For sports fans, March is often considered a favorite month out of the year. With the weather generally getting warmer, it means outdoor sports become more viable for many. At Rockhurst, that means activities like baseball, golf, lacrosse, tennis and track and field get going.
On a national scale, the Major League Baseball season is on the horizon.
But, for millions of Americans, what makes this month special is the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, commonly known as March Madness. The NCAA Tournament–with the popularity of bracket pools and the increased money connected to it thanks to legal sports betting–has become one of the biggest sporting events every year. With Selection Sunday on the horizon, we here at Prep News put together a bit of a primer as you get set to fill out your bracket.
One of the elements of March Madness that really captures the nation’s attention is the upsets and Cinderella stories. The most upsets in an NCAA Tournament is 14, a mark reached in back-to-back years, 2021 and 2022. Some of the biggest upsets of all-time happened within the past few tournaments. In 2023, a pair of major upsets occurred when Fairleigh Dickinson became just the second-ever 16-seed to topple a 1-seed (Purdue), and the 15-seed Princeton Tigers beat 2-seed Arizona. A year before, Saint Peter’s started their improbable run to the Elite Eight with a 15-over-2 upset of Kentucky.
Despite a lack of upsets in the 2025 edition (4), each tournament since 1985 has averaged more than eight upsets, so you can safely predict a handful–at a minimum.
One team getting some Cinderella buzz as we head toward Selection Sunday is the High Point Panthers.
“My sleeper team this year is High Point University,” junior Jack Grisolano said.
High Point won the Big South Conference tournament by beating the 2-seed Winthrop Eagles 91-76. High Point is 30-4 this season, with their only losses coming at the hands of Winthrop during conference play, and to Appalachian State, Southern Illinois, and the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) early in the year. High Point made the NCAA Tournament last year, but lost as a 13-seed to Purdue in the first round. An offense averaging roughly 90 points per game is a primary source of optimism about this year’s team.
A team with a lot of interest in this part of the country and plenty of NCAA Tournament history–both the good and not-so-good kind–is the Kansas Jayhawks. Despite their storied history, they will likely enter the tournament with relatively low expectations given their 23-10 record this season.
“They [Kansas] are either going to win the whole thing or lose in the second round,” Grisolano said.
The source of KU’s unpredictability is also a reason some see them as a sleeper pick to make a run in the tournament: freshman sensation Darryn Peterson. Many mock drafts have him as a possible No. 1 overall NBA draft pick, but his varied availability due to injuries created an inconsistent dynamic with the team. He’s averaging 19.9 points per game when he plays, though, so a healthy Peterson could carry the Jayhawks.
The conclusion of conference tournaments can add some clarity to the tournament picture. In the Ivy League, for instance, the Penn Quakers earned the automatic bid by edging the top-seeded Yale Bulldogs in overtime. Penn has had an up and down season, with their record coming to 18-11, but went on a run in their conference tournament. In the championship game, fifth-year senior TJ Power’s 44-point performance powered them to the win.
The Mid-American Conference also produced an upset automatic bid, as Akron emerged from the field. Miami (OH) was the top-seed and the lone undefeated team in Division 1, but the Redhawks lost in the first round 8-seed Massachusetts. Their 350th-ranked schedule (out of 365 teams) puts their tournament bid prospects in doubt.
The power conferences all produced tournament champions who could compete for a national championship.
The Arizona Wildcats looked like one of the best teams in the country in winning the Big 12 Tournament 79-74 over the Houston Cougars.
Duke topped Virginia 74-70 to claim the ACC Tournament crown.
Freshman Darius Acuff Jr. led Arkansas to the SEC Tournament title, scoring 30 points as the Razorbacks beat Vanderbilt 86-75.
St. John’s blew out Connecticut in the Big East Tournament, winning 72-52.
Purdue upset top-seeded Michigan 80-72 to win the Big Ten Tournament.
Each of those five teams enters the NCAA Tournament with championship aspirations, as do the teams they defeated in their respective conference tournament title games. Add in other teams that are sure to be higher seeds when the brackets are announced–like Michigan State, Illinois, Nebraska, Florida and Iowa State–and this edition of March Madness could be one certainly befitting the moniker.
