Even without UMBC, Cinderella still rules March Madness
Less than 48 hours after UMBC — University of Maryland Baltimore County as we all know now — had pulled off the greatest Cinderella story, upsetting top-seeded Virginia, the story was over.
The Retrievers were knocked out of the NCAA Tournament and we all went back to facing the reality that Duke or Kentucky would probably win the whole thing and no matter how much we all wanted to see Mike Krzyzewski suffer or John Caliipari get humbled, nothing ever changes in college basketball.
Except, maybe UMBC was just a hint at a new reality.
After all, UMBC didn’t beat Virginia on a buzzer-beater or by some fluke shot. They outplayed, outran and humbled the Cavaliers. Not close. And it wasn’t Duke or Villanova or Kentucky that knocked out UMBC Sunday night, but instead it was No. 9 seed, Kansas State.
And now the wreckage of the opening weekend of the tournament as we prepare for the resumption Thursday for the Sweet 16 leaves us with this: as many No. 11 seeds still alive as there are No. 1 seeds.
Sure, Krzyzewski and Duke are still alive and the Blue Devils still are portraying the image of an elite educational institution while churning out one-and-done players for the NBA at a rate that would make Calipari blush. And speaking of Calipari, with his latest group of freshmen stars ready to litter the first round of the NBA draft, he’s still around, too, now the highest seed in the South Region.
But we can believe that maybe this is actually anyone’s game. This might be the year that heralds a new world order, a hint that this is no longer a college basketball world that only be--
longs to the blue bloods.
Forget the UCLA teams that made the event an annual celebration. Consider that since 1979 when Magic Johnson led Michigan State to a title in the year that seeding began, there never has been a seed lower than Connecticut at No. 7 in 2014 to win the title. There never has been a No. 9 or No. 11 to even reach the NCAA Finals.
Greg Herenda saw it first-hand two years ago when he brought a young Fairleigh Dickinson team in and dreamed about being the team that could pull off an upset.
Herenda’s FDU squad was a No. 16 seed two years ago, sent to Dayton, Ohio for a First Four play-in game. But the Cinderella hopes were quickly spoiled by a much-more equipped for prime time team, Florida Gulf Coast University — a high-flying offensive attack that ran past the Knights and was just one point down to top-seeded North Carolina in the next game before eventually seeing their opportunity to be the first 16-seed to beat a No. 1 disappear as shots stopped falling.
“Next year we’ll have five seniors on our team. The high level programs, with the one and dones, they never get that.”
It is a confluence of circumstances that could allow the stranglehold on the NCAA title by the top seeds to finally come to an end. First, with two No. 1 seeds and three No. 2 seeds already ousted in the opening weekend of play, there are five of the 16 teams left that are No. 7 or worse (No. 7 Nevada, No. 9’s Kansas State and Florida State, No. 11’s Syracuse and Loyola Chicago).
But the mid-major programs have been creeping up in recent years, having the advantage of, as Herenda noted, having players stick
around in the program, maturing and subbing continuity for raw talent.
“Back in the day (as an assistant coach at Seton Hall) we played Ray Allen who had played three years, Travis Knight four years,” Herenda said. “Kerry Kittles played four years at Villanova. Those days are over. The truly great players are in the NBA and now there are so many good players, all 365 teams are getting better. So it’s not shocking at all to see these upsets.
“I texted somebody the other night, the times they are a changing. It’s right in front of your face now. And the transfer thing, look at Nevada — I think they have seven or eight transfers on their roster. You have to adapt to it. I think it’s great. It was the best first two rounds that I remember.”
We all had our moment when brackets were busted with UMBC, but maybe that’s not a bad thing. And maybe it’s about to get a little bit wilder over the next few days. Villanova is still the power of the tournament, a No. 1 seed with lottery talent that is an anomaly — powered by a contender for NCAA Player of the Year in Jalen Brunson, who is a junior, and filled with experienced talent including redshirt junior Mikal Bridges. With talent and experience and a coach who has won it all maybe we’ll get a No. 1 seed holding the trophy once more.
But this time, maybe for the first time, the odds are against it. The numbers are growing of contenders and they are the sort of numbers that bust brackets.
“The kids, they see it,” Herenda said. “We know it. Teams at our level know that we can get in there and make noise. For UMBC, getting in there is the hard thing. There are a lot of teams that if you get in there with veteran groups and you can make shots, anything can happen.”