This year's 2023 March Madness Tournament was one of the most unique and crazy tournaments in the competition's 84-year history. From the First Four to Final Four every game was intense and every player played their hearts out to try to raise the National Championship and sing basketball’s most iconic song “One Shining Moment”. With crazy upsets and buzzer beaters, many colleges made history not just for themselves, but made NCAA history. So let’s run through this record-breaking tournament and the rise of so many programs in the country. 

Dayton Ohio, host of the First Four, is where every tournament has started since 2001 when the First Four started. The First Four consists of the last 4 teams to get an at-large bid into the tournament and the four lowest seeded teams that won their conference tournament. This year, the First Four, like any other year, was highly entertaining and had extremely close games. 

On March 14th 2023, the opening night of the tournament the Islanders of Texas A&M Corpus Christi won their first ever NCAA tournament game as they beat Southeastern Missouri by a score of 75-71. The second game that night saw a thriller between Pittsburgh and Mississippi State. A game that never saw either team with any more than a 6 point lead ended with a Pittisburgh victory and sent the Panthers to the Round of 64 for the first time since 2016. 

The next night, March 15th, 2023 sadly wasn’t as entertaining. The evening opened with New Jersey local Fairleigh Dickinson dominating Texas Southern 84-61. This was the Knights first win in Dayton since 2019. The nightcap saw complete obliteration when the Arizona State Sun Devils overmatched the Nevada Wolfpack 98-73 to move on in the tournament.

Thursday, March 16th 2023 was the start of the Round of 64. Many sports fans consider this day the best day on the sports calendar year in and year out. This year's tournament started off with a bang when the (4) Virginia Cavaliers and the (13) Furman Paladins squared off. Virginia was in control for the majority of the game until Furman cut a 12 point lead into 2. Then Virginia veteran guard Kihei Clark turned the ball over to the Paladins and Furman guard JP Pegues hit a game-winning 3-pointer to secure the first upset of the tournament. 

That however wasn’t even close to the biggest shock of the tournament. Not many people were expecting the matchup of the (2) Arizona Wildcats and the (15) Princeton Tigers to be a competitive game but those people were mistaken. There were many points throughout this game where it looked like Arizona would pull away, but each time Princeton would make a run and make the game closer and closer. With 7:47 left the Tigers had something else in mind. Princeton would go on a 18-4 scoring run to close and win the game and become only the 11th 15 seed to beat a 2 seed in NCAA tournament history. The Tigers can thank the efforts of Tosan Evbuomwan who scored 15 points and brought in 7 rebounds in the victory. 

Other first round games included Duke dismantling Oral Roberts 74-51, and Penn State getting the upset over Texas A&M 76-59. San Diego State started their tournament off right as well, beating fellow mid-major Charleston 63-57. Many top seeds came out victorious, as expected like Alabama, Texas, Houston, UCLA, and the reigning National Champions Kansas.

The second day of the opening round saw great games yet again. The day started with the (3) Xavier Musketeers and the(14) Kennesaw State Owls squaring off. To almost everyone’s surprise for a good majority of the game the Owls were controlling and looking to pull off the upset. But out of nowhere the Musketeers went on a 12-0 run to take a 2-point lead. The game stayed close until the final seconds when Xavier big man Jack Nunge blocked Kennesaw State’s Terell Burden to secure Xavier the win and avoid the upset. 

Many people’s pick to become National Champions, the (1) Purdue Boilermakers, wanted to start their quest off strong against a First Four team, the (16) Fairleigh Dickinson Knights . Purdue fans were perhaps caught off guard when the Knights led at the half 32-31. The Boilermakers need to make adjustments to their game in order to avoid a ginormous upset. Purdue started the half off strong, outscoring Fairleigh Dickinson by 8 points to start the second half. But the Knights showed no quit and all heart, and got the lead back with 8:00 to go. The Knights never gave it back and with a game sealing 3-pointer by Sean Moore Fairleigh, Dickinson pulled over the biggest upset in NCAA tournament history, shocking the Boilermakers of Purdue 63-58. This was only the second time ever that a 16 seed beat a 1 seed (UMBC beat Virginia 74-54 in 2018). The craziest part about this upset is that Fairleigh Dickinson didn’t even win their Conference Tournament which is how most mid-majors get to the tournament. They got in because their Conference Tournament winner Merrimack was ineligible for the tournament because it was their only their 2nd year in Division I, and that violates the NCAA transition rule which states that no program less than 5 years of Division I status can compete in any sort of NCAA tournaments. 

