It’s that time of year again, so lace up your shoes and get ready to dance, because March is here.
It’ll take a few weeks for the men’s tournament to be formed; however, what transpires in these next dozen days is simply an appetizer, a first course, if you will, for the feast sports fans around the nation are about to consume.
Across the country, gyms are ringing with a familiar, holiday-like melody as arenas become louder and more sensational as the days fly off the calendar until the Big Dance finally arrives.
Saturday’s action, specifically Kansas’ 19-point comeback win in overtime over arch-rival Missouri, showcased what March is going to look like yet again: pandemonium.
In addition to that same Purdue’s upset over Michigan and Miami’s stunner over Florida State, this past weekend triggered my already-high March spirit and I can’t wait for the field to be unveiled on Selection Sunday (March 11).
Following the selection committee’s announcement, there’s only one expectation, or reality, for the 68 teams that are about to go dancing – take nothing for granted, because you aren’t guaranteed a next game come the NCAA tournament.
This idea gets lost sometimes in sports, where individual egos are so bloated players believe they are unbeatable. That’s the captivating beauty of March Madness – anybody can be beaten at any given moment – and that’s why we come back every year not knowing what to expect, but acknowledging that whatever does happen will be full of emotion and mayhem.
Someone could present the argument a No. 16 team has never won in tournament history, debunking the idea that “anyone can beat anyone.” However, just because it’s never happened before doesn’t mean it won’t ever happen.
What the tournament has proven time and time again is that there is no logic; there are no rules to be applied. If there were, then No. 11 seeded VCU wouldn’t have gone from play-in game participant – one of the last four teams in the field – to the Final Four last season.
It’s chaos, and, at the same time, it’s divine. It’s the best sporting event there is, because there is nothing else quite like it. In addition, March is the perfect month for college basketball to thrive in, because there is nothing to steal the spotlight.
Through January and into early February, football crowds the national sport headlines, while the NBA and NHL seasons don’t take their prime form until April. This leaves a much-needed gap in the sports calendar, which the Big Dance fills in March.
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’s early to predict who will cut down the nets and make it to New Orleans; however, I simply can’t resist. Give me a pair of Goliaths: Kentucky and Duke. And give me two Cinderella’s: UNLV and Creighton.
