The Florida Gators, the University of Florida men’s basketball team, won the NCAA basketball tournament after beating the Houston Cougars on Monday, April 7.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is an organization that oversees major college basketball tournaments, including what many people call March Madness.
The game was close, with the Florida Gators winning 65-63 over the Houston Cougars.
Rishi Rajmana, an eighth-grader on the Voyagers team, thought that Houston was sure to win.
He said, “I thought Houston would win, they had a good streak going but Florida’s defense clutched through.”
At the end of the game, Houston was down 2, just one bucket away from tying or winning the game, looking shot. However, Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr., a 22-year-old point guard, stopped Emanuel Sharp, a 21-year-old point guard playing for Houston, from taking a shot.
However many thought that neither Florida nor Houston would make the championship game. Anshul Thakore, 14, on the Voyagers Team, said he thought, in the final four, that both teams would lose, and the final game would be Duke vs. Auburn.
“I expected both Florida and Houston to not make the finals,” he said, “and I wanted Duke to win it all.”
According to ESPN, Auburn had the best chance of winning the tournament following Duke, Houston and Florida.
The Brackets
Cindy Cai, an eighth-grader on the Voyagers team, said making brackets is the most fun part of March Madness.
“Although I don’t know much about basketball or sports in general, I find making March Madness brackets a ton of fun,” she said. ”It’s a bit like gambling, getting a perfect bracket or close to a perfect bracket would be the highlight of my life.”
A March Madness bracket is a visual representation of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, showing the path of each team from the initial rounds to the championship.
The NCAA explains that over 39 million brackets were made this year, showing how much fans like making brackets. Most brackets are only 66.7% accurate. The chance of getting a perfect March Madness bracket is astronomically low, roughly 1 in 9.2 quintillion, or 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808.
Rishi describes his tips for making a good bracket, for his bracket placed in the 98th percentile.
“First you need to make multiple brackets, at least 5, each one representing a different outcome, one for the underdogs and so on,” he said. “I made my brackets by watching YouTube videos and TikToks.”
