GMHS Lasso Online

It’s that time of the year again: March Madness. For those who don’t know about March Madness, it is the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I basketball championship tournament.

There are 68 teams in total that compete in a single elimination tournament, which means that with just one loss, your team is out of the tournament for good.

This tournament is given the name March Madness because the tournament lasts from the first week of March until the first week of April.

In some people’s opinion, March Madness makes March one of the best months of the year.  All of the teams, those big and small, competing in over-packed gyms with passionate fans going crazy when their team gets that last second buzzer shot, makes March a very enjoyable month.

This year, some of the favorites are Ohio State, Duke, Pitt and Kansas, who started the tournament as top seeds in each of their regions, but just because they were number one does not mean things will stay that way.

For example, Pitt got knocked out of the competition by Butler in the last second of their game-- literally.

A more local team that made it into March Madness is Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). They definitely qualify as underdogs in this tournament, with wins over USC, Georgetown and Purdue.

As of now, there are 16 teams left in the competition-- the Sweet Sixteen as they are called. After these teams play each other, only eight teams will be left, known as the Elite Eight. This will then turn into the final four, but only two teams will continue to brawl in the National Championship.

The competition is high and the talent is young this year. All of the teams have a fair chance of taking the big win, but who will be the 2011 NCAA Division I champion?