Other games that happened that night included (9) Florida Atlantic's Nick Boyd hitting a game winning layup to put the Owls past (8) Memphis 66-65.(4)  UConn despite a slow start, blew past (13) Iona and legendary coach Rick Pitino 87-63. Another game-winner came from JaKobe Coles as (6) Texas Christian (TCU) held off (11) Arizona State 72-70. And (5) Miami and star transfer Nijel Pack rallies late to hold off (12) Kent State 63-56. 

When the calendar turns to a weekend, it signals a new round of March Madness. So on March 18th, we moved on to the Round of 32. A victory not only allows you to move on, but it also provides teams with at least 4 days of rest which is critical when making a deep run in the tournament.

The Round of 32 got off to a very boring start with San Diego State and Tennessee having very comfortable victories, but viewers weren’t bored when tuning to the showdown that (9) Arkansas and (1) Kansas was. Arkansas was able to cut Kansas’s lead many times but it seemed that this was Kansas' game to lose. That was until about halfway through the second half where Arkansas came back from 12 down to tie the game. From there it was a 2 man show for Arkansas with Ricky Council IV and Davonte Davis who combined for 46 points in Arkansas 72-71 victory and knocking out the defending National Champions. It was pure enjoyment for the team and their fans, as well as head coach Eric Musselman who took off his shirt to celebrate their team's victory.

Other great contests on Saturday evening included (15) Princeton becoming only the 4th, 15th seed to ever make the Sweet 16 as they obliterated Missouri 78-63 behind Ryan Langborg’s 22 points. The (2) UCLA Bruins held off one of the biggest surprises in college basketball, the (7) Northwestern Wildcats 68-63. And (2) Texas was able to keep away (10) Penn State 71-66 behind 28 points from Dylan Disu. 

After a 3 day break in the competition, the games were back in running but now with only ¼ of the teams remaining. On March 23rd, when the games resumed, the fight to not only move from the Sweet 16 to the Elite Eight, but also their regional championship was at stake.

After a 3-day break the Sweet Sixteen started with an instant classic at Madison Square Garden between (7) Michigan State Spartans and (3) Kansas State Wildcats. You know when a game never saw a team with a double-digit lead you know is going to be a great game and this one was no exception. In the dire seconds of regulation Michigan State’s Tyson Walker hit a game-tying layup forcing overtime. That was however the farthest the Spartans got, as in overtime it was Kansas State’s Markquis Nowell day, as he finished the game with 20 points and 19 assists which is an NCAA tournament record for most assists in a game as the Wildcats make it to their first Elite Eight since 2018. 

The evening also featured a thriller between (2) UCLA Bruins and (3) Gonzaga Bulldogs. The opening half felt like it was only UCLA playing basketball as they went into the locker room up 13. But right when the second half started it was all Gonzaga, and with only 2:40 to play they were all of the sudden up 10. Then, out of nowhere the Bruins came storming back with 14.2 seconds to go. On Gonzaga’s final play Julian Strawther hit a 3-point shot from the logo to win and send Gonzaga back to the Elite Eight. 

The other 2 games that evening saw (4) UConn absolutely obliterated (8) Arkansas 88-65. The Huskies can thank Jordan Hawkins and Adama Sanogo who combined for 42 in the team’s win. And then the Cinderella run for the (9) Florida Atlantic Owls continued into the Elite Eight as they beat (4) Tennessee Volunteers 62-55. Johnell Davis clocked in 15 points in the victory. 

The second night of the Sweet 16, March 24th, saw some of the most dramatic games in the tournament. And when the night ended in marked history in the NCAA March Madness competition. 

The opening game that night was between the (1) Alabama Crimson Tide and (5) San Diego State Aztecs. A game, as typically seen throughout this tournament, very tightly contested. After Alabama took a 48-42 lead with 11:24 to go, many people thought this was Alabama’s game to lose not because of the weakness of San Diego State but because of the star power the Crimson Tide had. But what actually happened from that mark was the Aztecs closed the game on a 29-18 run to stun Alabama 71-64. Darrion Trammel scored 21 points in victorious fashion to send San Diego State to their first ever Elite Eight in program history. 

Not many other games that evening were close, but the results of those games were definitely eye-opening. (3) Crieghton ended the magical run of (15) Princeton 86-75 with their trio of Baylor Schierman, Ryan Kalkbrenner, and Trey Alexander combining for 62 points in the win. (2) Texas uses a strong first half effort where they outscored (3) Xavier 42-25 in order to win 83-71. All but one point for Texas came from their very strong and balanced starting five which seemed too much for the Musketeers to handle. And to cap the Sweet 16 (5) MIami stunned the final one seed Houston 89-75. Nigel Pack and Isaiah Wong scored 46 points in the win. This meant for the first time ever ZERO #1 seeds were in the Elite Eight. 

