The little guys have been obliterated, and it only took four days.
There are 16 teams left in the NCAA Tournament. All 16 are from the Power Four conferences.
The SEC has seven a record. The Big Ten and Big 12 have four. And the ACC, a shell of its former self, has one. (Granted, it’s the best one.)
Meanwhile, Gonzaga is out before the Sweet 16 for the first time in a decade.
The Big East, winner of four of the past eight national titles, is out.
The Mountain West and American are out. UC Irvine? Yale? Drake? Forget ’em.
The data from the 2025 NCAA Tournament is overwhelmingly anti-Cinderella:
— It’s the first time since 2017 that the top four seeds in each region all advanced to the second round.
— It’s the first time since 2007 that no teams seeded No. 11 or lower advanced to the Sweet 16.
— And it’s the first time ever that the Sweet 16 won’t include at least one school from outside the major conferences (as defined by football prowess).
Only having four conferences represented in the Sweet 16 is a record low for the tournament, and it’s not even close: The previous low was seven (set multiple times.)
Yes, the transfer portal is complicit in the power shift to the power leagues.
So is NIL. Rosters cost money, and the major football-playing schools have the donors and the collectives to acquire the talent.
But this is part of a multi-year trend, too.
In 2022, there were 12 at-large bids given to teams from outside the power conferences.
In 2024, there were 10.
This year, just eight: Creighton, Xavier, Marquette, UConn, Saint Mary’s, Utah State, San Diego State and New Mexico were invited.
There was no Florida Atlantic. No Dayton. No Davidson or Belmont.
The heavyweights won Selection Sunday by a whopping margin and kept right on rolling through the first weekend.
And they want even more.
The Power Four are pushing to expand March Madness to 76 teams, perhaps as early as next season.
If anyone believes those additional eight slots would be divided equitably between the bourgeoisie and proletariat, we’d caution you against taking additional hallucinogenic drugs.
Instead, the power conferences could use their success this month as justification for not only expanding the NCAAs but swallowing all the extra bids.
Because why invite a George Mason (27-9) when you can invite an Indiana (19-13)?
Why create access for Bradley (28-8) when you can invite Cincinnati (18-15) or Ohio State (17-15)?
The tournament is hurtling toward a tipping point, where the schools outside the Power Four are marginalized to the point that the event is stripped of its magic.
Let the past four days serve as a warning sign.
To the winners and losers from the opening weekend …
Winner: Big Ten. The conference rode shotgun while the SEC gobbled up 14 NCAA bids but made the most of its measly eight participants. The 9-0 start to competition was best by any conference, ever.
Loser: The ACC. For the first time since 1975, when conferences were first granted multiple bids, the ACC placed just one team, Duke, in the second round. Was the conference even worse than we thought?
Winner: Duke. Speaking of the Blue Devils … The pre-tournament betting favorites looked the part with two victories by a combined 67 points. The other No. 1 seeds — Florida, Houston and Auburn — all struggled in the second round. Not Cooper Flagg and Co. They demolished Baylor.
Loser: Kansas. The lone first-round loser among the Big 12’s participants. Maybe the Jayhawks will make something of their program one day.
Winner: The Big 12. Four of the conference’s seven teams reached the Sweet 16 — a record-tying total for the conference and a higher percentage than either the Big Ten or SEC, which advanced half their entries to the second weekend.
Loser: The Mountain West. Second-round losses by Colorado State and New Mexico extended an ignominious existence: Only one team not named San Diego State has reached the Sweet 16 (Nevada in 2018) since Utah and Brigham Young left the conference.
Winner: Newark. The East regional features both the top attraction (Duke) and what could be the best game of the Sweet 16. First team to score 90 points wins when Brigham Young and Alabama take the court Thursday evening.
Loser: San Francisco. Chase Center will host a Sweet 16 field that features four teams from the Eastern and Central time zones: Florida, Maryland, Arkansas and Texas Tech. How low will the get-in price go?
Winner: TV ratings. The tournament started strong in the ratings game with an average of 9.1 million viewers for Thursday’s lineup across the four networks (CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV). That’s a 6 percent year-over-year increase, according to SportsMediaWatch. Arkansas’ victory over Kansas became the most-watched first-round game under the current broadcast format with 6.4 million.
Loser: Late-game officiating reviews. They are out of control, and it takes away from the viewing experience. The NCAA must do something this offseason.
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Winner: Brigham Young. The sixth-seeded Cougars are in the Sweet 16 for the first time since Jimmer Fredette was the biggest name in the game (2011). According to ESPN, their victory over No. 3 Wisconsin was the school’s first tournament win as a lower seed since 1991 (when Shawn Bradley was the biggest player in the game).
Loser: Houston. The top seed in the Midwest advanced to the regional in Indianapolis, where it faces fourth-seeded Purdue playing just 70 miles from campus. If the Cougars win, they will play Kentucky or Tennessee in the Elite Eight. Good thing Houston was undefeated on the road in the Big 12, because Lucas Oil Stadium will be a hostile venue.
Winner: UConn. Sure, it’s easy to dislike coach Danny Hurley, and we aren’t trying to change your mind. But the Huskies pushed top-seeded Florida to the brink in the second round for their first tournament loss since March 17, 2022. That’s damn impressive.
Loser: UCLA. The Bruins were eliminated in decisive fashion by Tennessee in the second round to cap an entirely forgettable inaugural season in the Big Ten. They lost 11 games overall, finished tied for fourth and were blasted out of the conference tournament in the quarterfinals. We can envision the program losing relevance over time if it’s neither the anchor of a West Coast league nor one of the best in a Midwest conference.
Winner: Dusty May. Michigan’s first-year coach took over a program that went 8-24 and transformed the Wolverines into a Sweet 16 participant. There are good hires and there are great hires. And then there’s May.
Loser: March Madness. The transfer portal opens Monday for basketball players, guaranteeing attention will veer away from the Sweet 16 field. College sports is broken in more ways than we can count, but this is on the short list of boneheaded rules. Or as New Mexico coach Richard Pitino said: “The portal opening on Monday is the dumbest thing ever.”
Winner: 75-72. The final tally from Baylor’s first-round victory over Mississippi State marked the 16th time that score combination has appeared in March Madness. According to the NCAA, it’s the most common score in tournament history.
Loser: 10. The number of Sweet 16 teams that appear in the Hotline’s bracket. (We should never have picked North Carolina.)
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