March Madness has sadly come to an end with the victors being UCONN for the mens and the South Carolina Gamecocks for the women. Both teams recently took home the championship win with UCONN defeating Purdue 75-60 and an undefeated South Carolina defeating an impressive Caitlin Clark, finishing off with the Iowa Hawkeyes 87-75 marking themselves as the March Madness Champions. 

For women’s basketball, both teams had an impressive season and were in the playoffs. A much anticipated match between Iowa and the returning champs LSU brought much attention and raised tension very high as these teams last faced off in the 2023 championship game where LSU brought home the victory. Stars Angel Reese of LSU and the infamous Caitlin Clark of Iowa both sought to bring their team to the final four round and once again the championship game. Clark helped lead her team to victory dropping 41 points on LSU defeating them 94-87. Clark and Iowa then went on to the final four stage, barely defeating Paige Bueckers and the UCONN team. Kamilla Cardoso and the undefeated South Carolina team strolled through March Madness, defeating Oregon State in the elite eight stage 70-58, sending them into the final four stage where they defeated NC State 78-59, sending them to the championship match. Both teams fought and played hard with Clark dropping 30 points and Cardoso with 15, yet South Carolina persevered pulling ahead of Iowa defeating them 87-75. 

In the NCAA men’s basketball, the UCONN, the Connecticut Huskies, had a successful season in the Big East Conference coming in first in the standings with their conference record this year being 18-2. Leading up to the championship match, UCONN knocked out Illinois in the elite eight stage 77-52, sending them to the final four stage where they defeated Alabama 86-72 later advancing to the championship match. Similar to UCONN’s running, Purdue placed first in the Big Ten Conference going 17-3. In the elite eight stage, Purdue faced Tennessee whom they defeated 72-66 and soon after in the final four stage, Purdue knocked out NC State scoring 63-50, sending Purdue to face off UCONN in the final stage. With both teams coming off of a great season and looking to end the season with a big win, players from both sides put their best foot forward in hopes of taking home the title. Purdue Center, Zach Edey played an impressive match dropping 37 points on UCONN, though, this was not enough to push Purdue through, UCONN later pulled through taking home the championship title, defeating Purdue 75-60. 

Though for some fans, the final results of March Madness did not go the way as anticipated as fan favorites like Caitlin Clark and Zach Edey not taking home the trophy. Yet, this year’s March Madness for both womens and mens basketball brought much attention to college basketball and definitely lived up to the excitement and heartbreak of March Madness.