March Madness

Post date: Feb 22, 2019 6:56:52 PM

  March Madness

By: Sammi Huang

and Mckayla Ma

 March Madness is an annual series of college basketball games (NCAA) throughout the month of March and early April. It is a tournament consisting of 68 teams in the men’s division and 64 teams in the women’s division.

  In the men’s division, there are 68 teams total. All teams play in the first round and then the winners move onto to the second round to play the other winners. After the second round, the winning teams move onto the “Sweet 16”. The men’s Sweet 16 consisted of Gonzaga beating Florida State, Texas Tech beating Michigan, MI State beating LSU, Duke beating Virginia Tech, Auburn beating UNC, Kentucky beating Houston, Purdue beating Tennessee, and Virginia beating Oregon.

 8 teams then move onto the round called “Elite Eight”. This year’s Elite Eight included Texas Tech beating Gonzaga, MI State beating Duke, Auburn beating Kentucky, and Virginia beating Purdue.

 The Final Four will have Texas Tech playing MI State, Auburn playing Virginia on Saturday, April 6th. Championships will be held on Monday, April 8th.

Going into the championships were the Texas Tech Red Raiders and University of Virginia’s Cavaliers! The game was held at the US Bank Stadium where UoV beat Texas Tech 85-77. Congratulations to the Cavaliers!

 In the women’s division, there are 64 teams total. The National Collegiate Athletic Association first inaugurated during the 1972-1982 the Women’s Championships. Teams taking the lead in the Elite Eight are, Connecticut vs. Louisville (Connecticut won), Stanford vs. Notre Dame (Notre Dame won), Iowa vs. Baylor (Baylor won), and Oregon vs. MS State (Oregon won). The end results after the Elite Eight leaves us with Connecticut, Baylor, Notre Dame,  and Oregon. The winning teams of the Final Four will move on to the Championships. (UPDATE: Notre Dame and Baylor have made it to the Finals!) The Championships will be streaming live on ESPN and the official NCAA website (https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2019-04-03/march-madness-2 019-schedule-and-livestream-links ). Make sure to tune in on April 7th to hopefully watch your team play and root for your team! (UPDATE: Baylor won the Championships this season for the third time.)

 Teachers are even participating in March Madness with their own brackets, looking to win the pool! Mr. Evenhouse (7th social studies and Spanish) and Ms. Royer (originally Kansas but they lost) for Virginia! Ms. Hunt (English) is rooting for Texas Tech (originally Duke but they lost). Mr. Papagni (6/7th science) is rooting for Michigan State. Goodluck and hopefully your team wins!

 Students are also joining in on the fun! “I’m rooting for Virginia, just kidding, I’m rooting for Michigan State.” - Laith Lasswed (7th grader).

“I was rooting for Duke but then they lost so now I’m rooting for Michigan State.” - Anonymous.  Congratulations to the Baylor Bears and the Virginia Cavaliers!  This concludes 2019’s NCAA March Madness, if your team didn’t win this year, there’s always next year!