Bright lights beaming down on the court, thousands of college fans screaming at the top of their lungs, and thousands more doing the same at their homes as the clock counts down 3,2,1. Then a final shot is taken from way beyond the three-point line where the sound of the net will seem to hush the crowd or make it twice as loud.

 Ah, “March Madness,” a name that truly does justice for the tournament. Starting in 1939, the first NCAA tournament took place with only eight teams, where Oregon beat Ohio State to become the very first NCAA tournament champions. But March Madness history is now such a big deal, with some of its most notable memories being in 1985 when they expanded to 64 teams in the tournament.  

Or how about the NCAA tournament theme “One Shining Moment” written by David Barrett in 1986?  In 1987 and ever since it has been used in a montage of the tournaments biggest moments with players, coaches and fans reactions, and one of the biggest events that happens that brings fans back year after year is watching “the Cinderella team,” where a low ranked team clicks together, knocking off some high ranked teams and making a big run for the title. 

Along with this is the “Perfect bracket” challenge, taking on this challenge means you fill out a bracket guessing the winner of each matchup all the way to the winner of the entire tournament. Now there are many approaches to taking on this challenge. You can look at the team’s statistics and choose from there, or you can choose by mascots which mascot will win the match up, or you can choose by emotion which team you like better if you have any connections to the school or if you just dislike the other school more. But there has never been a verifiable perfect bracket, so the challenge is still unbroken                                         

Doherty takes on the “Perfect Bracket” challenge.  Sports Writers Vincent Tomberlin and Garret Weaver filled out a bracket in which we had Kansas beating Texas in the Final Four and we also had Arizona and Memphis play which we rode Memphis out all the way to the championship game just to lose to Kansas.  Where do you stand?  Tell us your predictions and memories in the comments?