Another March Madness is in the books

Another year, another nine brackets in the garbage. UConn defeated Purdue 75-60 in last night’s men’s college basketball national championship, capping off a nearly month-long NCAA tournament season that featured epic comebacks and dominating performances on both the men’s and women’s side.

Some key takeaways:

• It was a blowout-filled tournament on the men’s side. Prior to last night’s championship game, the average margin of victory in this year’s men’s March Madness was 14.4 points – the highest such figure since 1993, according to Sportradar.
• Caitlin Clark continued to shatter viewership records. Each of the last three games of Clark’s college career set new all-time viewership records for women’s college basketball. Iowa’s championship loss against South Carolina on Sunday was the most-watched basketball game at any level since 2019, averaging 18.7 million viewers.
• Both tournament winners also entered the history books. South Carolina’s 39-0 record marked the tenth undefeated season in women’s CBB history. And, with last night’s victory, UConn became the eighth team in men’s CBB history to win back-to-back national titles, with their +140 point differential during the tournament marking the highest ever by a men's title winner.

🤯 Fun fact: A women’s tournament bracket entry on ESPN named “Courtney’s COURT 2” set a new world record for longest perfect bracket across official online March Madness challenges, correctly picking 50 straight games to start the tournament.