Ah, March Madness. A glorious tournament full of triumphs and upsets. It’s the perfect opportunity for college students to take their minds off of the stress of school and cause public disturbances while cheering on their schools.
In case you didn’t know, March Madness Tournament is an NCAA college-level men’s basketball tournament that takes place in March of every year. What makes this tournament super intense is that it’s single elimination- meaning that once a team loses, they’re out! March Madness is insanely popular, with about 7.6 million viewers tuning in to the First Four games this year. Once the tournament begins, it takes off quite quickly, and it ends up being over before you know it!
This might be biased, but the showstoppers of this year’s March Madness have definitely been the UCLA Bruins. Our team started off in the First Four, which means that of all the teams that qualified for March Madness, we were among the last four to qualify. We held an 11th seed ranking- which isn’t a great one if we’re being honest. In the opening First Four game, the Bruins faced Michigan State and defeated them 86-80. Advancing to the First Round, the Bruins emerged with another victory against Brigham Young University. In the Second Round, the Bruins dominated Texas’ Abilene Christian University with a 20-point victory of 67-47.
This is when the hype around UCLA started to emerge. It has been a long, long time since UCLA has performed this well in the tournament; last year, we didn’t even qualify to be a part of it. As a First Four team, I don’t think many people had UCLA up high on their brackets. But with UCLA’s advancement to the Sweet Sixteen after an 88-78 defeat over Alabama, people’s heads began to turn.
A March Madness “upset” is when there is a difference of five seed lines (or rankings) or more. UCLA earned its first upset when they, 11th seed, defeated BYU, 6th seed. The history making continued as we defeated Alabama, the second seed. What an upset! A 9 seed difference! But wait, there’s more! Coming off of our first Sweet Sixteen win since 2008, we just defeated The University of Michigan-the No. 1 seed- in a nail-biting game. Bruin fans across the county were glued to their TV’s Tuesday night, and if their game night was anything like mine, it was full of pacing and screaming. Nevertheless, we emerged with a 51-49 win, all thanks to Johnny Juzang’s 28 points.
Westwood, UCLA’s wildest fanbase, erupted in celebration after the historic win Tuesday night. Students flooded the streets-most without wearing masks- and did everything from burn mattresses and ride in shopping carts to even hopping into firefighters’ trucks. While it was most definitely a night for celebration, the COVID-pandemic is very much still present. Celebrate the wins with your friends at home and continue to take the necessary precautions for any social gatherings. The madness continued this Saturday as the Bruins faced Gonzaga University, who currently hold a perfect 30-0 record. Even though the Bruins couldn’t pull out the win, they came closer than any team has this entire season, with Gonzaga winning in OT with a buzzer-beater. UCLA fans everywhere will remember this March Madness as possibly the maddest, craziest rollercoaster of emotions. Go Bruins!!!