Embrace the Madness

Tourney time is here, the most wonderful time of the year! A time where the unthinkable can happen. A time where heros emerge. A time where favorites are challenged. A time where the impossible can happen. Yes, indeed this is the most wonderful time of the year. Now you might be thinking to yourself, “Shucks, because of the first sixteen seed beating a number one seed for the first time, my bracket is so busted.”

Each year, people all around the country create brackets based off of whatever teams make it, and  predict who’s got the luck to win it all come April. Some people often think that their bracket will be the first perfect in the history of the tournament. Well, I have news that will rethink how the bracket is done. Because, it is near impossible to create the perfect bracket. The odds are just slim to none. One in 9.2 quintillion to be exact. All because of the upsets that happen each and every year that make the tournament a bit unpredictable.

For this purpose, I am going to highlight a few teams that were not the number one, two, three, four, or even the fifth seed that won a national championship. They are seeds in the tournament that you would not expect to make it as far as they did because of various factors like a mediocre regular season or not winning a conference tournament title or having enough “quality” wins for the committee each year to include them in the big dance.

Nevertheless, these teams shocked everyone when they went and won the big dance and became forever remembered in their school’s history. Three teams in the history of the tournament that were upsets went on to win the whole thing. First of all, the 2013-14 Uconn Huskies for example were seeded number 7 in their region and went through their games averaging a winning margin of seven points per game to win their first national title in the post Jim Calhoun era. One of the teams that Uconn faced in the tournament was a future college basketball powerhouse in Villanova. In fact, the Wildcats themselves were not seeded high in the tournament in 1985 when they made the most unbelievable run in tournament history. Back in those days, there was no three point line and shot clock. The Wildcats in the national championship game made 79 percent of their shots en route to shock the defending champion at the time Georgetown and rewrite history.

However, the most improbable upset team to win it all won it a couple years before Villanova in 1983. NC State led by legendary coach Jim Valvano. With a 17-10 regular season record, the only way that NC State was going to make the big dance is if they won their conference tournament, which they did.

Then in the tournament, they had to win a close one with Pepperdine in double overtime, knock off a favorite in UNLV, beat Virginia for the second time in ten days, and Georgia too, in the final four to set up a game with Houston for the national championship. With five seconds left in the game, the iconic dunk that defined NC State for an eternity  upset Houston and they were crowned national champions.

Thus, it is almost impossible to create a perfect bracket. Even if we think we seen it all, it’s only the beginning. That is why the month of March is so great. The unexpected could happen in the blink of an eye

Source: ESPN