As the winter turns into spring and the months of the year reach March, there is only one thing on the minds of college basketball fans: March Madness, the 4-week period where college basketball fanatics are in basketball Heaven. The madness starts with all of the different conference tournaments, where teams end their regular season by trying to take down the rest of their fellow conference members in their conference tournaments.
After that comes the true show, the postseason tournament, where the teams who won their conference tournaments and other notable teams compete in a 68-team, 7-round tournament to decide who is the best team in the nation. This tournament provides for some amazing moments, where unknown teams beat powerhouse basketball schools, like when 16-seed UMBC beat 1-seed Virginia. Where Cinderella stories happen every year when all of America is rooting for some small school to make history. March Madness captivates all sports fans during its 4-week period, as almost everyone makes a bracket in hopes that this year is the year where they make the right predictions, only to see their bracket get busted on the first day of the tournament.
So, in order to get properly prepared for the tournament this March, here are some of the things to watch for in the last weeks of the regular season and before the tournament.
Teams at the Top
This season of college basketball has been filled with many upsets, twists, and turns. But, something that has stayed pretty constant is the top three teams in the rankings: Houston, Purdue, and Connecticut. These three teams have been dominating their competition all year, and are all lined up to win their conference’s regular season championship. Houston, who is in their first year in the Big 12 Conference, has been dominating teams using their suffocating defense led by Jamal Shead, which is ranked the number one defense in the entire country. Purdue has been beating teams on the back of their star center, Zach Edey. Edey, the reigning national player of the year, returned to Purdue after a disappointing first-round exit in last year’s tournament, and his return has proved very successful for the Boilermakers. Uconn has relied on the consistent guard play by Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer to lead them to consistent wins over their competition. In a season full of upsets and shock losses, these three teams have consistently remained at the top of the rankings.
“Houston has consistently been the best team all season,” Jack Brown ‘24 said. “Their amazing defense and three-point shooting has been amazing to watch all year.”
The BIG XII
One of the biggest storylines of the season has been the strength of the Big 12 conference. The Big 12, which is consistently referred to as the best college basketball conference, has proven its strength this year. In the latest postseason tournament projections, the Big 12 leads the league in teams projected to make the tournament, with 9 teams projected to be playing in March. Teams like Kansas, Iowa State, Baylor, Texas Tech, BYU, and TCU have been consistently ranked all year, and teams like Oklahoma, Texas, and Cincinnati are also solid teams that have a chance of making noise this year in the tournament.
“Watching all of the Big 12 games this year has been so fun to watch,” Guerin Houston ‘25 said. “Every game is a good game in the Big 12, and I am confident that Big 12 teams will go deep this year in the tournament.”
All-in-all, this college basketball season has been very fun to watch for the average college basketball fan, which will make for an even more fun March Madness this year. Almost every team has the opportunity to make a deep run in this year’s tournament. Just like every other year’s tournament, expect a lot of upsets, a lot of close games, and a lot of buzzer-beating shots. This year’s tournament is going to be one of the best us sports fans have ever seen, and every college basketball fan’s eyes are going to be glued to the tournament once it tips off this March.
