March Madness Coming to an End

It is finally here. The madness has calmed down and later tonight we will find out who is the best team in college basketball this season. There have been plenty of surprises like always. I do not want to say on this blog what percentile my bracket is in because it is not great. That is coming from someone who watches a lot of basketball and thinks I know a good deal about it. That is what I love about this tournament. It is always filled with surprises. It is down to the final two teams now, and either Wisconsin or Duke will be cutting down the nets later tonight. A tournament with this much viewership creates a lot of social engagement. That is a great opportunity for companies to engage with consumers. None do it better than Coke Zero, who is the official sponsor of the tournament.

After Saturday night's upset of Wisconsin over Kentucky the social media world blew up. Most of it was filled with Kentucky haters praising Wisconsin for the win. Other people were Kentucky fans who were upset about the shocking loss. The thing that made me engage was a comment by one of the leaders of the Kentucky team in the post game interview. They asked Andrew Harrison, one of the best players on Kentucky's previously undefeated team, what he thought about Frank Kaminsky (the best player for Wisconsin, and possibly in the nation this year). Harrison responded with a few expletives and nothing nice to say. That is one of the dangers of social media. He can get in a lot of trouble for that. The fans will not let him forget those comments, even if they were said in the heat of the moment. Many people were posting about Harrison's comments and were outraged. In today's sports world, a comment like that can drastically affect a players draft stock and end up costing the players millions of dollars in the draft. If will be interesting to see how the reaction from his comments will affect Harrison's future, and it will be something to watch.

That being said, I am excited for this game tonight. It is a matchup between two well rounded teams. They are both coached by elite coaches, and the players are all very smart and talented. While Duke has won their games more convincingly as of late, Wisconsin has played much tougher teams so far in the tournament and won. It is going to be a great game to watch tonight, and look for plenty of social engagement during and after the game.