Baseball, Sports

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Sorry Cinderella, no room for you this year. Underdogs, well, better luck next season.

As the third round of NCAA Tournament action continues today, there has been very little “madness” to speak of so far. Sure, there have been a few upsets — Cleveland State definitely ruined some brackets — but nothing that has made this tournament really stand out.

The top three seeds in every region of the tournament are in the Sweet 16 for the first time since the inception of the current 65-team format. This comes just a year removed from a season in which all four No. 1 seeds advanced to the Final Four for the first time ever.
This year’s tournament has had its competitive games, but the underdog has rarely pulled out the victory. The excitement that is generated by this time of year disappears, though, when the favorite wins nearly every game.
Tournament time has earned its “March Madness” notoriety, mostly, because small schools have been able to show that they can knock off the big boys from the nation’s elite conferences.
Some of the most memorable moments in tournament history didn’t end with the power team coming out on top.
George Mason, a No. 11 seed, was not a household name when it made its mark on the Big Dance in 2006 by beating Connecticut and North Carolina en route to the Final Four.
But with only four at-large bids going to teams from non-power conferences this year, it seems the chances of a mid-major repeating the past success continues to dwindle.
The second-round NIT match-up of Davidson and Saint Mary’s arguably had more star power than almost any early round game of the championship tournament. SMC’s Patty Mills and Davidson’s Stephen Curry are two sure-fire NBA players, but both teams were left out of the field of 65.
The only double-digit seed remaining in the field is No.12 Arizona, but they come from the Pac-10.
Yet, analysts are beginning to talk about the possibility of eliminating the automatic bid from the tournament, and instead take the top 65 teams in the rankings at the end of the season.
This would make the chances of a Big West Conference team making it into the postseason virtually impossible. Sorry, Long Beach State.
It seems as if the word mid-major has become a kiss of death to any tournament hopeful. The mere mention of the phrase is slowly starting to mean nothing more than a spot in the NIT.
Memphis and Gonzaga, both of whom play in traditional non-power conferences, have managed to shed the mid-major moniker. Memphis has been able to do it by steamrolling its Conference USA opponents, and Gonzaga has been a tournament staple for the last 10 years.
While parity is a hot topic with the talking heads of sports shows, I don’t see it. The gap between the big schools and the mid-majors seems to be just getting bigger.
 

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