March Madness 2026 has wrapped up and it was a crazy year to be an Iowa fan, but an unsurprising year for most. While there were some upsets throughout, the tournament still ended in a predictable way with one seed Michigan winning it all. UConn was the final opponent of Michigan, and although they lost, they still made their third appearance in the final round in four years.
The biggest surprise of the tournament was Iowa, who was a nine seed team. Iowa pulled off a small upset against 8-seeded Clemson in the round of 64, but the real shock was in the round of 32 where Iowa defeated 1-seeded Florida. Iowa pulled off another, less impressive upset when they defeated four-seeded Nebraska in the sweet 16. Iowa’s hopes of an upset championship fell through in the Elite eight as they fell to three seed Illinois.
NW student JT Ulstad said “it was cool to see Iowa go so far” echoing the sentiment of many Iowans and Midwesterners at large.
Other notable upsets include 11 seed Texas defeating three-seeded Gonzaga in the round of 32, and 12-seeded High Point toppling five seed Wisconsin in the first round: the first big upset of the tournament.
It was also a year for close games. Several matches ended with one or two-point differences. In the elite eight UConn beat out Duke 73-72. This was the same final score as the shocking Iowa/Florida game. Two seed Purdue barely beat out 11 seed Texas with a final score of 79-77. Ohio State and TCU also had a close finish in the first round as TCU scraped by with a final score of 66-64.
The bracket did have some upsets in the early rounds, however, by the final four the teams remaining were two one seeds, a two seed and a three seed. This meant that the brackets done “by the numbers” likely won most challenges this year.
On the women’s side, one seed UCLA won the tournament beating out another one seed, South Carolina, with a final score of 79-51. UConn, who was the top seeded team, won their region, making UConn the only school to reach the final four with both teams.
Overall, March Madness was still a lot of fun for college basketball fans and bracket participants, but the tournament didn’t quite live up to the “madness” name.
