With March comes highs and lows, ups and downs, and one frustrating (but amazing) sports event: March Madness. 

To start, I don’t know how your brackets went, but mine was awful. I had the University of Virginia going to the Final Four, and what did they go and do? Lose, to Furman University. Does anyone even know what Furman is, or frankly where it is? I’ve never even heard of them before. Although, I did have Howard University going to the Elite 8. The agony of watching Howard lose was just unbearable; I know they were playing the defending champs first round and all but I really did have hope they could get it done.

Due to my heartbreak, I decided to ask others how their bracket went, so that maybe I could live vicariously through them. Senior Declan Bianchi told me that he was hoping this would be the year because he at least had some final four appearances. “I was feeling great to be honest, I had Alabama and Kansas going far but the team I really had the most faith in was Arkansas, surprisingly.” 

Well, safe to say they didn’t end well. Arkansas got their butts kicked by the University of Connecticut in the Sweet 16. Speaking of UConn, did anyone have them going this far? I know I sure as hell didn’t. 

Moving on, I asked sophomore Allie Brown-Smith how her bracket went. “I had Texas winning it all, they were sooooo close.” She described her pain of the loss as, “excruciatingly terrible” and “disgusting.” Considering the circumstances Texas found themselves in, I would be crushed too. Highest remaining seed, best team on paper, and what do they do? They go and lose. Must be a Texas thing seeing as they like to follow the Cowboys in their losing ways. And of all teams, to Miami?

Lastly I asked senior Daniel Whitley how his bracket had panned out. “Dude I kid you not it was awful. I had Arizona going elite 8, and they lost to Princeton, like what?” This baffled exclamation is about the most relatable reaction for March this year. 

Even though UConn ended up winning the championship, it should have been Howard all the way. But again, it’s March Madness and this is what happens.