Photo by: Clarion
Lace up those dance slippers, because it is the most wonderful time of the year.
That’s right, the men’s Division I basketball tournament, better known as the “Big Dance,” is only a few, short weeks away.
This column may be about a week or so premature; however, seeing fans across the country from Blacksburg, Va. to Boulder, Colo., pour on to their respective home courts and celebrate upset victories this past weekend sparked my already-high March spirit.
Fortunately, I was able to see one upset live in person, live-blogging CU’s come-from-behind win against No. 5 Texas.
Sophomore guard Alec Burks may have given the perfomance of the year, finishing with 33 points and 10 rebounds for the Buffs, and recording 24 second-half points as CU erased a 22-point deficit with ease.
While I wasn’t as lucky to see No. 1 fall in person, watching Virginia Tech top No.1-ranked Duke was an exhilarating feat that helped trigger my emotions even further.
It’s March finally and for most men’s teams it signals the end of the season; however, for others it marks the start of a whole new season.
When I say it’s the most wonderful time of the year, I mean it. Although biased (I think the Big Dance is the best sporting event in all the world), my opinion holds merit.
What other sport finishes its season with a 68-team tournament that brings out the most pure and raw form of competition? None.
I am pretty sure even the Greeks would be impressed with the Big Dance, and if they weren’t, I wouldn’t care.
March Madness is so epic, it is hard to refute that its not the best method to measure who is the deserved champion.
If a team can survive the gauntlet of March, which not only includes the Big Dance, but the end of the regular season and conference tournaments, then they are deserving of hoisting up the national champion trophy come the first weekend of April.
It takes six wins to get there; however, fans know it is a lot more than just that. Avoiding David-like upsets as well as overcoming Goliath’s like Duke are just two things teams are forced to deal with over the three-week tournament.
Ironically, the team that can avoid the madness, in a time of year where it whirls around the air contagiously, wins.
The problem is for the entire field, you never know when the clock will strike midnight and the ball comes to a sudden, unexpected end.
For fans across the nation though, the only thing we can do is sit back and enjoy the ride, because March has arrived.
“It was crazy,” CU’s Burks said of the wild on-court scramble after Saturday’s 91-89 win. “I wanted to get out of there…people were grabbing at me.”
Yep, the madness has begun.
