March Madness is one of the most looked forward to college sports events in the United States. This is the 85th year for the men and the 42nd for the women. The tournament is composed of 64 teams (for both men and women), who are split up into four bracket regions.
Men’s brackets are split up into West, Midwest, South, and East. The top team from the West plays the top team from the South in the final four, while the teams from the East and Midwest play for a spot in the final two.
There have been many upsets in the men’s division. In the West, #12 Colorado State beat #5 the University of Memphis, #11 Drake University beat #6 University of Missouri, and #10 University of Arkansas beat #7 University of Kansas; in the Midwest, #12 Mcneese beat #5 Clemson, all in the first round. In the second round, #6 Ole Miss beat #3 Iowa State (South), #10 Arkansas beat #2 St. John’s (West), and #6 BYU beat #3 Wisconsin (East). The #1 seed from each division made it into the final four, which hasn’t happened since 2008. These games will be played on Saturday, April 5.
The women’s brackets are split up into Spokane 1, Spokane 2, Birmingham 1, and Birmingham 2. Spokane 1 and 2 play each other for a spot in the final two while Birmingham 1 and 2 compete for their spots. There haven’t been nearly as many upsets, with the only two major ones being #10 Oregon beat #7 Vanderbilt (Birmingham 1) and #10 South Dakota State beat #7 Oklahoma State (Spokane 2). #1 University of California, Los Angeles (Spokane 1), #1 South Carolina (Birmingham 1), #2 University of Connecticut (Spokane 1), and #1 University of Texas (Birmingham 2) all have secured their spots in the final four. The Semifinal games will be played on Friday, April 4.
There has been some absolutely incredible basketball being played on the women’s side. Six games in the first round had scores of over 100 points. LSU vs San Diego State (103-48), UConn vs Arkansas State (103-34), Notre Dame vs Stephen F. Austin (106-54), Tennessee vs South Florida (101-66), Texas vs William and Mary (105-61), and South Carolina vs Tennessee Tech (108-48).
Many students filled out March Madness brackets, where they predicted winners of each game. The top two winners on the men’s side were either Duke or Houston, while on the women’s it was UCLA or UConn.
“I like that the momentum can change at any time during the game. Like it happened a lot in the USC vs UConn game, I remember UConn was getting basket on basket and had a like 19 point lead and then they got a time out and immediately when they came back they had an 11 point run and almost came back,” said Weslley Banziger, a player on the Hellgate Basketball team.
The 2025 March Madness Tournament has been full of high level, intense basketball that shows promise not only for the future of college basketball but also for professional basketball. With many young standout players playing alongside older well known veterans, college basketball is an incredible experience. “It’s all just so exciting to watch,” said Banziger.
