NCAA College Basketball

With college football winding down in early January, and the NFL wrapping up its season by early February, much of the attention of sports fans turns to college basketball. While the NCAA college basketball season begins in November, the sport takes center stage during late winter and early spring, as teams compete for a place in the “dance” of the tournament known as March Madness.

The competition narrows to the Sweet Sixteen which turns into the Elite Eight, the Final Four and then finally, the national championship game. In addition to determining the NCAA’s most supreme college basketball teams and ultimately, the champion, March Madness is known for its bracket. It is popular among die-hard and casual fans alike, as people try to guess winners, allow for upsets and predict the championship team. Regardless of who is playing, there’s rarely a dull moment and usually a few unaccounted for upsets.

Currently, the top 10 ranked basketball teams according to the AP Poll (in descending order) are: Kentucky, Duke, University of Virginia, Wisconsin. Louisville, Villanova, Gonzaga, Arizona, Iowa State and Utah. Kentucky is currently 13-0. Last year’s NCAA Tournament winner was the University of Connecticut Huskies, who defeated Kentucky, 60-54. The 2 teams were ranked number 7 and number 8 heading into the game. The women’s 2014 winner was also UConn, defeating Notre Dame, 79-58. This was the school’s 9th NCAA Women’s Basketball Title.

While fans are used to seeing traditional programs such as Duke, UConn and Syracuse often excel and advance, in recent years, there have been many surprises such as Florida Gulf Coast University advancing to the Sweet Sixteen in 2013. On Saturday, Seton Hall shocked Villanova, beating the number 6 ranked team, 66-61 in OT. Villanova was previously undefeated. Cal (UC) also beat number 21, Washington 81-75 last Friday. With upsets like this, weeks before March, this year’s tournament is sure to be another interesting one, full of surprises in both rankings and matchups.

The tournament officially begins March 15, Selection Sunday, and progresses through early April with the Final Four games taking place on April 4th and the championship game occurring on April 6th at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.