THE FIRST WEEKEND OF MARCH MADNESS WAS PRETTY WILD. BUT LET’S BE HONEST. YOUR WEEK WAS PRETTY NUTS TOO.

As the student-athletes on the 68 March Madness teams embark on their wild ride, the rest of us non-varsity folk prepare for an equally insane last few weeks of semester. Papers, assignments, essays and exams are all piling up like the red crosses on my bracket. But really, we’re not so different from the college athletes on TV. Here are 7 ways the NCAA Tourney is just like regular university life.

1) Selection Sunday

The helpless feeling of sitting and waiting for a higher power to determine your fate is just like awaiting university acceptance letters. You tried your hardest over the course of the year to produce a respectable body of work (non-conference games and extra-curricular activities) that the selection committee will approve of, but you’re never sure if you’ve done enough. When the time comes, you might not get your first choice of school, seeding, draw, or region, but hey, you’re finally in the big dance.

2) The Underdog

At times in your university career you will find yourself greatly outmatched by an exam. You march into the exam hall as the #14 You versus the heavily favoured #3 Physics Final. Chances are you’ll get knocked out, but…

3) HEY CINDERELLA

You pulled off the upset! Time to celebrate with some wonderful dance moves and terrible beer. Remember this is still college and you haven’t attained NBA-level bottle service yet.

4) Procrastination Kings

Much like yourself, March Madness is a notorious procrastinator. Although you had a whole semester to work on an assignment, we both know you’re going to leave it until the last minute. Whether you’re printing out an essay 3 minutes before class, or submitting an assignment at 11:59, it’s going to come down to a buzzer beater. The results of this can be hit or miss. Just ask Wichita State’s Fred Van Vleet.

5) Improper Benefits – Neither of us get paid…right?

6) What happened last night?

Losing a game in the NCAA Tournament is just like a bad hangover. You’re dazed, confused, and feel sick to your stomach. A tournament that began with so much hope and opportunity comes to an abrupt end – and it hurts. Questions will be raised as you and your roommates try to piece together the debacle that was last night. Where did we go wrong? Fingers will be pointed while game film and incriminating pictures are reviewed.

7) Just Some Crazy Kids Having Fun

The true beauty of March Madness is the kids. Throwing 68 teams into a one-game knockout tournament is essentially like tossing 40,000 university students from all over the world into one campus: The results may vary. These aren’t professionals and you really don’t know what you’re going to get from 19 and 20 year-olds in the national spotlight.

In March Madness and university life alike, we see blood, sweat, tears, clutch shots, (lots of shots), bad decisions, elation, agony, and more bad decisions. When kids are involved you get the full spectrum of emotions and outcomes – and that’s what makes both of these things so freakin’ awesome.

By Ian C. Brackman