March Madness begins

Brianna Crosby, Staff Writer

Everyone at Concord High School and around the world are talking about March Madness. In the single-elimination NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, 68 teams compete in seven rounds for the national title. When there are only four teams left, the penultimate round is referred to as the Final Four.

Matt Lehman, the athletic director at Concord, prints off brackets and sells them for $5. He says, “I have been doing this for 29 years. When Mr.Peterson retired, he asked me if I would take that over for him, and I’ve been doing it ever since.” His goal is to make a better bracket than Jur this year. In his bracket, his final teams are Alabama, Houston, UCLA, and Duke. He explains the “biggest upset during the tournament was Fairleigh Dickinson beating Purdue because it’s only the second time a 16th seed has beat a 1 seed.”

A number of students have had their brackets influenced by these upsets.   Anthony Evans says, “I had Virginia going all the way, but they got put out the first round by a 13th seed, however Kansas State is looking tough right now with [that] 5’8 guard. Michigan State is also looking really good, too.”

March Madness is great for competing against your friends. TJ Allen likes participating in creating a bracket “because it’s fun to make bracket challenges with the guys, and I like to make Abe, and Masen look bad.”

Abe Reiniche says, “I like making brackets because it helps bring out our competitive nature.”

The final four games will be held April 1st, and the championship game is April 3rd. March Madness is great for competing against your friends.  The NCAA sweet 16 games begins tonight and don’t forget to keep up with your brackets and tune in.