The NCAA Tournament brackets were revealed yesterday on Selection Sunday, which means one thing: March Madness is officially upon us. Tipping off this week, the annual tourney creates excitement across the nation as individuals hope for the chance to see their teams cut down the net after the final buzzer sounds.
On the men’s side, the 68-team field includes UConn, Houston, North Carolina, and Purdue as No. 1 seeds, while South Carolina, Iowa, USC, and Texas notched the top spots in the women’s bracket.
Atlanta resident Brandon Gaudin, play-by-play announcer for the Atlanta Braves and college basketball, enjoys this time of year and being able to see some of the smaller programs who don’t usually play on such a large stage have the opportunity to live out their dreams and hope to achieve what some might deem impossible.
“I love the wall-to-wall action of the first weekend with games on four channels all day long, flipping back and forth,” he said. “Of course, within that first weekend, nothing beats a wild finish, complete with a buzzer beater—preferably where David stuns Goliath, and we fall in love with a new Cinderella all over again.”
Anna Tobkin, who lives in the Kansas City area, said she certainly gets wrapped up in March Madness, especially because it’s one of the only college championships in which it seems like truly anyone has a chance to win.
“It’s so fun that there are 68 teams involved, so almost everyone has a rooting interest of some kind,” she said. “Plus, all of the upsets make it thrilling for anyone to watch!”
Though viewership has varied over the years, the tournament continues to draw in millions of viewers each year. An average of 10 million viewers tuned in to the tourney last year, though that was a slight decrease from the 10.7 million viewers in 2022. To Gaudin, it’s the perfect sporting event.
“With college, there is so much pageantry,” he said. “The kids care so much, and it’s the only time you see the worlds of all types of schools collide in one event. We love the underdog story. We love pulling for teams and players we’ve never heard of just for the possibility of creating chaos. Also, most people have bigger-named programs that they have some interest in, which helps. So, everyone pulls for their top-tier program and then wants all of the other big dogs to lose. It’s [wait for it] madness.”
One aspect that many individuals love is filling out brackets, whether it’s with coworkers or family or friends and for fun or with money on the line. Tobkin participates in bracket challenges each year with her coworkers and family members simply for some friendly competition.
“It’s a fun thing to do because no one has any chance of guessing it all right, so it’s more luck than skill,” she said. “My sister always wins our family pool, and she watches almost no basketball.”
Her sister isn’t alone in that regard. Many individuals complete brackets with little to zero knowledge of any of the teams playing and simply guess their way through. Dallas-area resident Josh Odegard said he doesn’t follow basketball and doesn’t even particularly like it, but he fills out a bracket every year because CBS and Yahoo! offer free participation.
"I doubt I’ll ever win, but I know there’s always a chance, and it only takes a few minutes to fill out,” he said. “I don’t really know the teams, though, so I usually look at the rankings and mostly go with whoever is favored. I know there are always upsets, though, so I throw some of them in, too.”
Dallas resident Laura Hays also has no real rooting interest but has still experiences frustration when her bracket gets busted.
“I know nothing about basketball, so I often pick Virginia to win it all because that was my grandma’s name,” she said. “Of course, I did so in 2018 when they made history by getting knocked out in the first round, the only time a 16-seed team has ever beaten a No. 1 seed. But I did not choose them again the following year when they won the 2019 championship.”
Recent studies have shown that March Madness creates a significant amount of loss for many employers—a total of $17.3 billion in lost productivity, with 36 percent of employees admitting to watching games while at work and 25 percent taking time off (including sick days) to stay home or go to friends’ homes or sports bars to follow the tournament. Odegard said he doesn’t actually watch the games or even check his bracket much, so not getting much work accomplished is not an issue with which he struggles, though he understands how it could happen.
“I can see how a lot of people might be less productive if they are watching games instead of working,” he said. “I’m the same way every four years during the World Cup, sometimes watching three games a day and getting very little work done.”
Tobkin said it’s possible that her work effort decreases slightly for a few days, but she’s not worried about it impacting her job in any way.
“As long as you get the work done you need to get done, there’s nothing wrong with having a little fun in the workplace,” she said.
For people like Gaudin, though, it’s part of his job to stay connected to the tournament. Because of his line of work, he doesn’t participate in brackets, though in high school, he ran a tournament pool that even teachers entered. Now, however, he simply enjoys seeing everything unfold from start to finish, despite the fact that his beloved Butler Bulldogs didn’t make the cut.
“To me, the most intriguing storyline is Purdue,” he said. “Matt Painter has built an amazing program in West Lafayette, but they can’t seem to get over the hump in the tournament. Several big upsets have shocked them recently. Is this the year they make a Final Four and possibly win a national championship? I would like to see it. Painter is a great guy who runs that program extremely well. It’s top-notch, and it would be a feel-good story in my book.”
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Dash, the official mascot of NatNews, is clearly thrilled to be sporting festive attire for St. Patrick's Day