March Madness is one of the most underrated times of the year. This is probably because people who aren’t that into sports or aren't used to watching them put it aside with the rest of the sporting events they wouldn’t want to watch. But that’s where they’re wrong. There is so much more to March Madness than just being a fan of basketball. Even if you aren’t, consider watching the NCAA Tournament this year -- especially if you get your friends and family involved. It’s so worth it. Whether you’re a huge sports fan or not, this is why you should definitely check out the NCAA Tournament this year.
The players.
The thing with the NCAA Tournament is that these are college kids. They show up to practice and games for one reason: their love for the game. Unlike the NBA, they aren’t getting paid thousands or even millions of dollars to play the game. As a result, everything they do on the court is for their team, their school and to play their hearts out. You can actually see the passion on the player’s faces on the court and something about that makes the NCAA Tournament so satisfying to watch.
Betting and competitions.
This is definitely my favorite part of March Madness: the good old sibling or friend rivalry to see who filled out the most accurate bracket, followed by constant taunting and trash talking as a result. For anyone who doesn’t know the logistics of this process, here’s what you do. Before the tournament starts, print out a blank bracket and fill in the teams you think will win each game, until you’ve come up with a winner for the entire tournament. Step two: get a group of friends to enter a March Madness pool with you. For each round, you get a certain number of points if you choose the correct winner for a game. Step three: watch the games and slowly but surely watch your friendships or sibling bonds disintegrate as you all fight to prove who the best is. You’ll probably lose your money, your credibility and maybe even your dignity; but hey, it’s fun anyway.
The heart-stopping moments.
One of the greatest things about March Madness is that, no matter what seed a team is and no matter how good a team is, there are always heart-pounding moments, buzzer beaters and major upsets. These moments get even better when you picked a 14 or 13 seed to win and all that stands in the way of beating a 3 or 4 seed is one shot with one second left on the clock. At least from my experience, this is where everyone is standing up, yelling at the TV. Everything goes silent as the shot goes up and some dreams of winning the pool are crushed while some are revived. The upsets are amazing to watch, and it feels like you’re watching an underdog story sports movie, but it happens almost throughout the whole tournament. The best is when you actually pick a low seed, like a 2 or 3, to win the entire tournament (thinking, “Better seed, better team, right?”) and then they lose in the first or second round… but you've got to love those upsets anyway.
Support your school.
If anything, watch the NCAA Tournament to show your support for your school if they make it in. I go to Monmouth University, and by the time this comes out Selection Sunday will have already passed, so I’m going to go ahead and say if we make it in that would be awesome but if not we had an amazing season anyway. But to go along with that, either way, I have never seen my school collectively come together and support a sports team as much as they have for the basketball team since I was a freshman here. The sense of community colleges form for their NCAA team is incredible, and being a part of that makes March Madness even better. The pride of seeing your school’s basketball team on ESPN is like no other, so tune in to the NCAA Tournament if your school is in it! Even if they aren’t, do it for the other reasons I mentioned, because I promise you the anticipation, suspense, excitement and competitiveness you feel when you watch is what makes it such a great time of the year.
