For college basketball fans, the month of March is like no other.
We have seen tremendous upsets and brackets being busted, and legions of college fans are left speechless after the tournament is over. On average, there are close to 100 million brackets that get submitted worldwide. Some of those people are middle or high school students who are looking to win their bracket pool.
During the weeks of Mar. 16-30, it seems the whole world is stressing about which college basketball teams they feel can make a run at the title. Everyone is focused and constantly checking ESPN websites or listening to analysts to try to make the perfect pick. During this time, most students forget that they have to deal with the stress of school and completely lose track of reality. Freshman Nate Jacobs said, “I have spent countless nights watching ESPN to see what they have to say about these teams.”
Students prioritize what is most important to them in the month of March and at the top of these students’ lists is trying to catch every minute of every basketball game no matter what time the game starts. Junior Benjamin Fritz said, “It was a lot harder to focus in class because I knew that a team that I wanted to win was playing and I really wanted to watch during class.”
Students will do whatever it takes to watch the games, including wearing a hoodie to school to hide their AirPods so they could listen to the game or hiding their phones in their pockets away from the teacher. Sophomore Connor Koch said, “Every single lunch and after every period I would try and find a way to watch the games.”
Not only does March Madness affect students inside the classroom, but it also affects them at home. Students plan their schedules around the times of the games and homework is last priority. Sophomore Thomas Jezek said, “During March Madness, I would usually do homework around 10 p.m. because that’s when all of the tournament games have finished.”
Students who become too occupied with March Madness miss valuable time by not paying attention. If these students don’t learn the lessons that they are taught in class may be more likely to fail tests. Junior Hunter Cance said, “My grades dropped tremendously during March Madness and it took a very long time for me to raise them back up.”
