Saint Peter’s University will not win the 2022 National Championship. Nor should they. They don’t deserve it. The Peacocks (really?) entered the tournament a meager 19-11, with 6 of their losses coming in the lowly MAAC (the Metro Athletic Atlantic Conference in case you’d never heard of it; I had to look it up too)[1], a conference that has never had a team reach the Elite 8 until this year. They say it’s more important to just win when it matters, which to their credit, the Peacocks have done. But in all objectivity, they’re just a mediocre team who got hot at the right time and captured a nation’s collective heart.
The “Cinderella” has become a staple of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship every March. And yet, every time a double-digit seed makes a run, we act like it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. The nature of a tournament that features win-or-go-home games every time you step on the floor is that we’ll see massive upsets and surprise runs like we saw with George Mason in 2006, Butler in 2010 and 2011, VCU in 2011, and Oral Roberts in 2021. It’s part of the charm of the NCAA tournament, but it’s also a curse: teams that had great regular seasons like Kentucky did this year lose their chance to win a championship with one bad day at the beach.
Notice something about all the above teams? None of them won the championship (although Butler came close in 2010). And in reality, we’ll never see a Cinderella win the big dance. Because eventually, a school with better athletes, coaches, pedigree and facilities; more money, scholarships, and NIL offers; extensive history, tradition, and fanbases will beat them. And likely they will do it soundly, like UNC just did to St. Pete.
For the first time in my twenty years of fawning over March Madness I have questioned whether or not these Cinderallas are actually good for the tournament. Try and convince me that you were just so psyched about VCU vs. Butler in the 2011 Final Four[2]. You know we all would have rather seen Florida/Kansas in the National Semifinals. It’s just better basketball at the end of the day. There’s a reason that the “Blue Bloods” like Kansas, Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, Michigan State and UCLA are Blue Bloods: they have better athletes, coaches, pedigree… what I said before. And that’s what we want, is it not? Better quality of play? There’s a reason ESPN and CBS put the SEC and Big Ten on national television every week and the Missouri Valley is nowhere to be found.
I’m not arguing for the Bob Huggins approach to ditch non-major conferences altogether. Making the NCAA tournament is an experience that kids from Vermont and Wright State will never forget. The darlings of March will continue to show up at the dance, but if the slipper fits are we actually better off?
Great article and definitely thought provoking. I see where you’re coming from…it doesn’t seem “fair” that a great season goes to waste and is forgotten because they got out played on a given day. But that’s part of the heartbreak and magic of the tournament format, and I pray it doesn’t get changed to favor the “best team” winning all the time. I, for one, would lose a lot of interest in March madness if it became that way.
I definitely have to push back against the question of whether the tournament is better off because of Cinderella teams. I say, emphatically, 100% yes. There’s a reason that so many sports fans naturally root for the underdog unless the favored…
Great article! Butler did almost win! Everyone loves a good underdog. There are few variables that are changing the landscape of NCAA hoops competition I see. Blue Bloods are now increasingly competing with the NBDL and Pro Overseas leagues for NBA bound one and dones. I remember seeing 2-3 NBDL guys in mock drafts projected as top 10 NBA picks this year and the route Lamelo Ball may appeal to more kids. On the flip side, with the transfer rules becoming more lenient for players, the Blue Bloods and the major conferences will take more of the lower league's talent on a yearly basis. Both for exposure and the increased $ they can make.
Good read! One thing I will bring up, is something a college professor once told me. This changed my mind a bit on a "Cinderalla" winning it all. A lot of times when you see these runs from a "Mid-Major" it's guys that have put their blood, sweat, and tears into a program for four years. A lot of the "Blue Bloods" now are one and done athletes. I think that's why we see so many more upsets. These small schools have been through it all together for 3-4 years and can rally together. Sometimes the stage is too big for these star athletes at the big schools. You could look one level above at Lebron and the Heatles first…