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For anyone even slightly familiar with college basketball, March is synonymous with one thing: March Madness. Every year, millions of Americans fill out brackets predicting who they think will win it all in the NCAA tournament, including many here at Bethel.
"I love the March Madness," said Dr. Brian Ellis, Ph.D and assistant professor of biology. "I think March Madness in basketball is the most exciting sporting event to watch in all of sports, so I'd watch that over anything." Freshman Grace Haley, an exercise science major and basketball fan, also loves March Madness. "Every year my family has a huge family bracket challenge, and so I'm pretty into that," said Haley. "So, I always fill out a bracket... [and] we have a little bracket challenge going on in Shupe." On March 16, the UMBC Retrievers broke a historical record—and many brackets—by becoming the first No. 16 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed in NCAA history. "The teams with lower seeds have a little more motivation to play for," said junior Luke Fisher, a forward on Bethel's men's basketball team. "When UMBC beat Virginia, they blew them out, but they had to do everything right." Though several people have expressed disappointment at having their brackets broken so early in the tournament, sophomore Kristen Koteskey, a math education major, looks at the loss a little differently. "I think the joy of the tournament is to see the major upsets happen, and to see the Cinderella teams, or the underdogs, do really well," said Koteskey. "I think it's really fun to see those upsets... it did mess up my bracket, because I had Virginia winning the whole thing. But for me, I would much rather see those underdog teams and just the fun community kind of built around these teams just come together, and it makes it more than just a basketball game." The Final Four competition will be played on Saturday, March 31. The winners of those games will compete in the national championship on Monday, April 2. (Photo by dan carlson on Unsplash)
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