I am watching March Madness and I am watching the future doctors, lawyers, and bad car salesmen of America play basketball and I am happy and content.
It’s been a weird year for the tournament. The selection committee this year put in 14 SEC teams, a number which is a record that I don’t know can be broken. Pretty much every Southern school, if they had a pulse, was included.
Regardless, the massive overrepresentation of SEC and Big 10 schools has fundamentally changed how the tournament looks, with small mid-majors getting squeezed in favor of more large, wealthy, B1G-money schools. Combine that with the small size of MBB teams, and the amount of money floating around in SEC NIL funds, and it’s looking like a terrifying future for the sport. If Auburn wins another championship, I will be really, really sad.
A recap of the first round is honestly a little boring. The South was mostly chalk, as in, most of the higher-ranked teams won against lower-ranked teams, outside of the 10–7 upset where New Mexico took down Marquette in a pretty incredible game that I did not watch because I was asleep. The rest was pretty boring, and Auburn is unfortunately steamrolling its way into the Sweet 16 against Michigan.
On the other hand, the East was also almost entirely chalk, with the one resulting in a 9–8 upset of Baylor of Mississippi State. I wasn’t expecting a 16–1 upset or something major, but there’s been a lot of just boring results this year in the tournament. The second round saw BYU take down No. 3 Wisconsin, which puts the Stormin’ Mormons out there in the Sweet 16 against either Saint Mary’s or Alabama. Seeing BYU play against the pit of lechery that is Alabama sounds like a blast, so I’m rooting for a Tide win.
I guess that’s what happens when one conference makes up almost a quarter of the field, huh?
McNeese was a major 12–5 upset over Clempson in a close 69–67 game, but the Cinderella story went down to Purdue in the second round.
Finally, in the west, Florida beat reigning champion UConn in a miserably close game that finally made Dan Hurley look human. I didn’t think the three-peat was possible either, but UConn is still playing damn incredible for a team that had to be built from the ground up in the last year.
Colorado St. was the other 12–5 upset, taking down a basketball powerhouse in Memphis, a result which pits them against Maryland in the second round. Mizzou went down to Drake, and God himself couldn’t save Grand Canyon from the Terps as they went down 49–81 against Maryland.
KU did not manage to beat Arkansas, which means that somehow, Calipari finally won a game in March the year he left his old Kentucky home. Calipari took his Razorbacks to St. John’s and beat them convincingly, giving the old man another win against Rick Pitino, one of his old rivals. I’m excited to see this Arkansas team go places, even if it’s mostly because I think Calipari is a hell of a coach.
The first and second rounds have, unfortunately, been rather boring, and that’s pretty sad. There’s a lot of tournament left though, so fully expect a lot more Sports news coming in soon.
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