Serena Platt, Editor-in-Chief
@splattcourant
Just around the corner is one of the hottest tournaments of the year: the NCAA’s basketball playoff tournament. Known as March Madness, this three-week long competition for the champion of Division 1 college basketball gains more hype around the high school than almost any other annual sporting event.
Captain of the varsity girls’ basketball team Maddie Donaldson has been involved in March Madness for years. “I have always watched March Madness with my family, and we always make brackets,” Maddie said. “A lot of people I know make brackets with their friends, and they’ll compete to see who has the best one. It’s always been a big deal at school because lots of people have siblings or family that are at big colleges that are in the tournament.”
When Maddie creates her bracket, she takes a couple of different approaches. “I look to see who’s been good this season, as well as who has experience going far in the tournament,” Maddie said. “Sometimes I just choose my favorite teams or colleges I like more. I usually go for the more popular teams and the schools that I’m interested in going to or have visited.”
Maddie is hoping to dive even deeper into the tournament this year and possibly get her basketball teammates involved in March Madness. “I think it would be really interesting if everyone on my basketball team did brackets together,” she said. “It definitely gets very competitive, which my team will love. Personally, I plan to watch more college basketball this season to hopefully have a better bracket than last year.”
Maddie’s teammate and fellow senior captain Natalie Plosker also enjoys sharing her passion for the upcoming tournament. “I personally love March Madness,” Natalie said.“The intensity is tremendous and it’s something my friends and family enjoy talking about. I’ve followed it ever since I was a kid.”
Natalie plans on creating her first-ever bracket this year. “I know many of my friends have made brackets because you can win a lot of money, and it’s also fun to brag,” she said. “I am going to look at player stats and team rankings. Knowing March Madness, the best team in the start often gets knocked off, so I won’t be choosing whoever that is to win.”
One of the tournament’s biggest supporters is math teacher Anthony Bloss, who can’t wait for the competition to begin. “What’s great about the tournament are the upsets and that there are so many games going on at once,” Mr. Bloss said. “It’s an awesome opportunity to get together with friends and watch. I’m interested in all of the games, even if I don’t have a rooting interest because it’s not a school I have any affiliation with.”
Mr. Bloss’ passion for March Madness began long before his time teaching at the high school. “When I was in high school, I would write out the brackets by hand every year,” he said.“When I got to college, my interest in the tournament really intensified. To this day, my college friends and I will still text each other during the games because it’s just an exciting time.”
One of the reasons Mr. Bloss loves this time of year is how it brings people together. “You’ll feel a buzz in the building during the tournament. It’s a good conversation piece for kids and teachers,” he said. “I love having conversations with kids about stuff other than math.”
Another reason why he loves March Madness is how well the underdogs can do in the tournament. “I love the upsets. Recently we’ve had some teams like Loyola Chicago that went to the Final Four a couple of years ago. It’s great to see those teams and those kids excel at that level,” Mr. Bloss said.
The central part of Mr. Bloss’ strategy in building a bracket is variation amongst the teams he chooses. “If I see a team and I think they’re good, I’ll run with them,” he said. “I do try to pick some upsets per year, because it doesn’t always go chalk. The top seed won’t win every single game.”
Mr. Bloss also varies his choices between the different pools he participates in. “I do a pool with my college friends, my work friends, and with my mom,” he said. “I also do an underdog pool where you pick 5 teams, and every time they win, you get their seed value, which encourages you to pick lower seeds. I try to make every bracket different to hedge my bets, because it’s not always going to go according to plan.”
Mr. Bloss believes that this year, compared to previous years, will be particularly special. “This year more than ever, I will probably pick more upsets. Besides Purdue, there has been such flux in the top 25,” he said. “Another thing that’s going to make this tournament especially fun this year is that there are a lot of teams that feel like they can win it, which isn’t always the case.”
Senior Ty Groff is yet another crazed fan of March Madness, and he gets involved through his family. “Every single year, my dad’s company runs a March Madness tournament, and people usually put some money into it,” he said. “Whoever wins gets the money, which makes it really competitive and fun.”
Over the course of the regular season, Ty keeps his eye on the teams that are thriving. “I like to watch some of the top teams and see how they’re doing throughout the year. For example, I’ve been watching a lot of the Big Ten games, especially Purdue, and they’ve been killing it,” he said. “I enjoy seeing how the top teams are performing, so I can predict how they’re going to do in the tournament and if they’re going to be able to handle pressure.”
Ty’s strategy in choosing his brackets is pretty consistent from year to year. “I think about years past and how well teams have previously done,” Ty said. “For example, ever since Virginia lost in the first round a couple of years ago, I haven’t had them going very far in the tournament, even though they won that next year. I look at which teams I picked the year before and which teams I was right about, and I usually stick to my guns about them.”
With such an exciting time of the year around the corner, everyone is gearing up to make their selections for who will take the 2023 March Madness title. “I can’t wait for the tournament this year,” Ty said. “I love it when the teams I enjoy watching throughout the season are in the running. It will definitely be very interesting to see how everything shakes out.”
