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For many college basketball fans, March is their favorite time of the year because of the infamous tournament, March Madness, but this year March Madness was arguably the most exhilarating, bracket-busting March Madness tournament ever. 

This tournament features 64 teams from all conferences that play in a bracket-style, single-elimination tournament. The tournament has seven rounds: the first four, the round of 64, the round of 32, Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four and the National Championship. The set up itself can be exciting, but this year #2 Michigan State fell to #15 Middle Tennessee in the round of 64.   This was one of the most, if not the most, surprising headline of the tournament, as Michigan State was the hottest team heading into the tournament.

But this upset competes for attention when compared to some of the other upsets from the tournament: #10 Syracuse making it to the final four as the first #10 seed to make it that far, #12 Yale beating #5 Baylor, #13 Hawaii beating #4 California, Villanova’s Kris Jenkins’ buzzer beater to sink North Carolina in the National Championship and #6 Notre Dame making it to their second-straight Elite Eight. These all have their case for the top headline of the tournament.

All in all, many college basketball fans got their adrenaline rush multiple times over during this year’s tournament as they watched and saw their bracket get busted or their team fend off an opponent in the final minute of the game.

Even though everyone wanted a perfect bracket, they also didn’t mind seeing that un-imaginable upset early on in the tournament.

“[March Madness] was thrilling. It had me on the edge of my seat,” said Nolan Thier, freshman.

Thier had Villanova taking home the trophy at the end of the tournament in his bracket, and as luck would have it, his pick was correct. Thier was included in the 2.6 percent of 13.02 million people nationwide who picked Villanova to win it all.  Therefore, many others at MHS weren’t as fortunate as Their but described March Madness much the same way.

Another freshman, Mason Schultz, said it was “fun to watch and crazy at the same time.”

Schultz picked UNC to win it all as they were one of the more popular picks.

Along with Schultz, Senior Asher Mathew also picked UNC to win it all but had a somewhat different view on the tournament.

“This year’s March Madness was okay. Nothing great, nothing too bad. The teams that made Final Four were unexpected, which was probably the most special part about it,” said Mathew.

Mathew, who was on the boys varsity basketball, also agreed with Schultz and Their that the most exhilarating game of the tournament was the National Championship, which featured the one seed from the East Region, North Carolina, and the two seed from the South Region, Villanova.

For other people, this tournament was engaging because a starting point guard for Villanova was a former Stevenson High School player, Jalen Brunson, who has played against the MHS basketball team.

Said Sophomore Connor Ashton, “It was exciting seeing Jalen Brunson win the title because I saw him play basketball in my gym a year ago.”