There’s a picture from March Madness 2018 that so perfectly encapsulates the two extremes of the emotion which occur after a dramatic March Madness ending. Michigan guard Jordan Poole had just hit a deep, off-balance 3 pointer at the buzzer to give Michigan a 63-61 win over Houston. After the shot fell, Poole sprinted around the court in celebration, his teammates chasing after him in pure joy. But in the same frame, a Houston player lay face-down on the court, crushed beneath the weight of an absolutely heartbreaking defeat.
If the shot had been just an inch or two off, then the roles would be completely reversed in that picture. Michigan never would have gone on a Final Four run and maybe Houston would have instead. What hung in the balance while the ball was in the air was two teams’ seasons full of blood, sweat and tears.
What made the shot even more legendary? Poole, a freshman at Michigan who averaged just 6.1 points per game, was known by very few fans in the basketball world before he made that shot. But after that wild off-balance 3 that ultimately sparked Michigan’s Final Four run, he became a March Madness icon, his shot forever etched into the tournament’s history.
Another March Madness icon, an announcer known by many as the voice of March Madness, Greg Gumble, unfortunately passed away on Dec 27., 2024, but was given a tribute video at the start of Selection Sunday, the day where the NCAA committee selects the 68 team field. In the tribute video, they played a clip of Gumble talking about what makes this tournament so special. “Aside from the fact it brings the best teams in the country together to play head-to-head, there’s also that possibility that someone unexpected will come out of the blue. If you like basketball, there’s no better place to be.”
That unexpected hero could be a freshman guard like Poole, sinking a buzzer-beater that changes everything. Or it could be Oakland’s Jack Golke, drilling 10 threes to take down powerhouse Kentucky. Or an 11-seed like Loyola Chicago, stringing together clutch shot after clutch shot on their way to the Final Four — spurred on by the unwavering faith of 98-year-old Sister Jean. March Madness doesn’t just allow for these moments — it creates them.
Known for being the most unpredictable postseason in sports, the tournament fosters an environment ripe for underdogs, or ‘Cinderellas’ as they are often called. Because it’s 68 teams playing in a single elimination style, anything can happen. A powerhouse can crumble. A no-name school could win over the hearts of the entire nation. And this unpredictably and chaos is what draws fans in, along with many that will rarely ever watch basketball. Trying to predict the chaos by filling out a bracket is an essentially impossible challenge, but it just makes watching so much more fun.
So much of our life is a routine: we wake up, go to class, have dinner, do homework, go to bed, etc. It can be refreshing to find joy in the unpredictable. To witness the world of March Madness is to step into a world where the potential timelines are endless. The underdog might prevail in thrilling fashion or might suffer a crushing defeat.
As another now former legendary CBS March Madness broadcaster Jim Nantz put it, “Everybody has a dream, and everybody has a story to tell. Just try to find that story. And lucky for us, we are in the midst of witnessing 68 of them unfold once again this year. And if history is any indication, this tournament will, as always, deliver a ride we won’t soon forget.”
