Ending on April 3, NCAA champion University of Connecticut entered the March Madness tournament as a fourth seed, so their victory was not expected by any experts on ESPN beforehand. Despite winning the championship game 76-59, many students at WHS had Alabama University or Houston University winning the championship on their March Madness brackets. Both of those teams entered the tournament as the two best teams in the country. 

   This year’s bracket was particularly difficult to predict, but in reality nobody in history has ever had a completely correct March Madness bracket. Every year college basketball fans still enjoy participating in friendly competitions to see who can best predict the outcome of the tournament by selecting teams they think will win during each round of competition.  Participants in these groups earn points every round out of a possible 32 points over six rounds of the tournament,  earning up to 192 points on their brackets in total while competing against other fans. 

   As usual, March Madness brought excitement through its intense upsets, mainly speaking of Fairleigh Dickinson University, a 16th seed beating Purdue University, ranked third in the country and first in their section of the bracket. An upset this large has only happened one other time in March Madness history. 

   “I had Purdue in my final four. How could the one seed lose to the 16 seed? So my bracket was already ruined after the first round,” sophomore Elizabeth D’Amaro said. 

   Factually, after this game there were zero correct brackets remaining in the country. Another big upset that nobody expected was for 15 seed Princeton University to beat Arizona University, a team ranked eighth  in the country. 

   “I had Arizona winning two games, but losing in the sweet sixteen.  I thought that the upset between them and Princeton was awesome because rooting against the favorites in March Madness is always fun,” math teacher Bailey Fidler said. 

   Another intense upset in March Madness this year was when the second seed Texas University lost to the ninth seed University of Miami in the Elite eight, for Texas was favored by four points. 

   Overall, in an unanticipated fashion, all four of the number one seeds in the NCAA tournament were eliminated before the round of the Final Four, all by seeds lower than them. 

   “I mean it is called March Madness. I think it’s very surprising but that’s what makes making a bracket so fun,” junior Annie Dong said. 

   Many students at WHS also participated in bracket pools, where they can compare their brackets and find a winner among those in their pool. 

   “Every year my friends and I put money into a pool and the winner gets the money,” sophomore Micheal Zavala said. “It is always fun and competitive.” 

   Despite the fact that most WHS students participating predicted  most games in March Madness incorrectly, many students still had fun in the process of the tournament, as it brought students together in a competitive manner. 

   “I would definitely encourage other students to join pools and make March Madness brackets for the entertainment and the competitive but fun aspect involved,” Zavala said.

  AsMarch Madness is an annual event, and especially after a year filled with so many upsets and impossible bracket outcomes, there’s always next year for those at WHS to try again.