NCAA basketball brings out the best in sports

People who typically don’t pay much attention to the day-to-day coverage of college basketball still tend to gravitate toward the NCAA tournament taking place now.

It’s easily the greatest national sporting event of the year. While the Super Bowl tends to capture the nation’s imagination for a few days, the college basketball tournament provides thrills for weeks as teams battle to claim the national title.

What makes the tournament the best sporting event of the year is nobody can predict the outcomes.

Ask the University of Kansas.

The Jayhawks — an annual powerhouse — were the top seed in the tournament and were quickly sent packing back to Lawrence by unheralded Northern Iowa University.

Thursday, another No. 1 seed lost to Butler on a last-second shot. Other big-name schools have also lost to lower-seeded teams in this year’s tournament. While the David-and-Goliath scenarios have been more pronounced this year, every NCAA tournament seems to have similar upsets.

That’s why even passive sports fans tune in or follow the action. Many fill out tournament brackets for office bragging rights.

When the Final Four comes around, fans will be glued to their tubes with plenty of popcorn on hand.

Alaska has been well-represented in the past with Mario Chalmers from Anchorage making the tying bucket in the final seconds to put Kansas in overtime and eventually beat Memphis for the national title two years ago. He plays for the Miami Heat in the NBA now.

The one who started it off was Juneau’s Carlos Boozer, who helped Duke win the national title. He now plays for the Utah Jazz.

After Boozer, Anchorage product Trajan Langdon went to Duke and helped the Blue Devils win the title.

Alaska’s most prominent player this year is Eagle River’s Kelsey Griffin, who leads Nebraska into the women’s Sweet Sixteen against Kentucky today.

Griffin is only the second player in Nebraska’s history to score 2,000 points and snag 1,000 rebounds in her career. She did it all despite suffering setbacks along the way to illness and injury. She is a true example of perseverance leading to success.

Who knows who will represent Alaska on the biggest stage in the future?

You may have been watching them all winter and not know it.