Everyone is fed up after the first round of March Madness. Upsets were destroying brackets and Mercer made almost everyone in the United States cry. The March Madness phenomenon was turned into March Sadness during the first day of playoffs. There were very few people left who would have a perfect bracket or even a chance to win the perfect bracket billion dollars. Warren Buffett was most likely very happy after the first day of play.

As the NCAA tournament for March Madness basketball concludes bracket play and we fall into the final four, Apr. 5 will be a very exciting day. Who will win and move to the final four? Do you even have one of your favorites or backup teams moving on from the Elite Eight? If your dream team was knocked out, which team’s bandwagon are you jumping on? Personally from my past brackets, I always root for the Michigan teams. With the Elite Eight having very talented and well-known reputable programs in the mix, the hardest working and most dedicated teams will be in the Final Four. They obviously deserve it and have held their own against teams that have upset other big dog teams like Duke. Everyone in the nation was devastated when Mercer defeated the big team on the block, Duke and Coach K, one of the best teams and coaches in the nation.

A Millikin University senior, Brett Ketza, stated that “after the first round of play and with all the upsets, I just wanted to give up because there was no hope for the bracket that I made and especially after the Round of 32. It was just rock bottom after that.”

The Elite Eight brought a very exciting two days of basketball. The teams fighting for their lives in the Elite Eight were Florida, Dayton, Michigan St., Connecticut, Arizona, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Michigan. From here, every team showed that they wanted to move on, but there are no ties in basketball. Only four would move on to the Final Four, in hopes of making their dreams become a reality. As we wait for the Final Four games to air on Apr. 5, the nation will be anxiously awaiting who will end up being in the championship round. The Final Four games will not be blowouts and it is almost a given that they will be very close games, with one of them being determined close to the last few minutes of the game. Until then, the media will be analyzing every single detail of each team left and giving statistical conclusions and theories of which team will be moving on and why. With the Madness turning into Sadness, and fans jumping onto bandwagons to support the last surviving teams, one team will be crowned the grand champion and show the nation who now is the best team in the nation.