Organizers hype the annual NCAA Division 1 Basketball Tournament as ‘March Madness.’ They do so to exploit ‘the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat’ inherent in low-seeded (a.k.a. Cinderella) teams upsetting top-seeded ones — often with buzzer-beating hail marys.
Except that this year’s tournament hasn’t quite lived up to that hype. After all, the top-seeded teams in two of the four regions in the men’s bracket made it to the Final Four. And the women’s bracket played out even more predictably – with the top-seeded teams in two regions being joined by two second-seeded teams from the other two.
(“NCAA March Madness – and Then There’s the Women of UConn,” The iPINIONS Journal, March 30, 2017)
Well, so much for failing to live up to the hype:
Do you believe in miracles?
Don’t laugh — this might have been the greatest upset of them all.
Mississippi State stunned the sports world Friday, as Morgan William’s jumper at the buzzer ended the latest UConn dynasty in dramatic fashion, giving the Bulldogs a 66-64 overtime win in the Final Four.
(Yahoo! Sports, April 1, 2017)
And no, this is not an April Fool’s joke. For a little perspective, though, it might help to know that UConn defeated Mississippi State by 60 points when they tangoed last year in a “Sweet Sixteen” game.
Meanwhile, if anyone had a perfect bracket going into this game, I’d bet my life savings that it’s now busted like every other one.
Congrats, Mississippi State! Enjoy the final “Big Dance.”
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