NCAA Tournament: Best Four Days in Sports
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - MARCH 20: Detail of a basketball rack on the court ahead of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Delta Center on March 20, 2024 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Today begins the four day stretch that is the best four days on the sports calendar. The NCAA Tournament‘s first two rounds are arguably the best consecutive stretch of sports days we get each year. The tournament has everything, and today and tomorrow are the days we see the upsets that shock the world and find out if we’re getting a Cinderalla story to root for for the next 2 weeks.
Over the next four days, we can be sure that a higher seed is going to fall to a lower seed. We’re not always guaranteed to see the crazy upsets in the first round. Only two 16 seeds have beaten a one seed, University of Maryland Baltimore County knocked top seeded Virginia out, and Fairleigh Dickinson sending top seeded Purdue home destroying brackets across the country.
We can be sure to see a nine beat an eight, or the usual five losing to a 12 seed. It’s these games that make the NCAA Tournament’s first two rounds exciting television. For the most part the games are close until the last minute, and if we’re lucky, the final few seconds. With no Philadelphia teams involved it makes it easy to root for a certain Cinderella that may emerge from this weekend. Yes, eventually you want to see the top teams playing in the most important games, but until then let the chaos ensue!
So starting today, get yourself a bracket, fill it out and prepare to be disappointed in your picks! If you’re all in on seeing a top seed go down today or tomorrow you should be rooting for Stetson, Longwood, Wagner and Grambling State. Good luck, and enjoy the best four days in sports! Check out my bracket here.
March Madness 2024 Power Rankings: These Teams Should Top Your Bracket
We’re into March, and it’s official championship time in the 2024 men’s college basketball season. Right now, games are being played that will help determine which teams will make it into the much-coveted NCAA tournament and March Madness. So, which teams should top your bracket?
The No. 1 seeds are no surprise, for the most part. There’s no way any other teams will be able to top Purdue, Houston and Connecticut. But, the rest is up for grabs.
Before we get into the rankings, let’s learn some fun facts about the NCAA Tournament. The very first March Madness started on March 17, 1939, according to BleacherNation.com. They also note that the first tournament in college basketball history had only eight teams. Oregon won the NCAA Division I Championship that year, with a 46-33 win over Ohio State. As for huge upsets, and I remember this one, during the 2018 NCAA Tournament, UMBC beat No. 1 seed Virginia 74-54. That marked the first time in NCAA history a No. 16 seed beat a number 1.
The Odds of a Perfect March Madness Bracket
What are the odds of you getting a perfect bracket? Not good. Not good at all. According to the NCAA, you have a 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 (9 quintillion) chance to make a perfect bracket. If you really know nothing about college basketball knowledge, your odds become 1 in 120.2 billion. So, don’t bet the house or first born on your bracket. That’s so crazy. For years, I was really good at doing brackets and even won in some bracket pools with coworkers and friends. But, then I stopped doing brackets for a few years, because I wanted to enjoy the game. Now, I’m back and ready to do a bracket again this year. My team, the Michigan State Spartans, have not been doing well lately. But, there’s time, and hopefully they can turn things around. Fingers crossed.
Let’s get into our March Madness 2024 power rankings.
Steve Vassalotti is co-host of “The Matt Cord Show with Steve Vassalotti” weekday mornings 6a-10a on 102.9 WMGK. He has been with the station since 2015. For WMGK he writes about inane nonsense that surrounds our daily lives, sports, food and other various topics. Steve writes about Philadelphia lifestyle content, the Philadelphia Eagles culture and trending topics.
