We have officially made it to April which means March Madness is coming to an end. Every year March is always a fun time for college basketball with conference championships and the tournament of all tournaments we call March Madness. The men’s college basketball tournament has a total of 68 teams that get a chance to win the national college basketball championship. Of those 68 teams, 31 teams are “automatic bids” meaning they won their conference championships which automatically qualifies them for the big tournaments. The 37 remaining teams are “at-large” bids which get selected by the NCAA Selection Committee before the tournament starts. Starting the tournament we have the first four games which are essentially play in games played before the first round starts. Once the first four games are complete, the first round officially starts where teams play to get into the round of 32 (second round). Once the second round is complete we have 16 teams left that are called the Sweet 16. Those 16 teams face off and winners go into the Elite 8 games eventually creating the Final Four teams. Final Four teams face off to have the chance to play in the National Championship game. Starting with Selection Sunday and getting all the way to the National Championship game is one of the toughest grinds in all of sports, this year March Madness started on March 16 (Selection Sunday) and will end on April 7th where we crown the 2025 National Champions! 

Usually I am always tuning into March Madness with the rest of the country, however this year I did not watch nearly as much as in previous years. The main reason I did not tune in much was during the first and second rounds we went on a family vacation out to California. I did end up watching a little bit of some of the games, mainly my North Carolina Tarheels even though they ended up losing in the the first round. Side note, being out in California (West Coast Time Zone) is probably the best due to everything being two hours earlier from my normal time zone (Central). Even though I did not watch much of the games of course I saw all the story lines, upsets, and scores from the tournament. Truthfully this year for some reason just did not hit the same obsessive nerve that I usually have for March Madness. 

I am not taking anything away from the teams, coaches, and players from this year’s March Madness but it just seemed different this year for some reason? Again, a lot of the reason is being on vacation and my team getting bounced in the first round but I think there are other factors for me not being as entertained during the tournament. The NIL and Transfer Portal I think has really changed the outlook on the tournament for me. You did not get the same passion from the players (it seems) like you did in previous years. With that being said, of course all the players want to win that’s the competitive nature but as far as playing for the name on your chest, that just does not exist anymore. I can’t tell you how many times while watching the tournament you hear “ This player transferred from here last year” or sometimes “This is this players third or fourth team after transferring” to me that just does no make it any fun to watch. I am sure there are players on teams that have been there their whole career, the immediate example is actually from the North Carolina Tarheels. RJ Davis played 5 years for their Tarheels and never missed a game (impressive right?). We will not see that anymore with the transfer portal, players are leaving teams left and right especially once they lose in the tourney. 

Let me be clear, I know it seems like I am hating on March Madness this year, but it is not all bad. We still see players that explode during the tournament creating memories that will never forget. We still see Cinderella teams that make it way further in the tournament than projected. Overall, it still is the best time to watch college basketball and one of (if not) the best tournament created in sports. However, I just hope it keeps its momentum because with the transfer portal and NIL contracts we could see a decline in the entertainment factor leading into just another basketball tournament instead of the most fun, entertaining, and crazy couple weeks knows as March Madness!