As March Madness approaches, interest is building within the Poly community. Students are creating brackets and following the tournament, excited for any upsets or interesting matchups.“I most enjoy the upsets and Cinderella stories,” said Maeve Bogaty ’26.

A constant theme from the student body regarding March Madness is the “Cinderella” stories. The teams that are originally meant to be eliminated early—the underdogs—but rise through each round, eliminating favorites. Although they rarely win the national championship, these teams attract people who don’t usually watch basketball and gain the support of fans who want to see dominant teams defeated.

An example of a “Cinderella” story from ESPN is the 2024 North Carolina (NC) State Wolfpack team, which was originally given the 11th seed in their bracket. They went on to win nine consecutive elimination games.

The unpredictability of the tournament has drawn many members of the community, such as Sophomores Johnny Rouse, Trevor Moskowitz and Andres Carson. “You never really know what’s going to happen. That makes it really fun, for example, watching a Cinderella story,” said Moskowitz. Similarly, an article from The New Yorker said, “The beauty of March Madness is [that] anything can happen.”

In other college sports, such as football, the playoffs are always the same teams, creating a boring, repetitive season every year. With March Madness, there are many teams and many upsets, so fans can never predict what will happen. “There’s just so much parody that you really don’t see in a lot of other college sports,” said Rouse.

Another aspect the community enjoys is the wide range of teams, which allows non-fans to watch as well. “I don’t really watch it [college basketball], but March Madness gives me an opportunity to get into it,” said Carson.

A popular March Madness activity among students is creating brackets, which are predictions of how the tournament will play out.Participants fill out their winner for each game.  “There’s always a chance that you can have a really good bracket, and I think it just makes it that much more fun to watch, if you actually have someone to root for in every single game,” Moskowitz explained. The engaging activity of bracket-making gives fans someone to cheer for, even if it’s not their favorite team.

I really enjoy the competitiveness of making brackets. I’m making one with my friends, and we all want to have the best one, even if the chances of having a perfect one are close to none,” said sophomore Joshua Lippert. Competing with friends, cheering for multiple teams and seeing who comes out on top are reasons for the popularity of March Madness every year.

All these aspects explain the surge of popularity that March Madness brings to basketball every year. According to the NCAA, the men’s final four games from last year averaged 15.5 million viewers and the women’s championship game averaged 8.5 million viewers, peaking at 9.9 million. The competitiveness, brackets, upsets and overall hype around the tournament bring major attention to the schools competing. 

For some students, this tournament makes college seem that much more exciting. The big games and loud student sections draw Poly students into the college atmosphere. Lippert said, “If I were to go to a big basketball school, it [March Madness] would be a fun way to integrate myself into the community and enjoy college life.” Bogaty, who will be attending Villanova next year, mentioned that she’s specifically excited to watch Villanova, considering it’s the first time in three years that they have made it.  She said, “I think seeing the environment and hype around the team, especially if they need to pass the first round and continue to do well, will be exciting.”