March Madness is an NCAA Division 1 basketball tournament. It consists of 68 teams in a single elimination tournament. Throughout the month of March and early April, those 68 teams compete in 8 separate rounds in a bracket-style competition, for one to become the NCAA Division 1 National Champion. As the final four is approaching, let’s take a look at the remaining teams. 

     North Carolina State is the Cinderella story of the year. This Saturday, April 6, NC State will be playing Purdue in the final four, after winning the South Regional. This is a surprising outcome because of NC State’s season prior to this tournament. The team ended in 10th in the ACC regular season, standing at 17-14 when March Madness began. This team has now beat 9 teams, putting them closer to an NCAA D1 National Championship. The team has been led by DJ BurnsJr, a six foot nine power forward/center, who transferred 2 years ago from Winthrop. Burns has averaged 18.3 points, 5 rebounds and 3.5 assists so far in the tournament. 

      NC State will be playing Purdue April 6. Purdue is a number one seed, who made history for their school by getting into the final four for the first time in 44 years. The final game on Saturday will be 4th seed Alabama,  vs. 1st seed UConn, also the winner of last year’s March Madness tournament. UConn has won 10 consecutive tournament games in the past 2 years by double digits, and only trailed in the second half of one game, for 17 seconds. Due to UConn’s impressive record, most are expecting them to beat the Crimson Tide. But with the unexpected results of the tournament thus far, no one can be sure.