March Madness is Must-Watch

While other sports have struggled to maintain interest, the NCAA tournaments have viewers glued to the screen.

March 29, 2021

Tipoff

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament is must-watch content. If you are reading this newsletter, I didn’t have to convince you of that. You are, like me, a hoops junkie (or my family members and friends that I forced to subscribe - love you!). Then again, a lot of people want to watch the NCAA Tournament this year. The event has seen big ratings for the networks showing the games, bucking trends for other sports during the era of COVID. I have a few theories to explain this.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Outside of the Super Bowl, the NCAA Tournaments - both men’s and women’s - are the biggest sporting events in the United States. There are 136 teams involved. The first round of games also has a demonstrated loss in the billions on work productivity as adults tune in to catch the action. Losing the tournaments in 2020 to cancellation was a big blow to the nation’s psyche. The pandemic became very present and real for millions in that moment. Having the tournaments return, along with the vaccines, must be a good signal to the hopeful masses that would rather watch Oral Roberts upset Ohio State than complete another spreadsheet for the boss.

There is also something about the format of the NCAA tournament that is appealing. Each game is a single-elimination event, so if you miss out on the action, your team’s season could be over in an instant. In professional sports, the postseason is played in series. You can miss a game or watch the highlights to feel caught up. Twitter, YouTube, and other social media platforms can give you the big moments without having to sit down for 2 hours to watch in real time. The highlight plays are only part of the allure of March Madness. Upsets are so frequent and chaotic that they have become a signature of the sport. It’s unlike any other event. You just have to be there to see it.

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Tournament Tracker

It’s The Big Dance! Let’s take a look at NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament action and what lies ahead.

NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Elite 8

  • #12Houston vs. #12 Oregon State (7:15 p.m. EDT on CBS)

  • #1 Baylor vs. #3 Arkansas (9:57 p.m. EDT on CBS)

NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Elite 8

  • #1 UConn vs. #2 Baylor (7:00 p.m. EDT on ESPN)

  • #3 Arizona vs. #4 Indiana (9:00 p.m. EDT on ESPN)

The Mixtape

The Field of 68 team puts out lots of great content each week. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights.

  • BREAKING NEWS: Indiana University has hired its next head coach, and the choice was a bit of a curveball (pardon the baseball reference, but I’m very excited my Cubs will play a regular season game later this week). The next head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers will be Mike Woodson. The former Hoosier player and NBA coach will take the reigns in Bloomington to get his alma mater back among the blue bloods. A.J. Guyton discusses the hire with Rob Dauster on the House of Hoosier podcast. Can this long-time NBA coach have the same kind of impact that Juwan Howard has had at Michigan?

  • Speaking of Juwan Howard, that dude coached the heck out the Sweet 16 matchup against Leonard Hamilton and Florida State. Unfortunately, Michigan is going to play without forward Isaiah Livers the rest of the tournament. Can they move past UCLA to the Final Four? And how far can they go if they get there? Da’Sean Butler & Rob Dauster talk about the Wolverine’s big win on Sunday and answer the questions moving forward.

  • Let’s be blunt; most of the Sweet 16 games were total snoozefests. That was decidedly not the case on Sunday night during the Alabama-UCLA game. We had a big comeback by Alabama. We had a back-and-forth affair. We had a buzzer-beater to force the game into overtime by Alex Reese and his glorious mustache. We had referee controversies. It had everything! Da’Sean and Rob talk about the game of the tournament (so far).

  • None other than Scott Van Pelt joins Jeff Goodman, sans Robbie Hummel and his creaky knees, to talk hoops. The two discuss coaching vacancies, reporting in the era of COVID, and Maryland basketball. Will Mark Turgeon make a move to Norman, Oklahoma to take over for Lon Kruger? SVP has to talk about Maryland; it’s in the contract. They make Jay Bilas talk about the refs every game. They make Dick Vitale talk about the Yankees. It’s what ESPN does. And you know what? It’s good content.