[ot-caption title=”Junior John Page basks in glory as the winner of the Type One March Madness bracket. (via, Ben Pierce, freshman)”]

When Florida Gulf Coast took the floor against Fairleigh Dickinson on March 15 to begin March Madness and dominated with a massive 30 point win, few could expect what would go down over the next three week in one of the most absurd tournaments of all time.  It had a little of everything, but the players that really stood out in this year’s tournament were the upperclassmen.  Some of the best included Villanova’s Ryan Arcidiacono, who was named Most Outstanding Player in this year’s NCAA tournament, Duke’s Grayson Allen, Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield, Stephen F. Austin’s Thomas Walkup, Notre Dame’s Demetrious Jackson, Kentucky’s Tyler Ulis, and Providence’s Kris Dunn.  What these young men did exemplified the very best of college basketball, and the way they played was just phenomenal.

Of course, March Madness wouldn’t be what it is without the madness.  Upsets were everywhere this year, and many of the games in this year’s tournament did not end the way that many people predicted.  The most notable shock this year for sure: Michigan State.  On March 18th, the No. 2-seeded Spartans faced off against No. 15-seeded Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders in St. Louis, Missouri.  Michigan State entered the Scottrade Center as one of the top two favorites to win the entire thing, and they along with the rest of the country were confident that they would leave with a win to advance to the next round of March Madness. Little did they know how well the Blue Raiders would keep up with them. Giddy Potts shot the lights out; the Raiders got to every single loose ball, and when the clock hit zero, Middle Tennessee head beaten Michigan State 90-81. As Middle Tennessee celebrated their unexpected, historic win leaving the stadium, Michigan State trudged out with their heads down, disappointed.

But that wasn’t all.  Brad Underwood’s Lumberjacks of Stephen F. Austin broke on to the stage by wiping the floor with third-seeded West Virginia and playing Notre Dame evenly until the very last second.  The thirteen seed, Hawaii, led by Stefan Jankovic, dominated one of the most talented teams in the field in Cal for pretty much the entire game.  Little Rock capped an unreal comeback in the last two or three minutes with a Josh Hagins’ prayer from thirty feet to knock out A.J Hammons and Purdue in double overtime.  Baylor lost to Yale.  And few will forget the drama Northern Iowa brought to March this year, beating Texas on a half court shot at the buzzer and blowing a 12 point lead in 32 seconds against Texas A&M just two days later.  March Madness is insane, and this year was no letdown.

After all of the great plays and games throughout this tournament though, none compared to the incredible last few seconds of this year’s NCAA Championship game between the University of North Carolina Tar Heels and Villanova Wildcats. This game is definitely considered by many to have had one of the greatest endings to a championship of all time. Throughout the entire game, the two teams were essentially deadlocked; nobody could really pull away, and it was anyone’s game. Villanova led by 3 with around fifteen seconds left, and that’s when the chaos began.  Just when it looked like Jay Wright’s Wildcats had won, North Carolina’s Marcus Paige shot a double-clutch 3-pointer to tie the game 74-74. The place went nuts; everyone was on their feet, shouting, waiting to see what would happen next. And just when it looked like UNC had forced overtime, Kris Jenkins happened.  Ryan Arcidiacono sprinted up the court and dished the ball to Jenkins just before the final buzzer, and the junior nailed a 3-pointer to beat the Tar Heels 77-74 at the buzzer and become a national champion.  Both teams clearly played an amazing game, but when it game down to it, Villanova just made one more, big play.

Like many others, Pine Crest Junior Christian Robinson was far from picking Villanova to win the entire tournament. He stated, “The team I thought would win was Duke because I wanted to see a Duke repeat lead by the probable number one overall pick, Brandon Ingram. Of course, like everyone, I was surprised that Villanova won on a buzzer beater, just after UNC had come back.”

Although Christian was not so lucky in this year’s predictions, Pine Crest Junior John Page took a chance on his predictions and ended up winning the school-wide March Madness picks, finishing in the 96th percentile nationwide and edging out Haley Mordis for PC’s championship. When asked about his strategy in predicting who he thought would win, he said, “My predictions were a mix of schools that I root for, match ups that were locks for the higher seeds, and upsets that I felt were going to happen because it’s March Madness and you never know what to expect.” Congratulations to John Page and everyone else who took part in this year’s March Madness bracket!

March Madness is celebrated all across the country, with nearly 60 million Americans filling out their brackets for this year’s season, including President Barack Obama. March Madness truly is an exciting time for many basketball fans, and this year’s tournament was no different.  Until next season college basketball.