Enjoying the journey of March Madness

I hate cliches.

They are lazy and an escape from saying anything real. They also prevent people about actually thinking about an issue. If someone says, “Plenty of fish in the sea,” or “Every dog has its day,” they aren’t truly thinking through their statement and instead let an old, used phrase do it for them.

So it is with a lot of thought that I say this: In March it isn’t about the destination, it’s about the journey.

Let me explain. While it does matter who wins conference and NCAA championships, that’s not what is remembered. That’s not what is fun.

What I remember from March is staying up late to watch Syracuse and Georgetown go to six overtimes in 2009, Northern Illinois beating No. 1 overall seed Kansas in 2010 or George Mason going to the final four in 2011. I’m going to be honest — I don’t even remember who won the national championship two years ago. Sure I could look it up, but what’s the fun?

The fun is in the fact that right now the only teams that are eliminated from “the journey” are the six Ivy League schools that aren’t Harvard or Yale — because the Ivy League doesn’t have a conference tournament — and Syracuse who is facing a self-imposed postseason ban. That means that 340 teams can still play in to the NCAA tournament.

Aside from the wide field right now, games at this point in the year mean more and pack in more emotion. Rivalries grow out of nowhere and opportunities for great moments are in surplus, even in games that are ultimately meaningless to a champion but advance a team one round in a tournament.

Take USU’s victory of Colorado State in the first round of the Mountain West Tournament last year, for example. USU won in extremely dramatic fashion after being down nine points with a minute and a half left. USU lost by 36 points the next round. Most of the nation didn’t even know, but that meant a lot to the teams involved. If you don’t believe me, watch the Colorado State press conference immediately after, which was stopped by CSU coach Larry Eustachy momentarily to tell his players present that he loved them.

March is riddled with moments like that. Cut-down nets, devastation, elation and of course bench celebrations. The heartbreaks are just as compelling as the upsets. For every Duke, there is a Mercer. For every Georgetown, there is a Florida Gulf Coast.

So this March pay attention, not to the last team standing, but to the teams who go further than they should have, the teams who narrowly escape upsets. Pay attention to the excitement that a team can get from going an extra round, from surviving another day.

Because, for simple lack of a better phrase, it’s about the journey.

— Jeffrey is a junior majoring in journalism. He is a St. Louis Cardinals, Rams, Utah Jazz and of course Aggie fan. He considers selection sunday the best day of the year.