March Madness

The media is having a field day with the NCAA right now. Especially with the men’s basketball tournament going on, the NCAA is getting a lot of attention. Beside that, the women’s and other divisions’ basketball tournaments have been getting a lot of attention. March Madness goes beyond the men’s basketball tournament, and that has been especially clear this season through the lack of upsets in the men’s tournament and the surprising victories in other tournaments.

Duke’s women’s basketball team was heavily favored to win the tournament. In a sweet sixteen game against a fourth-seeded Rutgers University team, which Duke beat by 40 points earlier in the season at Rutgers, Duke lost by one point. Perhaps the most thrilling game so far this month was the Division II championship game in which Barton beat Winona. Anthony Atkinson, a Barton player, scored 10 points in the last 39 seconds of the game to seal the victory.

But the Final Four of the Division I men’s basketball tournament is what is on every basketball fan’s mind now. The field has been narrowed from 65 teams to four teams: UCLA, Ohio State, Florida and Georgetown. UCLA is hungry for a rematch against Florida after losing to them in last year’s championship game, so it should be an interesting game. A lot of publicity will follow this game because it is such a highly anticipated rematch. The Florida Gators will especially get a lot of media attention in the coming days not only because they are the defending national champions, but because any game they play in the rest of this tournament would be either a rematch from this season or a rematch from last year’s tournament.

The last time the Gators played each of these teams, the Gators came out on top. Each team will get a lot of publicity and the athletic programs will benefit greatly. The tournament style of the championship keeps spectators hooked on games and anticipating each game more than the last. The plan is simply genius. All 65 teams involved in the tournament get attention, and each round the remaining teams get more attention. All the added publicity helps generate support and exposure for the team. From a public relations perspective, the tournament is awesome.

Let’s go Gators! (and let's go Lady Knights! Jersey pride baby!)