Throughout America, the month of March is a hectic one, with college basketball fans across the nation supporting their teams in the NCAA March Madness tournament. Nevada is represented in the men’s and women’s tournament with the University of Nevada, Reno representing the men’s and University of Nevada, Las Vegas competing in the women’s.
March Madness is a men’s, and now women’s Division I NCAA basketball tournament consisting of 68 teams in single elimination games. The tournament has been going on since 1939 and is considered the one of the most prestigious tournaments in college sports.
It is questioned why Government and Economics teacher Mr. Nighswonger could make watching March Madness basketball games academic, but he has his reasons. “We are analyzing the court case Murphy vs NCAA,” says Nighswonger.
The court case was in 2018, and wanted the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which disallowed sports betting in America, to be overturned. The court voted in favor of this to be overturned and sports betting is now allowed in 38 states and Washington D.C.
Despite Nevada’s reputation for gambling, the state is 10th in America for sports betting. Despite this, Las Vegas still goes all out for March Madness.
“I always thought, because I was a sports fan, I always thought sportsbooks could be more than an amenity. When I started to coming to Vegas, sportsbooks were to me a destination that I would want to seek out,” Circa owner Derek Stevens says.
Additionally, Nighswonger had students fill out their own March Madness brackets.
“It was interesting to fill out the brackets and watch the games. I don’t really follow college basketball but it’s cool to follow the teams I picked to win,” says senior Celeste Torres.
So far in the tournament there have already been many upsets, notably the University of Kentucky’s loss to Oakland University.
“I am just so proud of the Golden Grizzlies and I knew they could pull off this upset and ruin everyone’s brackets” says Mrs. Smith whose alma mater is Oakland University.
The games started on March 19 and the national championship game is expected to be held on April 8th. This year, the University of Connecticut huskies are the favored winners of the men’s tournament while the University of South Carolina Gamecocks are 32-0 and are favored to win the women’s tournament. March Madness will continue to be huge in Las Vegas, and the final four of the 2028 tournament will be hosted in Las Vegas.
