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Making the Most of March Madness

We’re less than one week away from Selection Sunday, and that means this newsletter is going into FULL MARCH MADNESS MODE.

Don’t worry; we’ll have plenty of NBA action in the coming months. But for the next few weeks, the NCAA Tournament is top of mind.

I fully understand that most people do not care about this basketball spectacle as much as I do. Yet even the most casual fans can get swept up in the magical moments throughout college basketball’s premier event.

If you’re not sure where to start, here’s your 4-step checklist to making the most of your March Madness experience.

1. Learn the Boss Button

The NCAA has had this cute lil’ feature for nearly two decades. Sure, you can watch a game live on TV or on the official March Madness app.

But the real fun lies on the NCAA.com website. If you’re trying to sneak a game at the office and someone walks by, you can click the handy Boss Button.

Doing so will fill your screen with a variety of graphs, charts, and Zoom screens to make it look like you’re hard at work and not wondering if that Northwestern to the Final Four selection was actually quite silly.

2. Know the Mascots

If you’re nearby any of these men’s NCAA Tournament cities or live close to one of the host schools in the women’s NCAA Tournament, I’d highly recommend attending a game in person.

The atmosphere is eclectic, and most importantly, you can get quality pictures.

Over the years, I’ve attended five different NCAA Tournaments in person.

The first year, I snagged a picture with one mascot, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

I make it my mission to get a picture with all the mascots. In most cases, that’s eight different mementos. Sometimes, though, a school doesn’t bring its mascot to the NCAA Tournament (looking at you, 2022 San Diego State), and I don’t get a photo.

But usually, I do.

When you’re trying to snap a pic, my top tip is to BE BOLD. Smooth talk the usher into letting you walk down to the court. Learn the mascot’s name so you can quickly yell it out and mime a photo. And be polite; give a handshake or high-five afterward.

Finally, have your camera or phone ready. We ain’t got time to dilly-dally, we have some basketball games to win.

(By the way, here’s a mascot refresher if you need it.)

3. Share Some Stats

When the brackets come out, talking heads start spouting off all kinds of data. Realistically, these monologues started months ago.

I’ll be sharing some of those fun facts next week, but for now, we don’t need to worry about Iowa State’s NET ranking or Xavier’s predictive metrics.

For now, here are four silly platitudes you can share to impress people. Or maybe they’ll just roll their eyes. But you’ll get a reaction, and that’s the important thing.

You have a 1 in 9.2 quintillion chance of completing a perfect bracket. That’s 17 zeroes, if you’re scoring at home.
The University of Connecticut is the only school to win the men’s and women’s tournaments in the same season. They did it in 2004 and 2014, which logically means they’ll do it again next year.
Austin Carr holds the record for most points in a single men’s NCAA Tournament game, scoring 61 points in a 1970 first-round game for Notre Dame. On the women’s side, Lorri Bauman scored 50 points in 1982 for Drake. Got to looooove the Drake.
The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is one year older than the NCAA Tournament (1938 vs. 1939). For a while, it was seen as the superior event, though that’s no longer the case. A bonus fun fact: I thought the NIT stood for “Not In Tournament” for about 16 years of my life.