March Madness Stories

Most college basketball hobbyists agree that the most accurate way to predict this year’s wins and upsets is to consult the past. However, a gander at last year only proves there is one stable truth: one never can tell what is going to happen! The game is never over until it is over. One recent example of this happened in 2010 in a second round game between The Gaels and Gonzaga. Though the Gaels were solid throughout the season, nobody thought for a second The Gaels could kill Villanova. Of course, Omar Samhan and the rest of the team showed us they had what it takes, winning 75-68.

In the previous year, The Demon Deacons were in a spot they acclimated themselves to in the previous ten years. Though the crowds liked them and believed they would do well in March, it was also expected that they would lose to an underdog. The whispers were right, and in 2009 the Cleveland St. Vikings managed to kill the Deacons 84-69! Traveling back in time to 2010, everybody remembers when everybody expected the Kansas Jayhawks to beat Iowa’s Panthers with ease. The Panthers somehow pulled it together and finished the first half with a serious lead. In the end, they were just barely ahead, but major player Ali Farokhmanesh made the final effort and the Jayhawks left the court with their wings folded in defeat.

Back in 2008, Siena had a round one game with Vanderbilt, this would be the game that would go down in team history. Those Commodores were doing decently, but soon would suffer the agony of defeat. The Siena squad squashed Vanderbilt while barely seeming to break a sweat. In an even more shocking game, 2006 brought the Demons into the limelight with an unexpected victory over Iowa. Jermaine Wallace, the hero of the game, was even more shocked about the win. The game ended with him on the floor, not even witnessing his victorious shot land through that basket. Luckily for those who had placed a bet at the betting sites , as everybody in the crowd saw, Wallace and the Demons became the stuff of legends by beating Iowa 64-63!

Very few remember the long stretch of time before Florida’s Gators became the national sweethearts of college basketball. 2004 was a rough year for the team, but the beginning of some good times for the Manhattan Jaspers. The Gators were expected to play a tight game, but the Jaspers beat them easily, 75-60.

Though the Salukis of Southern Illinois had popped up on the radar, an amazing show of strength in 2002 really put them on the map. The Georgia Bulldogs were feeling pretty good about their selves, and most thought they would show the Salukis how to play a real game. Things did not turn out how they expected! Southern Illinois wasn’t doing well the first half of the game, but coach must have given them some serious pep talk during half-time, because they regrouped and managed to beat the Georgia Bulldogs 77-75!

Over the rainbow of time into 2001, Indiana St hadn’t won a tourney game in over twenty years. This being the case, everybody expected Oklahoma would win for certain. Maybe Indiana’s bad record made Oklahoma cocky. Maybe Indiana St. was just sick of being the underdog and decided it was time to get serious. Whatever the case, everybody was amazed when Sycamore guard Kelyn Block scored five of those seventeen points of his in overtime, despite having had multiple teeth knocked out! Victory was claimed for Indiana St, and Oklahoma learned the pitfalls of overconfidence. Way back in 2000, when Gonzaga was not well-known, and certainly not expected to be a winner, they showed they had major potential. The world assumed St. John’s would win the game no problem. Then, Gonzaga somehow managed to beat St John’s 82-76, and the unexpected win helped catapult Gonzaga to the top of everybody’s favorite picklist.

Truly, America can never be too sure who the March Madness basketball frontrunners are going to be. When one reviews the past, all one can really see is just how turbulent and unpredictable the game can be. No matter what, nothing is set in stone until the final buzzer!