March Madness Comes Down to the Wire

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Credit: Wikipedia

The madness of college basketball returned better than ever this March. This year’s tournament has been nothing short of magnificent.

The tournament contains 64 teams, which means 60 out of the 63 total games of the tournament have been played already. The four remaining teams are Gonzaga, Oregon, North Carolina and South Carolina.

In the first game, Gonzaga, a one-time Cinderella before blossoming into one of the country’s top basketball programs, takes on South Carolina, this year’s Cinderella. The Gamecocks completed an improbable run just to get to the Final Four as it beat the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 seeds in the East region. SEC Player of the Year Sindarius Thornwell leads the Gamecocks.

The Bulldogs survived a scare from West Virginia in the Sweet 16 before pummeling Xavier in the Elite Eight. The Bulldogs are led by big man Pzmerkc Karnowski and point guard Nigel Williams-Goss.

This will be the first Final Four for both teams.

The second game features North Carolina, which is looking to avenge a loss to Villanova in the 2016 championship game. The Tar Heels won a classic game against Kentucky to advance. Junior Justin Jackson leads the way for the Tar Heels.

Lastly, there is the Oregon Ducks. Oregon is in its first Final Four since 1939, which was the first Final Four. The Ducks have the Pac-12 Player of the Year in Dillon Brooks but have been led in March by Tyler Dorsey and Jordan Bell.

Kyle Caddo,  a junior at Williston, has been an Oregon Ducks fan since he was young. “I would love to see them win the championship. I think they have come a long way since the last season when they lost in the tournament. I think they can do it.”

The semifinal games will be played on April 1, at 6:09 PM and 8:49 PM and the winners will advance and play on April 3 in the National Championship.