College basketball’s March Madness kicked off this past weekend and it did not disappoint — except, perhaps, when it came to your bracket. Going into the first weekend, there were more than 70 million brackets filled out around the world, and after just day two, none of those remained perfect. The teams picked most often to win the championship were Virginia, Villanova, Kansas, and Duke. The first weekend proved to be a historic one.
For the first time in NCAA history, a number 16 team defeated a number 1 ranked team. UMBC defeated Virginia, the favorite to win the whole thing, in the first round. Going into this game, 16th seeds were 0-135 against the top seed. UMBC not only defeated Virginia but absolutely obliterated them, 74-54. Although there weren’t any other upsets as shocking as this one, there were a total of 15 upsets in the first round. Buffalo, seeded 13th, destroyed a popular pick for the championship, 4th seed Arizona, 89-68. Loyola-Chicago, seeded 11th, topped 6th-seeded Miami on a buzzer-beater 3-pointer by Donte Ingram. Ranked 13, Marshall topped 4th-seeded Wichita St. led by 27 points from their star sharpshooting guard John Elmore. Syracuse’s 11th-seeded zone defense dominated in a 57-52 victory over 6th-seeded TCU.
The second round included several exciting games: yet another thriller for Loyola-Chicago, a historic comeback from Nevada, an unbelievable shot from Michigan, a blowout by Texas A&M, another top seed biting the dust and a defensive showdown by Syracuse.
In the South region, Loyola-Chicago went on to defeat the 3rd-seeded Tennessee on yet another last-second buzzer-beater, this time by Clayton Custer. With their first two games coming down to the last second, their matchup in the Sweet Sixteen is sure to be one to watch. Loyola-Chicago will take on 7th-seeded Nevada, another Cinderella story. Nevada defeated the 2nd-seeded Cincinnati after trailing by 22 points with only 10 minutes remaining in the game. The South region has now lost its top four seeds: Virginia, Cincinnati, Tennessee, and Arizona. Loyola-Chicago and Nevada.
The West region was full of action during the round of 32. The 3rd-seeded Michigan was able to keep its dreams alive thanks to a last second heave by unlikely hero Jordan Poole. The 7th-seeded Texas A&M destroyed number 2 seed North Carolina, 86-65, carried by their big men Tyler Davis and Robert Williams. Xavier, the 1st seed in the West, lost 75-70 to the 9th-seeded Florida State. The West has already lost its top two seeds as the madness continues.
The East region was calm during the second round as all the favorites survived to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. The same is true for the Midwest, aside from the Cinderella story of Syracuse, who defeated a powerful Michigan State team, 56-53.
Some headline match ups of the Sweet Sixteen include Villanova versus West Virginia, both yet to be challenged in March, and Loyola-Chicago against Nevada. This March truly has been nothing but madness as more and more unlikely teams continue to survive and advance.
The boys hockey team had a promising season right from the start. 
Under the leadership of Coach Abban, the team’s 14 seniors have had an impressive career. According to the Patriot Ledger, the Indians went 80-11-7 with a 15-3 mark in the tournament since these players were freshmen in 2014-2015. This group won South Sectional titles in 2016 and 2018, plus a Division 3 state title in 2016.
Coached by Mr. Hannigan, the team went 17-4 in the regular season and finished with an overall record of 19-5. Delahunt scored his 1,000th point and he, Landry, Aaron Boise and Jake McInerney were named Patriot League All-Stars. This was the team’s first season in Division 2 South after winning the D-3 South title last year. The captains were Matt Delahunt, JP Landry, and Aaron Boise. Eight seniors – Landy, Delahunt, Boise, McInerney, Jeremy Openshaw, Liam Flynn, Dan Hamza and Aidan Henderson – are graduating this year. But their legacy, combined with a pool of younger talent, will hopefully keep the program just as competitive.
The Cohasset-Hanover girls hockey team fell in the first round of Division 2 action to the Norwood Mustangs, 3-2. Led by captains Alyssa Wilcox, Morgan Lundin, Kate Mccarthy, and Lindsey Beiche, Co-Han was seeded 21st after finishing the regular season 8-8-5. Norwood, the 12th seed, won a hard-fought contest. Hanover’s Jacqui Manning, Anna Tedeschi, and Lily Tobin were named League All-Stars. The Scholar Athlete was granted to Morgan Foley and Lundin was given the Sportsmanship Award. 
After graduating several strong senior players last year, the team went through some rebuilding this year. Led by captains Taylor Scott, Lauren Gelly and Bridget O’Connor, the team fell short of qualifying for tournament with a record of 6-14. Scott and Janey Devlin were named Patriot League All-Stars. Though the team will lose its senior captains after this season, the remaining three starters and juniors Devlin, Erin Flynn and Kathryn Fallon will look to be leaders for next season.
Hanover debuted its first indoor track team this year, giving members of the Cross Country and Track and Field teams an opportunity to compete yearround. Indoor track is definitely a unique experience, with a shorter track translating to more laps, and a festive air in the arenas where the meets are held. 
Hanover High School drama students shone as they performed and hosted the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild Competition on March 3. Hundreds of students from eight schools converged on HHS for the daylong event, each performing a timed play before a panel of judges. The top three schools moved to the next round and one step closer to the state competition.
For the third time in five years, the boys hockey team has earned a spot in the Division 3 state championship game. The Indians defeated Swampscott 5-0 March 14 to win the D3 Eastern Mass championship and a trip to the Garden. Manning Morris scored two goals, and Zachary Taylor, Connor Morris and Justin Conforti each added another. Kevin Chandler had yet another shutout in net . The Indians are hoping for a repeat of 2016, when they took home the state title.
Black Mirror: This British anthology series has been called the Twilight Zone for the new millennium. Released in the UK in 2011, this quirky, sometimes disturbing show about the potential pitfalls of technology debuted on Netflix in 2016. I finally began watching it recently and find each episode surprising and often a bit terrifying. Sometimes the crazy ways they imagine technology being used don’t seem so far from the current reality — counting “likes” to determine if you qualify for a job such as in Nosedive, or creating a clone of a loved one from a social media profile as in Be Right Back. Because it’s an anthology, you can watch the episodes in any order, one at a time or hours in a row. If you haven’t watched this yet, check it out.
Black-ish: Some family sitcoms get old fast, but this one on ABC has stayed original, in part because it hasn’t been afraid to mix humor with brutal honesty. Some episodes are used to highlight issues of race, such as season 4’s musical Juneteenth, when father Dre protests a school play about Columbus that whitewashes history (The one-minute 
The Vietnam War: Ken Burns’ PBS documentary takes 17 hours to watch, but I think it should be required viewing for every American. I learned so much: the tragic French occupation of Vietnam whose mistakes our own forces repeated, the U.S. government’s lies and missteps that brought us into war, the physical and psychological toll the conflict inflicted on both sides, the violent and divisive protests at home. I recognized so many connections between then and now, as our deeply divided nation struggles over its identity and priorities.
Alienist: This historical crime drama, which premiered on TNT in January, looks intriguing. A journalist, a prickly psychiatrist and a team of investigators work together to solve a series of murders in 1896 New York City. This unusual team pioneers true-life innovations in fingerprinting, forensic science and criminal profiling over a 10-episode series.
’80s, I could best relate to the working class Conner family struggling to pay the bills and get along with each other. And while I’m getting tired of endless remakes and reboots and find many of them pointless, I will give this one a shot. I’m curious to see what the characters will be up to this far into the future and how they’ll be impacted by current events. This premieres on ABC in March.
