Nicholas Bohlman ‘23
March Madness this year looked a bit different because of the virus, but that did not stop basketball teams from putting in their best effort in hopes to win the tournament.
With COVID, the NCAA wanted to keep players, coaches, medical staff and fans safe by having a set of health guidelines to follow. Some of these guidelines included frequent testing, social distancing to the best of their ability, 25% capacity for fans, masks and contact tracing.
The NCAA Men’s tournament was held all over the state of Indiana. The NCAA Women’s tournament was held all over the state of Texas. This was to eliminate the amount of risk of spreading and contracting the virus through traveling.
In the NCAA Women’s tournament, Florida State made it to the first round but fell short, losing by a score of 83-59 against Oregon State.
In the NCAA Men’s tournament, Florida State ended up winning the first round by a score of 64-54 against UNCG, winning the second round against Colorado by a score of 71-53, but falling short in the sweet 16, losing to Michigan by a score of 76-58.
UCF’s women’s team reached the first round of the tournament but was unsuccessful at advancing to the next round as Northwestern played a great game winning by a score of 62-51.
USF’s women’s team played a great first round game against Washington State, winning 57-53, but the second round is where their journey would end as NC State played a tough game, winning by a score of 79-67.
Florida’s men’s team made it to the tournament, finding success in the first round against Virginia Tech by a score of 75-70 but losing in the second round by just 3 points, with a score of 81-78 against Oral Roberts.
The results of the men’s tournament resulted in the two No. 1-ranked teams in their division facing off, but Baylor pulled off a win by a score of 86-70 against Gonzaga, winning the tournament.
The results for the women’s tournament were an extremely close game. No. 1-ranked Stanford faced No. 3-ranked Arizona. Stanford by 1 point defeated Arizona with a score of 54-53 and is the tournament winner.
Regarding next season’s March Madness, the 2022 schedule has been released, but is simply an outline, awaiting what may happen with Covid.
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