March Madness is a college basketball, one-game elimination tournament.  Given the nature of such a tournament, there are bound to be upset that create chaos among people’s predictable brackets. March Madness, is a one-game elimination tournament, which means there is more room for slip-ups with these teams.

Unlike the NBA where the playoff tournament is a series of 7 games to see who comes up victorious.  This can stir up drama within the college basketball community. By only having 1 game to progress or be knocked out entirely, the teams are inclined to give their all.  

One of the biggest upsets during the entire tournament was from the Kentucky vs Oakland game. Kentucky has “ 3 future lottery picks on their roster,” said Davonta Gatson a JV player at Hall High School, and lost to many players who “would not even consider entering the draft this season”. Many of the best players in college basketball end up declaring for the draft. A team with three of those players losing to a team with none is quite an unusual occurrence. Gohlke was a contributing reason for the defeat of Oakland V Kentucky, Jack Gohlke had 10 3-pointers in that game. Kentucky was projected to win easily and even make it to the Final Four losing in the first round was not in the books for most people’s bracket predictions. 

Another upset that impacted the college basketball community was the Duke vs NC State game. Given the popularity of their star freshman guard Jared McCain, their loss despite his stellar performance was surprising and will “boost his draft stock” says Amecca Freeman Hall High School Varsity Basketball Captain. 

On the other hand, there was a loss that showed no upside whatsoever which was Wisconsin vs James Madison. In Interviewing a girl’s varsity player, we receive more insight into the intricacies of the defeat.

“The biggest disappointment was probably Wisconsin losing to James Madison because they were seeded way higher than them at the beginning of the bracket,” Says Minna Ahmed, which is true considering that last year they did not even make the tournament.