64 Dreams, 1 Fulfilled

It’s that time of year again. No, not Lent…March Madness!

64 college basketball teams begin competing for the Men’s Basketball National Championship on Thursday March 20th. But only two and half weeks later, there will only be one team standing with the nets cut down, freshly printed hats and shirts, and a tall trophy hoisted above their heads.

Many teachers and students eagerly await this time of year following their favorite teams, prospective colleges, and alma maters.

Spanish teacher extraordinaire Ms. Tracy Chadbourne is very proud of her eighth seeded Memphis Tigers.

“It comes down to this: GO TIGERS!” she said excitedly.

Renowned physics teacher Mr. Kevin Van Den Bogert is an alum of the first seeded University of Arizona Wildcats. He is very eager to see how they do in this upcoming tournament, even though he has not been following college basketball for the past few years.

Mr. Van Den Bogert is confident in his Cats.

“I predict the Wildcats to end up in the Final Four, and possibly in the final two,” he says.

“I was at the UofA when we won the national championship to Kentucky in the final seconds — a complete upset. So I think the Wildcats can do it again, they have a good chance,” the proud physics teacher boasted.

Senior Mason Stahley (’14) plans to attend San Diego State next year and the Aztecs are one of the four number four seeds in the bracket.

“Realizing they [San Diego State] have a good team…that should be fun to watch next year,” he said.

Even though Mason’s future school is in the tournament, he just looks forward to an entertaining tournament.

“I don’t really follow any teams that closely. I just watch any game that looks good,” he claims.

Junior Kyle Cherry (’15) has been looking forward to the NCAA Tournament for a while as he is filled with an overflowing exuberance once talk of the tournament is brought up.

As an avid follower of college basketball, Kyle is excited to watch some specific teams this tournament.

“Creighton because of Doug ‘McBuckets’ McDermott, Duke because of Jabari Parker, North Dakota State for absolutely no reason at all and Wofford because I like their name.”

This years tournament includes some prospective colleges for Kyle including Cal Poly, San Diego State, and UCLA.

He believes being in the tournament, “increases the appeal of each one because its definitely cool to be a part of a school with successful athletics,” he says.

Regardless of connections to schools, many people throughout the Christian Brothers community are fervently awaiting the start of this years NCAA Tournament. Watch out Christian Brothers, this tournament should make for an exciting two weeks. Tune in as the fun begins at 9:15 AM Thursday, March 20th.