The Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds of the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament delivered chaos, as upsets and unexpected exits reshaped the path to the national championship. A bracket full of favorites soon became unpredictable as a number of Elite 8 programs failed to live up to expectations. By the end of the Elite 8, several teams expected to make deep runs had fallen out of contention, leaving fans to watch an entirely new March Madness tournament. Keene State students who watched the tournament weighed in on the tournament’s intensity.
As the Final Four round arrives, many people who have made brackets have been unlucky. First-year Jacob Plante saw his bracket fall apart in the recent round, which saw a lot of upsets and last-minute points.
“The University of Connecticut [UConn] upset completely messed up my bracket, and I also had Florida going a lot farther,” Plante remarked. “I believe Florida’s defeat by Iowa University was the biggest upset.”
One of the most important events of the round was the Florida University team’s defeat by the Iowa University Hawkeyes, who were a nine-seed. The Hawkeyes, meanwhile, kept up their winning streak and became one of the tournament’s more unexpected teams. The next night, the elimination of the Duke Blue Devils basketball team, a team that was a high favorite to win the title, was another major game. Its loss was the latest in a rise of notable setbacks.
“The Duke game was [very disappointing]. They were supposed to go all the way, but no, of course, they had to lose,” said first-year Cyrus Bailey.
Frustration around Duke’s performance was echoed by another first-year, Aidan Hall, who questioned the team’s roster decisions.
“Yeah, Duke choked up. They should’ve begged Cooper Flagg to stay last year,” said Hall.
Even though the brackets have been broken, each game’s intensity only grew, with the later rounds being marked by close finishes and outstanding games. The focus now shifts to which of the surviving teams can withstand the pressure of the national stage as the competition progresses. The door is open for a new champion to emerge since last year’s winner lost early in the tournament. Expectations are meaningless once the games start, as March Madness has demonstrated once again.
The next round to take place is the Final Four round, with the two games being played on Saturday, April 4. The final teams are the University of Michigan, UConn, the University of Arizona and the University of Illinois. The University of Michigan will take on the University of Arizona and UConn will face the University of Illinois before the championship takes place between one of the four survivors.
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