The Upset I Didn't Pick
Top teams dominated the NCAA Tournament. Is that a problem?
As I sat at the table on Selection Sunday with a bracket still cooling from the printer, I racked my brains for how I was going to knock a few of the one seeds out. No matter how dominant, no matter how clear their path, the Final Four is never all one seeds.
I was looking for a solution to a problem that didn’t exist. All four of the unabashed stalwarts that ran college basketball this season advanced to Final Four, setting up an all-time clash of the titans in San Antonio that hasn’t been since 2008. Given the absolute classic which unfolded in ‘08 between Kansas and Memphis, Mario Chalmers and Derrick Rose, that bodes well for what we’ll see Monday night.
For many, the preponderance of top seeds in this tournament was a drag. For some, it was an existential warning. College basketball fans clad in sandwich boards with THE END IS NIGH scrawled on each side swung their bells and bemoaned the transfer portal, NIL, or coaches in quarter zips as delivering an end times where underdogs have no hope and the almighty dollar rules the sport.
They aren’t entirely wrong; the college basketball landscape has irreversibly shifted due to continuous court rulings weakening the NCAA’s power and a social climate less friendly towards paternalistic attitudes. But that story wasn’t told through this year’s NCAA Tournament. High Point had every chance to beat Purdue and only a fellow low major in McNeese to clear before we would’ve had a 13 seed in the Sweet Sixteen. UC San Diego was mere seconds away from clearing one of college sports’ goliaths in Michigan, and 15 seed Robert Morris led Alabama with seven minutes to play despite shooting just 26% from three on the day. While increased roster turnover without necessarily just compensation has become the reality of mid and low major college basketball, an inability to compete with the big dogs has not.
Beyond that, is a return to the old system really want we want for college basketball? I’m reminded of an old quote that gets tossed around the Internet about Einstein’s brain being less interesting than the people like him that lived and died in fields and sweatshops. It’s far too pretentious for me to reproduce here, but the sentiment rings true when I look at the Final Four field. Should Auburn star Johni Broome be stuck in the coalfields of Kentucky at Murray State? Should Florida’s Steph Curry impersonator, Walter Clayton Jr., remain at Iona after even his own head coach left for a better school? We’ve created a system where the best college basketball players get to play in the biggest arenas, on the biggest stages, and for the biggest fanbases. While that doesn’t excuse the myriad of issues associated with the lawless introduction of player compensation into the sport, it’s worth remembering before writing college basketball off as worthless because Yale lost by single digits instead of beating an SEC powerhouse for a second straight year.
On Saturday evening, the four best teams in the sport this season by accomplishment, analytics, and advancement in this NCAA Tournament will meet in San Antonio to decide the national champion for one of the most unforgettable seasons in college basketball history. The unquestionable three best players in the sport are all represented, as are two rising coaching stars and two old-timers who have built programs from nothing into juggernauts. No matter where college basketball is at, no matter where college basketball is headed, and no matter where college basketball has been, this is a truly unique showcase of the best this game has to offer. March Madness didn’t deliver upsets this year: that would’ve been too predictable. As my ill-fated session at the kitchen table on Selection Sunday proved, the one thing March Madness won’t ever do is conform to your expectations. When I look at Saturday’s Final Four of Houston, Duke, Auburn, and Florida, I couldn’t be more thrilled to have been wrong.