March Madness Monday

March Madness is the best.

End post. Publish.

Just kidding, I have more to say.

Tonight is going to be an incredible night of women’s basketball, featuring four of the superstars of the sport. More on that in a bit, though.

I’ve been filling out a March Madness bracket for – I want to say – at least twelve years, but have been paying attention to the tournament since 2004 or 2005 (if not sooner). One of my earliest memories of the men’s college basketball tournament was seeing Chris Paul play for Wake Forest.

To this day I remember thinking, “This guy won’t let his team lose.” He took over a game in the fourth quarter and willed his team to victory.

Here in Canada, there was live whip-around coverage on a sports station called theScore. The coverage was basically the NFL RedZone channel before the NFL RedZone channel was a thing.

It was the best. They would jump from game to game, depending on time, score, and situation. The excitement was palpable. As a young sports fan, I couldn’t think of anything better.

I love sports because you never really know what’s going to happen. You never know when the underdog is going to prevail. You never know when you’re going to see something you’ve never seen before. You never know when the drama of the game is going to increase your heart rate as you sit on the couch.

March Madness appeals to all of those things.

Even with the well-deserved NIL deals to college athletes now, March Madness still feels like the purest form of competition out there right now. We’re seeing players give everything they have – some trying to extend their playing career just one more game.

And sometimes when it doesn’t happen and the finality of it all sets it, we see tears. It’s pure, it’s raw, and it’s incredible.

We love the upsets. We love the underdogs – the Cinderellas. We love One Shining Moment.

Filling out a bracket, without little to no knowledge of most of the teams is a bundle of fun.

The 5 vs. 12 matchup is an annual tradition for all of us to rally around at least one 12 seed from a school whose geographical location is a mystery to us. Or maybe just me.

I remember in March 2013, I went to my university’s on-campus bar for lunch with some friends and there were multiple TVs with different games on and we all just started blurting out, “I have ____ in this game” or “I need ____ to win here”, as if our picks were bulletproof.

There were other people in there saying the same thing to their friends. Remember, this is a Canadian university. I can only imagine what the scene is like south of the border, especially at the schools who are in the tournament.

I envy you. Don’t take it for granted.

The men’s and women’s tournaments this year have been great, though I must admit that the storylines on the women’s side are a lot more compelling to me. I think the reason for that is because the superstars in the women’s game stay in school longer and we get to follow their story from year to year.

Oh, also the women’s game has more superstars. Period.

Whereas the best players in men’s basketball are darting for the NBA or another professional league as soon as they can and there’s a lot of turnover with rosters. Rivalries don’t get to build between players; it’s more of a school-school rivalry.

This is where we insert the long conversation as to why the women stay in school longer – not as many opportunities (roster spots) to play professionally in the WNBA, as well as money. In many cases, the NIL deals are more lucrative than a rookie contract in the W.

This year, I filled out my first women’s March Madness bracket.

Whereas last year was the first time I really paid attention to the women’s tournament. I’d like to say it wasn’t even covered on TV up here before 2023, but I might wrong.

Most of the credit goes to Caitlin Clark for getting me interested. They call her the “Steph Curry of women’s basketball” and rightfully so. She’ll pull up from anywhere and knock down a three-pointer with ease, just like she did when she passed Pete Maravich to become the all-time leading scorer in NCAA history.

Clark is one the of the most must-see athletes in the world right now. She’s not the only star, though.

This brings me to tonight.

In the Elite 8 of the women’s bracket, we’re getting two incredible matchups featuring four legitimate superstars. I beg you to watch these games tonight so your future self doesn’t have to lie and say you remember watching history happen right before your eyes.

In the first matchup, we have a rematch of last year’s championship game.

LSU vs. Iowa.

LSU won it all last year and whether it be by their own doing, or the media, they are the villain. They seem to relish the role, as they should.

When the documentaries are made about this era of college basketball, it would be boring if it were all sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows. As fans, we want personalities. LSU is providing us with personalities.

Their star player, Angel Reese, went viral at the end of last year’s championship game when she taunted Iowa and Caitlin Clark with John Cena’s “you can’t see me” hand gesture, as well as pointing at her ring finger after the game had been decided.

I loved all of it. This is what every sport needs.

Now, would I taunt an opponent after I just defeated them in a championship game. No. Do I have a problem with someone else doing it? As long as it’s not malicious, you do you.

We’ve waited an entire year for the Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark rivalry to come out with another chapter. We get it tonight.

When the bracket was released, I noticed that LSU and Iowa were in the same region and I thought it was brilliant because it made it easier for both teams to get to the point where they would face each other.

This is a rematch we needed.

Many others thought it was unjust to have the teams potentially face each other before the Final Four or the Championship game. I see their point, but what if one of the teams didn’t make it that far? We’d all be disappointed.

The other game tonight is UConn and USC.

UConn is lead by Paige Bueckers, who was receiving Caitlin Clark-level hype back in 2020-21 as the next great women’s basketball player. But then she tore her ACL in 2022 and missed all of last season, while Clark rose to superstardom.

Bueckers coach, Geno Auriemma, called Bueckers the best player in the country after a game last week. In wrestling, this would be seen as foreshadowing a future match with Caitlin Clark.

Selfishly, I’m cheering for Iowa and UConn to win tonight because I want to see Clark vs. Bueckers.

But USC has a freshman by the name of JuJu Watkins, who is already cementing her place as the next big thing in women’s basketball. She’s only 18-years-old but averaged 27 point-per-game this year to go along with 7.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists.

I repeat, she’s only a freshman.

The sky is the limit for her and after her performance on Saturday against Baylor, I couldn’t help but tweet: “Toronto needs to hurry up and get a WNBA team so we can have a shot at drafting JuJu Watkins.”

I tweeted the exact same thing last year about Clark.

Toronto has been dragging its feet in terms of a WNBA team. I won’t get into it here, but it’s been infuriating.

The WNBA has said they aren’t looking to expand until 2026, so Clark, Bueckers, and Reese are off the table for a potential Toronto team. But Watkins may be an option!

We could be talking about this night for a very long time, or forget about it by next week. I don’t know.

But we have four of the most exciting players in college basketball today, facing off against each other tonight.

Caitlin Clark.

Angel Reese.

Paige Bueckers.

JuJu Watkins.

Remember the names. Remember the night.

I can’t wait.

For those who are wondering, in the men’s bracket I am currently in 7 millionth place on ESPN. I have UConn defeating Purdue in the final.

In the women’s bracket, I am in 1.3 millionth place on ESPN. I have Iowa defeating Stanford in the final. Stanford has already been eliminated. Yes, I had them upsetting undefeated South Carolina. It won’t happen now.

I am, oddly, proud of my ranking in both brackets.

How are your March Madness brackets doing? What do you love about the tournament? Any memories of the tournament while you were in school?