When the games of the Elite Eight tipped-off on March 25th all eyes were on New York City as (9) Florida Atlantic Owls took on (3) Kansas State Wildcats. This was a game filled with dozens of lead changes, unbelievable passes and slam-dunks back and forth which created a raucous environment at Madison Square Garden. After FAU got up by 4 at the half, the Wildcats started the second half strong and grew a 6 point lead with 8:39 to go. But it felt from there that Kansas State was exhausted and just ran out of gas. As the game turned into an offensive slugfest, and the Owls took advantage. In the final moments, Kansas State threw the ball out of bounds and it signaled Florida Atlantic's first ever Final Four in school history with a 79-76 victory. It was an all around effort but guard Bryan Greenlee came up big with a huge 16 points in the team's victory.   

Although the second game that evening was eye opening in terms of competitiveness, it was every eye opening in terms of result. The game was between (4) UConn Huskies and (3) Gonzaga Bulldogs. When the game got to half many people thought this was going to be a competitive game with the Huskies leading by only 7 but they were gaining lots and lots of momentum. The second half however was not close with UConn outscoring Gonzaga 43-22 in route to a monstrous 82-54 victory sending the Huskies back to their first Final Four since 2014 when they won a National Championship. Jordan Hawkins led all UConn scorers with 20 points in the win. 

The first game that Sunday was a very uptight defensive battle between (6) Creighton Blue Jays and (5) San Diego State Aztecs. Many people didn’t know if this game however was great defense or if it was bad offense as teams shot a combined 39% from the field. This game went back and forth in terms of defensive stops and then maybe every 5 possessions they would score a point. With San Diego State up 2 with 35 seconds left, Creighton’s Baylor Schierman stole the ball and scored to tie the game up. In the final seconds, Aztec Darrion Trammel was fouled with 1.2 seconds to go. He missed the first of two free throws, but was able to hit the second free throw and send San Diego State to the Final Four with a 57-56 win. Guard Lamont Butler was able to net 18 points in the win. 

In the second and final game of the Elite Eight was a tale of two halves between (5) Miami Hurricanes and (2) Texas Longhorns. In the first half, it was all Texas as they jumped to a 45-37 lead and outscoring the Hurricanes by 7 in the last 5 minutes. But in the second half it was all Miami as they outscored Texas 45-31 and cruised into the Final Four with a 88-81 victory. Junior guard Jordan Miller clocked in 27 points in his team's victory, sending coach Jim Larranaga to his 3rd Final Four with 3 separate teams. 

It was now on to the final weekend of the tournament where the last four teams stood to compete for one national title and to sing the NCAA’s most iconic song “One Shining Moment ''.

Saturday, April 1st saw the semifinals of the tournament and it was the matchup of mid-major programs (5) San Diego State Aztecs and (9) Florida Atlantic Owls. For the first 25 minutes it felt like the Owls game as they led at that point by 15. But in a 9:30 spand the Aztecs were able to tie the game at 65. In the last 20 seconds Florida Atlantic tried to hit a layup to go up by 3, but missed it but then Lamont Butler went coast to coast to hit a game-winning mid-range jumpshot to send San Diego State to their first ever National Championship game with a 72-71 win. Butler scored 9 points in the victory. 

The other Final Four game between (5) Miami Hurricanes and (4) UConn Huskies may have had more talent, but the game wasn’t very entertaining. There were a couple instances where Miami was able to cut UConn’s lead to 2, but Miami never led at any point in this game. The Huskies were able to go on a big run at the end of the first half and breeze to a 72-59 victory to put them in the National Championship Game for the first time in 9 years. Adama Sanogo continued his great tournament run by scoring 21 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. 

Now, a tournament that started with 68 teams was now down to 2, and on Monday, April 3rd a winner would be crowned after the game between (5) San Diego State Aztecs and (4) UConn Huskies. 

Throughout the first five minutes of the game the Aztecs were able to get to an early lead but that was about the only lead they had in the game. Uconn went on a 20-7 run to grab a double-digit lead and that run basically decided the entire game because after that San Diego State basically gave up. Even when the second half came, the Huskies lead just grew and grew. The game ended with a final score of 76-59 and crowned UConn with their 5th National Championship in only 25 years.  In addition, the Huskies star center Adama Sanogo was named the NCAA Tournament’s most outstanding player averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds a game. 

All in all, the more prestigious programs in college basketball didn’t go very far, but it was very cool to see the success of rising programs in the game. This was the first ever tournament where a 1 and 2 seed lost in the first round. It was also the 2nd highest combination of Final Four seeds ever seen. We then saw incredible Cinderella runs from Florida Atlantic, San Diego State, Princeton, and the 16 seeded Fairleigh Dickinson. It was truly an incredible tournament for the players, fans and everyone in between. This tournament will be remembered as one of the most memorable NCAA Tournaments ever.