The death of March Madness was greatly exaggerated

Every March it begins anew. “There weren’t enough upsets… where are all the mid-majors?… no one wants to see a .500 power conference team… no more Cinderellas… this was better years ago… the magic is gone.” Those are the familiar complaints about the second most watched sporting event in the United States. There is functionally a cottage industry in complaining that the NCAA Tournament just isn’t as good as it once was. Twitter was ablaze in these takes during the first round.

And of course that’s nonsense. For starters, this NCAA Tournament first round was the most watched ever. People may whine, but that’s a vocal minority. The general public, and the basketball lifers, still love March Madness. Last season saw records for Final Four and national championship viewing. More people, by a wide margin, watch the tournament than watch the NBA. This thing is a massive, popular, monolith. It still drives an incredible and hilarious spike in vasectomies each year.

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As for upsets it turns out there are just as many as ever. Most seasons there are 4.5 (averages are weird) five seed line or more upsets in the first round. This season there were three. Not a huge departure, but I get where people want more. People forget that the tournament doesn’t end there, though. In fact, this tournament looks to land somewhere in the middle ground because of games like Iowa beating Florida and Texas taking down Gonzaga. If you want to see a St. Peter’s type run or are wishing for the days of George Mason to the Final Four, I understand why seeing a 1,1,2,3 last quartet is disappointing. There were, though, 9, 6, and 11 seeds in the Sweet Sixteen.

And a lack of upsets didn’t mean a lack of first round drama. The cynics point to a 17.4 average winning margin this year as an indication that not much happened this first round. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. For starters, that number is bolstered by some utterly massive blowouts. Four of the eight…

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Publish date : 2026-03-31 17:08:00

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