The highlight of almost every NCAA tournament is the upsets. Everybody likes an underdog, unless of course you are cheering for Goliath when David takes him down. Who will ever forget powerhouse Virginia losing as a 1-seed to UMBC in the opening round? I certainly felt crushed in 2017 when my second seeded Spartans were ousted by the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee State. This year’s March Madness was certainly no different with plenty of lower seeds pulling out improbable victories. But at the end of the tournament it is rare that Cinderella gets to put on that glass slipper.
Some upsets of course are greater than others. The more obscure the underdog the greater the storyline. It still amazes me that there are teams that I have never even heard of that make their way into the tournament and get an unlikely win. I mean just who is Oral Roberts anyway and where do they come from? (Google tells me Tulsa, Oklahoma) Did anyone outside of Maryland know what the acronym UMBC stood for before they made history by beating Virginia?
Occasionally you get a clue of where an unknown team is coming from right in the name. Virginia Commonwealth must have come from the Commonwealth of Virginia – not to be confused with the Old Dominion, which I know for a fact calls Norfolk home. George Mason I could have surmised likewise came from the “Mother of Statesman” state. Florida Gulf Coast had the courtesy of at least saying in its name that it was from, well, the gulf coast of Florida. I would guess that means Tampa right? (wrong, Fort Myers) Thankfully Loyola- Chicago gets specific so as not to be confused with Loyola of New Orleans, Maryland, or Loyola Marymount (who – fun fact – made the Elite Eight in 1990 as an 11-seed).
This season seemed destined for a Cinderella to get her slipper at the end of the dance. After all, when the first tipoff went up there was no Duke and no Kentucky for the first time since 1976. North Carolina exited early after a solid drubbing from Wisconsin. Kansas lost in only the second round and the tourney was suddenly bereft of blue bloods. The best of the Big Ten went out early as upstart Loyola Chicago showed flashes of another impossible run before they fell to perhaps even more unlikely Oregon State. Oral Roberts punched another Big Ten power in the face and moved past Florida before falling to Arkansas. The conference considered the best in the country finished the tournament with a paltry 6-7 record.
Ultimately the small schools and the no-names had to step aside to UCLA’s First In to Final Four storyline, matching only the storybook 2011 VCU team to perform that feat. But can we really call a team that has won 11 National Championships a Cinderella squad? Not for my money; even if the team had a great story and fantastic run through the tournament. They played Gonzaga in one of the great Final Four games of all time before falling on a last second 3-point heave in overtime. Even if they deserved to be called a Cinderella they are leaving the ball alone.
And at the end of all that it is still the two best teams from the regular season meeting in the Championship game Monday night. Perhaps once upon a time we would have called Gonzaga an underdog, but that was more than a decade ago and certainly before they ran the table against every team they have faced this season (including more conventional heavyweights Kansas, West Virginia, Iowa, Virginia, and UCLA). They will face off against the champions of the Big XII – no not Kansas this year – but a Power Five team with a name you probably recognize. These might not be the powerhouse teams you would expect in the National Final but they are powerhouse teams nonetheless.
Looks like another year where Cinderella won’t get her slipper.
Mid-Life Thesis 