MITCHELL HORUCY
Assistant Sports Editor
‘Madness’ is defined as a state of frenzied or chaotic activity.
When it comes to March Madness, that might be the best description possible.
The 68-team, single-elimination tournament wasn’t always as grand as it is now though.
The tournament was started in 1939 by Ohio State Head Basketball Coach Harold Olsen.
For the first 11 years of its existence, it only had eight teams.
It continued to gain popularity and expand, which has led us to the 68-team bracket we have today.
The field expanded to 64 teams in 1985, and then would add four “first four out” teams in 2011.
The bracket has stayed the same since.
One of the many reasons March Madness has become so popular is the amount of upsets.
An upset is when the underdog, big or small, beats a team they weren’t projected to beat.
With the tournament being single-elimination, it doesn’t take much for one of these upsets to happen.
This is different from how the NBA does things, with their playoffs being a best-of-seven series.
Some of the biggest upsets in March Madness history were 16-seed UMBC over 1-seed Virginia in 2018, 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson (FDU) over 1-seed Purdue last year and 15-seed St. Peter’s over 2-seed Kentucky in 2022.
UMBC over Virginia is highly regarded as the biggest upset of all time, however.
Virginia was the top seed in the entire 68-team field.
The Cavaliers also entered the game as 20.5-point favorites. After going 31-2 during the regular season, Virginia would lose to the UMBC Retrievers by 20 points with a final score of 74-54.
UMBC would lose its next game in the round of 32 to the Kansas State Wildcats, 50-43.
Another term used in March Madness is the term “Cinderella.”
This is used to describe a team who wins multiple games as an underdog and goes a run deep into the tournament.
The St. Peter’s Peacocks team that I mentioned earlier might have had the best Cinderella run of all time.
They were matched up with the 2-seed Kentucky Wildcats, who were 18-point favorites.
The Peacocks would go on to win the game with a score of 85-79, advancing to the round of 32.
In the round of 32, they would play 7-seed Murray State.
They were underdogs in this game too, coming in as eight-point underdogs.
Against all odds, they pulled off the win with a score of 70-60.
After this win, they became the third 15-seed in NCAA history to reach the Sweet Sixteen.
Now facing a matchup against the 3-seed Purdue Boilermakers, surely the Cinderella story is over.
Little did we know, St. Peter’s had other things in mind.
Going into the game, the Peacocks were underdogs in their third straight game, as Purdue was favored by 13 points.
Purdue had future top five NBA draft pick Jaden Ivey and future NCAA Player of the Year Zach Edey.
The two were no match for the power of the Peacocks as they won a nail biter 67-64 to advance to the Elite Eight.
Unfortunately, the run would come to an end as they lost by 20 to the eventual national champion runner-up North Carolina Tar Heels.
This is not bad for a school that has an enrollment of 3,500.
With this year’s tournament underway, there have already been a handful of upsets.
The biggest one in my mind, and in most people’s minds, is 14-seed Oakland beating 3-seed Kentucky.
Going into the tournament, the Wildcats had the ninth-best odds to win the championship at +2500.
The team also has multiple future NBA players with two potential top-15 picks.
However, that wasn’t enough to stop the story of round one — 24 year old Jack Gohlke from the Oakland Golden Grizzlies.
The graduate student played four years at a Division II school before transferring to Oakland.
What makes him so special is his three-point shooting ability. Going into his matchup against Kentucky, he shot 335 shots this season. Eight of those came inside the 3-point line.
He kept the trend going when he went 10-for-20 from the field, with all 20 shots being 3-pointers against Kentucky. He led all scorers with 32 points en route to a huge upset.
The other big upset was Yale beating a championship contender and our very own sports editor’s favorite team, the Auburn Tigers.
The Yale Bulldogs came into the matchup as a 13-seed after winning the Ivy League championship.
Auburn was also riding high, as they were coming in fresh off an SEC title.
Unfortunately their ride didn’t last long as the Bulldogs, led by John Poulakidas with 28 points, knocked off the Tigers 78-76.
There were also some smaller upsets, with two 12-seeds and three 11-seeds winning.
The madness isn’t close to being over, as the Sweet Sixteen tips off this Thursday on CBS.