It’s That Time of Year Again! An Ode to March

By Stephen Barston

                  With Selection Sunday drawing ever nearer, the madness of March has started to find its way into all college basketball fans’ hearts. This season has been highly regarded as the year of the upset in the NCAA, each week seemingly providing another highly-ranked team with a loss. Despite the massive amount of uncertainty heading into the tournament, it’s inevitable that tournament time is when we all pretend that we know for sure what’s going to happen. In reality, that’s impossible. How can you even begin to understand the madness?

                  The month of March can mean many things to people all across the world: St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, even World Kidney Day (apparently that’s a real thing); but to sports fans, it’s a time when your team is never safe from being sent home unexpectedly, when your season could be cut short before you cut down the nets. As sports purists, we can’t hate this spontaneity. Instead, we have to embrace it. Even if it is your team that winds up falling short, appreciate how hard the other team worked. It was only five years ago when my Georgetown Hoyas were shocked by Davidson in the second round of the tournament. As upset as I was, I admired the poise of Stephen Curry as he knocked down shot after shot. There really is no time to hold a grudge. As soon as you realize that your team is done for, you begin to understand that what just happened is a rarity. The same sense of amazement and elation that the Davidson basketball team and its fans must have felt can’t be matched by any other sport, especially the NBA. The parity in these professional leagues doesn’t allow for upsets, at least not to the same extent as college basketball.

                  As we pass the birthday of the late Jimmy Valvano and the thirtieth anniversary of that legendary North Carolina State victory over Houston in the 1983 championship game, we need to recognize the lessons he taught his players each day.  He preached humility and confidence simultaneously, most notably remarking that “every day, ordinary people do extraordinary things.” We can’t hold it against the NCAA tournament that it produces too many upsets, that it can give David the strength to beat Goliath, that it may send your favorite team packing a little earlier than you expected; as trite as it may sound, there’s always next year. We must come to love these experiences, as they only come around one month of the year.

Photo Caption: Liberty University recently punched their ticket for March Madness, even though they are tied for the most losses (20) ever for a qualifying team.