s sports is continuing to change and grow.
This year’s March madness, both men’s and women’s, was full of excitement and makes basketball fans look forward to next march even more.
