Have we met? Familiar names in a new place, March Madness
Nobody will get a lump in their throat or start sizing up glass slippers for programs like these — Alabama, Illinois, Baylor.
They’re not underdogs. They’re hardly unknown. What they are is a group of new teams with wellrecognized names in the NCAA Tournament, and they’re hoping to keep making life hard on some of the programs that have long had a stranglehold on March.
Alabama is a 2 seed, matched for the best in its history, on the strength of its first SEC Tournament title in 30 years.
Baylor, building momentum for a while now, beat out Kansas for the Big 12 regular-season title despite a three-week break induced by the coronavirus. The Bears are top-seeded for the first time.
Illinois is making its first trip to the tournament since 2013, joining a more traditional Big Ten power, Michigan, as a No. 1 seed.
“I’d be lying if I said there weren’t a lot of uh-oh moments” along the road to rebuilding Illinois, coach Brad Underwood said.
All these programs have, indeed, had their uh-oh moments over the years, which is what makes their trip to the top of the brackets that much more unique.
Even before the pairings were
announced, the pandemic ensured this NCAA Tournament was going to be a much different affair. Then, some dominos started falling. Duke and Kentucky, two longtime maestros of March, didn’t even make the field of 68 — the first time that pair has missed the tournament together since 1976.
Michigan State struggled. Kansas had a notquite-Kansas kind of year. North Carolina found itself
with a late-season matchup against Duke not for the ACC title but basically to keep its tournament chances alive.
Illinois was a powerhouse once, but its last trip to the Final Four was in 2005, and that came nearly a decade after Lou Henson left and brought an end to a golden era for Illini hoops. Underwood said when he arrived four years ago, he did an informal poll of his players to start each season, asking them which team in the Big Ten plays the hardest.
“They would all say it’s Michigan State. Michigan
State, Michigan State, Michigan State,” Underwood said. “Then, it was start of last year, before they finally figured out what I wanted to hear. They finally said ‘Us.’ They had to start believing that.”
Michigan State slipped in this season as an 11 seed. So did UCLA and Syracuse, a few more familiar names that took a little longer to find in this year’s bracket.
Meanwhile, some other Power Five teams are finding themselves enjoying a new cachet — maybe not tournament regulars, but certainly not to be overlooked.