Excitement brews as March Madness nears
Beyond just the entertainment of the games, March Madness brings people together through brackets, where people try to correctly pick the outcome of each game. (Photo by William Murray ’25)
Each year, a bracket of 68 men’s college basketball teams make up March Madness, an event widely regarded as one of the most exciting sporting events in the United States. From overtime thrillers, to underdog stories, to people predicting the outcome of the tournament, March Madness is always a crowd pleaser.
Beyond just the exciting games, March Madness attracts many fans through their brackets. Each year, once the pool of 68 teams is made official, people create brackets predicting the outcome of each game and ultimately who will be crowned champion of the tournament. Believe it or not, a March Madness bracket has never verifiably been 100% correctly picked; the tournament upsets and unpredictability makes it nearly impossible to perfectly correct each winner of all 67 tournament games.
“I think a main reason behind why March Madness is so exciting is because of all of the unexpected results,” Jack Schwartz ’25 said, “it’s cool to see lesser known schools knock off the giants of college basketball.”
The most recent March Madness Cinderella story was in 2022, when the Saint Peter’s Peacocks, a college of about 2,000 people, a similar size to Staples High School, made a run to the Elite Eight, beating out college basketball powerhouses like the University of Kentucky and Purdue University along the way.
“Every year, we are left with a memorable moment from March Madness,” Claire Sandhaus ’23 said. “Last year, it was Saint Peter’s that shocked the world and made a run deep into the tournament; I look forward to seeing if something quite like the Saint Peter’s run can happen again this year.”
Staples boys’ basketball head coach Dave Goldshore fully picked up his love for coaching during his time at the University of Michigan. Goldshore was given the special opportunity to be a part of the Michigan Wolverines’ basketball recruiting team as a student manager and was able to see everything that goes on behind the scenes of a successful March Madness run while at Michigan.
“With the single elimination format, it was amazing to see just how much preparation went into each game in the tournament.” Goldshore said. “Beyond just putting the ball in the hoop, each March Madness game requires solid defense and firm guard play, two things that I have implemented into my coaching style today.”
Web Sports Editor William Murray ’25 has long held a passion for journalism, he views Inklings as a way to pursue his love of writing as well as his...
