Justin Saenz ’26

March is finally here! March Madness, the most anticipated time of the year for basketball fans, is upon us and this year’s tournament is looking interesting. March Madness is the yearly college basketball tournament to decide the best college basketball team. Let’s see how this year’s tournament is shaping up. 

For my final four, I have the 1 seed UConn, the 2 seed Arizona, the 1 seed Houston and the 3 seed Creighton. 

In the championship game I have Arizona taking down Houston. Arizona is a really fast paced team with an amazing defense and an even better offense. Led by star UNC transfer Caleb Love, Arizona is set to tear through their side of the bracket with a Caleb Love revenge game to give them more momentum. 

My dark horse is the New Mexico Lobos. The 11 seed Lobos is a fast paced team lead by their elite guards, Jalen House, Jamal Mashburn Jr., and Donovon Dent. This team will capitalize on turnovers and before you know it, they have scored 10 points. This New Mexico Team is truly fun to watch and I believe and hope that they will go far. 

Justin’s Bracket:

Jack Essig ’26:

March Madness is almost underway, and I’m going to share my best picks. 

In my Final Four, I have 2-seed Iowa State beating the 1-seed University of North Carolina, and 1-seed Houston beating 4-seed Kansas. 

My dark horse for this tournament is NC State. NC State is an 11 seed, but don’t let that fool you, they are out for blood. They are coming off of 5 straight wins in our nation’s capital to win the ACC tournament, beating higher ranked teams like Duke and UNC. I believe NC State will make it all the way to the Elite Eight, where they will lose to Houston. 

Iowa State will be able to cut down the nets after beating Houston in the National Championship. Iowa State has already beaten Houston in the Big 12 Championship, winning 69-41. Houston has a small disadvantage entering the tournament, as they suffered a decrease in momentum in their recent loss to Iowa State, but don’t let that fool you, Houston can make it far this year in the tournament. Iowa State is riding high after their Big 12 Championship, and are hoping to stretch that to a NCAA Championship. 

Jack’s Bracket:

Sources: 

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/game/_/gameId/401625446/iowa-state-houston 

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/team/schedule/_/id/152