One month ago college basketball fans across the country were filling out brackets in preparation for March Madness 2021. The tournament has been full of surprises, upsets, and an unlikely sweet 16. The undefeated Gonzaga University worked their way up to the final few rounds along with some unexpected competitors like the Oregon Ducks and the Oral Roberts.

For those who aren’t aware, March Madness is a college basketball tournament consisting of sixty eight teams who compete in seven rounds for the national championship. As teams play each other it eventually boils down to the Sweet Sixteen, the Elite Eight, the Final four, and lastly comes the national championship that determines the winning team.

“I enjoy march madness because it’s fun to watch all the rising players compete. Also there are always upsets and it’s cool when the underdogs win,” says Evan Kent (‘22).

This year’s March Madness went smoother than expected. Even with the world being in a pandemic, the teams were all able to have a successful season of playing. The most successful team of all though, are the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

 So far this season, even moving into the final four the Bulldogs have been totally undefeated. Most basketball fans and experts are banking on the Bull Dogs taking home the championship. The team’s number one on the majority of brackets.

“Oh yeah, Gonzaga has been playing really good. It will be interesting to see if anyone can challenge them,” says Mason Romant (‘21).

Gonzaga’s winning streak isn’t the only pattern in this tournament. This year’s March Madness has been full of the most upsets in a while. Upsets are when a lower-seeded team manages to beat out a higher-seeded team. 

Some of the biggest upsets of the tournament included the Oral Roberts, UCLA, and Florida State. All three teams were able to squeeze their way into the sweet sixteen alongside some of the best teams such as Gozaga and Baylor.

With big upsets like these brackets across the country have become even more likely to be wrong. According to the NCAA, the chances of having a perfect bracket is 1 and 9.2 quintillion. So if you were betting money on having a perfect bracket this time around, sorry to disappoint, but it’s probably not happening.

Even with surprising upsets that left many fans with holes in their brackets, we saw some overall great games this season. With the championship just one week away, hopefully the top two teams of the tournament will round it out with a great final game.