In this issue: College Basketball Championships Zoom in on America

A fan photographs his favorite team practice for the NCAA Final Four basketball game Photo © AP Images

The main topic of this is-

sue is basketball, but in-

stead of looking closer at

the NBA, Zoom will focus

on a phenomenon which

is known as March Mad-

ness.

ends for the collegiate

championship. The fre-

quent upsets and popu-

larity of the tournament

earned it the name “March

Madness.”

“Selection Sunday” marks

the start of March Mad-

ness when 68 NCAA

(National Collegiate Ath-

and then to 16 teams by

the end of the rst week-

end. The following week,

named the “Sweet 16,”

and the “Elite 8” round,

reduces the number of

teams to 8 and nally to

four teams. The last week-

end, the “Final Four,” leads

to singling out the National

years older, with the rst tournament held in

1939. The decade between the mid 1960s

and the mid 1970s belonged to the Univer-

sity of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

Nowadays, no team can boast an unbreak-

able streak of success year after year, but

the toughest rivalry seems to be between

the University of North Carolina and Duke,

winners of the last two championships and

4 of the last ten.

ment. However, the tournament commit-

tee also selects “at-large” teams to play

in the tournament. A team with a lower-

seed that knocks off a higher-seed in an

upset is called a “Cinderella” because

they were not supposed to be at the “Big

Dance.”

While the women’s tournaments have

been held since 1982, the history of

His name is not exactly easy to pro-

nounce. That may be the reason why

Mike Krzyzewski is more frequently spo-

ken of as “Coach K.” Under his leader-

ship the Blue Devils of Duke University

in Durham, North Carolina won 4 NCAA

Men’s Basketball Championships (in

1991, 1992, 2001 and 2010) and were

runner-ups the same number of times.

Apart from his collegiate success, Coach

Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001.

Born in Chicago in 1947 to Polish-

American parents, Mike Krzyzewski has

always been interested in basketball.

While in high school, he was a success-

ful player in Chicago’s Catholic League.

Moving on to the U.S. Military Academy

he played under legendary coach Bob

Knight. It was on Knight’s recommenda-

Duke’s coach in 1980 after

ve-years coaching at the U.S. Military

Academy (West Point) in New York. Since

2006 he has been the head coach of the

U.S. Men’s National Basketball Team.

Mike Krzyzewski is the author and co-au-

thor of several books about basketball and

the Duke Blue Devils. In 2006 he wrote a

book with his son Jamie Krzyzewski Spato-

the second most of any men’s basketball

coach and most among active coaches. He

has been coach of the year multiple times

and was named “America’s Best Coach” by

Time magazine in 2001. On March 30th,

Mike Krzyzewski will receive yet another

award, the Medal of Recognition from the

Kosciuszko Foundation.

and the living room are in the colors of

the hosts’ favorite team. Inatable bas-

ketballs oat around the room and a bas-

ketball hoop is mounted on one of the

walls. In between the games the guests

stretch their legs dribbling in the garden

or in the basement. They have already

lled out tournament brackets and are

now waiting anxiously to see their fa-

vorite teams win. And food? Anything

ball pizzas, stuffed pota-

toes with cheese, circle-shaped tarts with

orange marzipan cover.

A party like this is thrown in many American

homes on “Selection Sunday” in March,

since not everyone will have luck to buy a

ticket and see the games live.

My freshman year at the

University of North Car-

olina, our men’s basketball team won the

1993 national championship. All season,

we had been one of the best teams in

the country and many people thought as

the tournament began that we would be

the team to beat. We played well through

the tournament and by the week before

the Final Four, the campus was abuzz.

up watching the game sitting in a win-

dow sill that opened to the front porch of

the house. The house sat on the main

street that runs on the edge of campus,

where everyone comes to celebrate by

lighting bonres after big wins. When

Donald Williams, the star of our team,

hit the free throw that clinched the win, I

climbed out the window and began to run

up the street. For a few seconds, I was

the only person on the street and I stood

and listened to the cheers coming out

of every building along the street before

thousands of people poured out of bars

and houses and dormitories and began

celebrating with bonres. To see what

Benjamin Ousley

The game that is now one of the most

popular team sports internationally is

120 years old, even though some of

The biggest changes to the game itself

are the speed and the number of play-

ers. Originally, there were 7 players on a

4. The ball must be held by the hands;

5. No shouldering, holding, pushing,

6. A foul is striking at the ball with the