March Madness Lives Up To Hype

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2018’s edition of March Madness has been one of the most surprising and exciting in recent memory.

In the first round, the No. 16-seeded Retrievers of the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC)   beat No. 1-seeded Cavaliers of the University of Virginia, also ranked number one in the AP Poll, for the first 16-over-1 win in the history of the men’s tournament. The Retrievers’ magical run stalled in the second round though, with a loss to the Kansas State Wildcats.

Other upsets included No. 13-seeded Marshall topping the No. 4-seeded Whichta State Shockers, 13-seed Buffalo beating No. 4-seed Arizona, and perennial contender North Carolina being bested by No. 7-seed Texas A&M.

Arguably the biggest story of the tournament thus far has been a deep run by the No. 11-seeded Loyola-Chicago Ramblers. They began by beating Miami in the first round and followed up with wins over Tennessee, Nevada and Kansas State to secure its spot in the Final Four.

No. 3-seeded Michigan has been red-hot since early March, winning 13 games in a row on their way to a Big 10 Tournament Championship. They also managed to sneak by the Cougars of the University of Houston in the second round on a last-second buzzer beater.

The other two teams in the Final Four, No. 1 seeds Kansas and Villanova, are much less surprising contenders for the championship. They face-off against one another in the Final Four, which guarantees that a one-seed will go up against an underdog lower seed in the National Championship Game.

Both Final Four games will be played on Saturday, March 31, beginning with Michigan squaring off against Loyola, with tip-off scheduled for 6:09 p.m. The National Championship game is scheduled to tip off at 9:20 p.m. on Monday, April 2.