This piece is entirely satirical as a part our April Fool’s edition, the Trinibonian.
March is an important time of year for college basketball programs across the country, but studies have shown that people just don’t like basketball anymore. Ratings have dropped, and ESPN saw an all-time low in the number of brackets it received. That is why the NCAA has decided to pivot from the hardwood to the ‘Gram, turning March Madness into a meme-creation competition.
Schools have worked on their Barstool accounts all year, creating the funniest, wackiest, most engaging content to earn a spot in this year’s tournament. The conference tournaments have already provided intriguing results, with North Carolina State creating five absurd memes in five days, unexpectedly winning their conference as a 10-seed. Their magical run was capped off by a victory against rival North Carolina, who was heavily favored in their matchup.
NC State entered March Memeness as an 11-seed and has since advanced all the way to the Final Four, largely due to content surrounding MJ Flames, a 275-pound player on the basketball team. Flames is a fan favorite who has emerged in the tournament, giving NC State an unexpected edge.
NC State’s run in March Memeness shows this new version of the tournament has an unpredictability that was never seen in the basketball version. Perfect brackets used to be a common occurrence, but not a single person was able to predict the first round of March Memeness correctly because of the amount of lower seeds that won.
The University of Oakland, a 14-seed, knocked out Kentucky in round one. Kentucky was picked by many to the Final Four, largely due to their track record of content creation in the biggest spots. However, Oakland rose to the occasion, creating a meme that blew the committee away and earned the university a trip to the second round.
With this new way of doing March Madness, schools outside of the main six conferences are gaining recognition in ways playing basketball games never allowed for. While lesser-known schools have previously qualified, they were never afforded the opportunity to advance deep into the tournament. With this brand-new format, schools around the country are being recognized for their ability to create memes, which is way more important than their ability to play basketball this year.
Even with the increased number of new schools emerging as threats in March Memeness, there are some schools that have shown they can do both. Some universities that were known as basketball schools are elite meme creators as well, such as the University of Connecticut, or UConn. UConn won March Madness last year, and is still the favorite to win it again even though it has nothing to do with basketball this year.
The UConn Huskies are dominant, as they have blown past the competition in the tournament, creating outstanding meme after even more outstanding meme. So far, no other university has come close to matching UConn’s creativity, humor, and execution, and the Huskies seem poised to win back-to-back titles in March.
The NCAA shifting March Madness away from basketball was a legendary, forward-thinking move that should pay dividends for collegiate athletics as a whole. While basketball will still continue to be played, meme creation deserves the attention it is receiving. Playing basketball is fun, AI is the future, and meme creation is both. Hats off to the NCAA.