Historic first weekend shows student-athletes make NCAA Tournament great

The NCAA Tournament is referred to as March Madness for a reason. Every year, something different happens to set it apart from the previous tournament – Cinderella stories, buzzer-beaters and players rising up to become household names are commonplace occurrences in March. However, despite the expectation of unrivaled drama, the first weekend of this year’s NCAA Tournament was a different monster.

For the first time in history, a 16-seed defeated a 1-seed, as the University of Maryland Baltimore County not only beat the University of Virginia, but also dominated in the second half. Incredibly, a Virginia team that prided itself on lockdown defense allowed 53 second-half points to a team that…