It’s better this way. You know it, I know it, and every college basketball fan in the world knows it. As all-American as it is to root for an underdog story, it’s best for the sport to have four of its best programs in the Final Four. Because if North Carolina, Kansas, Memphis and UCLA were not the participants in this year’s national semi-finals, it would signal the end of college basketball’s appeal as we know it.
It’s a cute story for a Davidson or a George Mason to progress deep into the tournament, but they just aren’t the gravitational pull on the planet-sized life force that is NCAA athletics. Those schools, and other mid-major magicians don’t have the global fan base that power conferences have, and they certainly aren’t the driving forces behind the NCAA’s television contracts. It’s a harsh truth, and one that defies the American Dream, but Cinderella will never bring in the Elliott Spitzers of the world when it comes to revenue.
Don’t get me wrong. My soul is a witness for the the mid-majority. But once we sober up from the Davidson Kool-Aid drinking binge, we realize that the four number one seeds that will play next week are what college basketball are built upon. With the exception of Memphis, the other participating squads are what bring the money, the fans and the drama to the sport and keep us all tuned in as if Erin Andrews was on screen learning how to do the ‘uh-oh’ dance.
This year’s Final Four is a Duke University or an Indiana University away from being college sports history’s most perfect creation. Mid-Majors are the Mom and Pops of the NCAA, reliable and customer-friendly. But the Final Four is Wal-Mart country, and the convenience and selection of America’s best players and America’s best coaches is worth choking on all that chalk in your bracket.
Besides, you would much rather root for or against programs that are expected to make it than those that are wild-card every season. If Davidson was a perennial powerhouse, then 300 students don’t receive full accommodations to the Sweet 16. If Stephen Curry plays for UCLA, it’s not nearly as impressive that he averages more than 30 points in the national tournament. It’s UCLA. It’s expected.
If Davidson gets bounced from the first round next season, no one is shocked. It’s a mid-major. It’s expected.
So don’t be dismayed or disenchanted with college basketball’s glass ceiling. It makes that skylight view of the sport’s brightest stars that much better.
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