The 2023 NCAA March Madness men’s basketball tournament is now down to just the final four, and what a ride it has been. With the way things have been going, it may be time to declare this the greatest March Madness of all time, and we haven’t even reached the conclusion yet.  

For starters, this is the first time in NCAA history that no one-seeded team made it to the Elite Eight, as well as the first time that all Final Four teams are above a four-seed. Those two stats alone make this tournament absolutely iconic. But what else has made this tournament so special?  

Well, we were lucky enough to witness a 16-seed knock off a one seed for just the second time in NCAA history when the Knights of Fairleigh Dickinson University knocked off the Big Ten champion Purdue Boilermakers in a thriller. This was the first time this has happened since UMBC was able to knock off Virginia back in 2018, and is likely not to happen again for quite some time.  

To go along with that, for the third straight year we had a 15 seed take down a two seed, this year the 15 seed being Princeton, who was able to string together a nice little Cinderella run all the way to the Sweet Sixteen, before being taken down by Creighton. Historically, 15-seeds only win their first round game just above 6% of the time, so seeing them win two games to make it to the Sweet Sixteen was truly something special.  

This tournament has also given us its fair share of unbelievable game winning shots. One being Furhmans late three pointer following a turnover by Virginia with just seconds remaining, catapulting Fuhrman to just their second NCAA tournament win in the history of their school. The other being a three-pointer from the edge of the logo at center court by Gonzaga guard Julian Strawther to cap off a 13-point comeback for the Bulldogs against their tournament rival, the UCLA Bruins, to send Gonzaga to the Elite Eight.  

Now we reach the Final Four, where the only teams remaining are UConn, San Diego State (SDSU), Miami and Florida Atlantic University (FAU). UConn is the only team remaining that has ever won an NCAA Men’s basketball championship, so there’s a very good chance that we will see a first time champion. What more could you possibly ask for? The whole reasoning of this tournament is to give non-power five schools an equal opportunity to win a championship, and wow has that worked out to perfection this year. 

The Final Four takes place on April 1, when nine-seeded FAU takes on five-seeded SDSU and four-seed UConn squares off with the other five-seed Miami. The championship game is set for April 3.  

It’s safe to say that everyone’s brackets are completely obliterated, which is a good sign of a beautifully entertaining tournament. It’s sad to see it come to a close, but we can only hope the concluding games of this tournament are the perfect farewell to what has been an absolutely captivating month of basketball.