March. Though it is known for Saint Patrick’s Day, National Women’s History Month, and more, one event that has been prominent throughout the years is March Madness. March Madness is the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) Division 1 men’s and women’s basketball tournament. The 68 qualifying colleges strive to become the national champions for a seven-round contest. Throughout the years, this tournament has solidified its spot as a highly anticipated sports event full of competition and upsets (NCAA).
Due to March Madness being a single-elimination series, meaning once a team loses, they are out, it is tradition to try and create the perfect bracket. This means predicting the outcome of all 67 games and getting everything correct. The madness part of March Madness is partly due to unexpected wins from the underdog teams. Because of this, not one person has crafted the perfect bracket, and with the slim odds of 1 in 9.2 quintillion, it doesn’t look like it will happen anytime soon (AS USA).
In fact, given the difficulty of picking a perfect bracket, USA Today Sports’s bracket challenge had one million dollars up for the perfect bracket. This year, it took two days for 0.001% of the over 22 million brackets submitted to ESPN and NCAA for the men’s tournament to get eliminated (Forbes). Thirty-eight games were needed for all brackets to be eliminated (CNN). For the women’s tournament, the final bracket was eliminated during the Sweet Sixteen when Stanford lost to NC State (NCAA).
The 2024 March Madness lasted from March 19 to April 8. After a dominant run throughout the tournament, the national championship for men’s March Madness went to UConn, the “Basketball Capital of the World,“ after beating Purdue 75-60. South Carolina won it all for women’s basketball against Iowa and finished with an undefeated record of 38 wins and 0 losses (NCAA).
March Madness has become more popular, especially with the growth of interest in women’s basketball. This year’s women’s tournament was record-breaking and featured stars including Caitlin Clark, Kamilla Cardoso, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, JuJu Watkins, and many more. The matchup for the national championship, South Carolina against Iowa, peaked at 24 million viewers, making it the most-watched women’s basketball game of all time and the most-watched basketball game, including men’s, women’s, and pro since 2019. Individually, each of the six rounds (Opening, Second, Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, and the title game) set viewing records, notably Iowa vs. LSU in the Final Four with their rematch from the championship last year and UConn vs. Iowa in the Final Four.
As a basketball player herself, Sanaya Patel (9) comments, “I am thrilled that South Carolina won the women’s March Madness championship. I thought that the team played well together and that they deserved it after losing to Iowa last year in the Final Four. However, I am very proud of Iowa and especially Caitlin Clark for making such a name for themselves. They were a major reason girls basketball has grown so much in popularity.”
As the viewership of March Madness continues and new stars rise to the court, there is a great deal of excitement in store for the future of this college tournament. There are new heights, careers to flourish, and possibly a perfect bracket.
