Installment #41 in Monolisticle's Ongoing Campaign Against the "Internet of Endless Listicles."
Pick an underdog. Any underdog. In fact, pick all the underdog NCAA Basketball teams to root for. That's what I do. And then hang on for the exhilarating ride.
Of course, that exhilarating ride could be maddenly short-lived. Or it could take you all the way to the Final Four. Therein lies both the joy (and pain) of March Madness. It's no less than the greatest underdog sporting event in the world.
And I love underdogs. Who doesn't?
Unfortunately, bracket-mania has many fans so obsessed with picking winners that all the rooting seems to go to the top seeds.
At first, that is.
But as the inevitable upsets rock-and-shock the first round, we all wonder out loud whether that upset was a fluke or a legitimate run. I, for one, am rooting for the legitimate run.
What I typically do is pick a single top-seed team to root for, and then also see how many lower-seeds make it to the Round of 32. Those are the underdog teams I latch onto.
So what makes March Madness so underdog-friendly and upset-conducive?
First of all (obviously), single elimination. This makes it brutally unpredictable, and brutally beautiful.
Second of all, basketball is the kind of sport where any great team can have an off-day. Any great team. Which heightens the unpredictability (did I mention it's unpredictable?).
Suddenly the best 3-point shooter hits a shooting slump. Ugh.
The star 7-foot center fouls out early in the fourth quarter. Double-ugh.
Basketball is also the kind of sport where a mere average team can suddenly have the best game of their lives. Like a player who normally shoots 20% from 3-point range suddenly hits five three-pointers in a row (you get hot, it happens).
Combine all these factors together, and you have the perfect conditions for an upset. Whatever it may be, or can be, it happens. Often. This is March Madness.
It's easy to forget, too, that these are college players. 18 to 22-year olds. They're still developing, physically. Still maturing, mentally. With a great coaching staff, a freshman can make tremendous growth in a single season, and be a much better player by the time the playoffs begin. Same with team chemistry. All kinds of factors come into play.
Which is why I love the NCAA Tournament so much, and can't wait for it to start.
So bring on the madness, and everything that comes with it.
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