WS Chronicle

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament has begun, which means millions of people across the country have filled out their brackets to predict the eventual national champion. Even those who are not college basketball fans get geared up for the tournament.

Once the tournament began, people stayed glued to their electronic devices to stay abreast of how their brackets were doing. Almost every company has an office pool that allows everyone to participate in the madness.

Those office pools allow the most casual of college basketball fans to engage in the game. They also let the people who know nothing about college basketball get into the game as well. 

Anyone and everyone has a chance to win the office pools, because the NCAA tournament is so unpredictable. Every year there are major upsets and “Cinderella” teams that come from out of nowhere to make a run, so picking teams is really a crap shoot.

I remember one office pool I was involved in was won by a non-college basketball fan who only picked winners based on how their uniforms looked. I remember another pool where one person only chose winners based on the states she had visited in the past and she finished in second place. That really shows how difficult it is to predict a perfect bracket and that there is no sure-fire formula for picking winners.

The excitement and buzz the tournament creates is unparalleled in American sports. Not only do the fans get excited, it’s great to see those smaller schools get a chance to play on the biggest stage. You can really tell they are enjoying every moment of their experience.

Luckily for me, I am a fan of the North Carolina Tar Heels and they routinely are national championship contenders.  But the Tar Heels are only one of several teams that have a chance to cut down the nets, which makes this tournament so exciting.

To me, the tournament is so unpredictable because of the different playing styles of the teams involved. Some of the matchups that happened during the tournament would have never happened during the season. So some of the lesser-known teams can sneak up and beat one of the college blue bloods. Everyone loves an underdog story.

So far this year in the tournament, we have seen more of the usual. There have been upsets from lower seeds, dominant teams almost getting beaten, and lesser known players shining on the big stage. 

The odds-on favorite to win it all is the Duke Blue Devils. As a die-hard Tar Heel fan, I want to see anyone else win but Duke. Honestly, I must admit they are a tough team with terrific freshman talent, but I would not put my money on them simply due to the nature of the tournament.

I can’t wait to see who cuts down the nets.