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Duke, Arkansas, and Houston headline Men’s Sweet 16
With the Sweet 16 upon us, USA Today Sports’ Mackenzie Salmon previews a few of the top matchups we’re most looking forward to.
Sports Seriously
ATLANTA — If you buy into the narrative that college basketball has killed Cinderella, the remains are scattered all over this Sweet 16.
Three players from Florida Atlantic’s magical run to the Final Four two years ago are back in the second week of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament with different programs. A freshman from the Saint Peter’s Elite Eight team is now Ole Miss’ starting point guard. The second-leading scorer from Oakland’s upset over Kentucky starts at power forward for Arizona. Kentucky’s most important player spent four years at San Diego State and scored 13 points in a national title game.
For better or worse, this is the new normal: Players at lower levels will perform well, the transfer portal will give them a chance to play somewhere else without sitting out a year and the opportunity to make significant money through name, image and likeness will usually draw them to schools with the most money in the major conferences.
So the question roiling college basketball this week cuts to the core of everything that has made the tournament one of America’s greatest sporting events: With zero teams from mid-major conferences in the Sweet 16 for the first time since tournament expansion in 1985, is the era of the Cinderella over?
“I don’t think Cinderella is dead,” Michigan coach Dusty May said. “I think she’s probably not going to be making visits as frequently as she did before.”
On one hand, it would be a borderline tragedy if the structural changes to college sports have led us to a point where stories like Florida Atlantic – the team May coached to upsets over Memphis, Tennessee and Kansas State two years ago in the…
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Publish date : 2025-03-27 21:57:00
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