Tampa, Fla. – As fans of Basketball College, they are preparing for the smartest semifinals in the NCAA basketball history, the question hangs over the final of the men in San Antonio, Texas and the women’s finals at the Amalia Arena.
Did the transmission portal and the name, image and form of Cinderella compensation?
Our answer: probably not. Chalk is not a permanent brand.
The fear is justified after both tournaments were several shocking losses. The lack of parity was the most significant on the side of men, where all four semi -finalists (Auburn, Duke, Florida and Houston) have been for the first time since 2008 and the second time.
“People talk about the same schools in the (male) Final Four, it looks like every year,” said women’s basketball coach Uconn Geno Auriemma on Thursday.
The holder of his game is not much better. Three female semi -finalists (South Carolina, Texas and UCLA) are the best seeds. A lonely exception is no one who is not underdog-auriemma is the 11-Timeonal National Champions, No. 2 Seed Uconn.
If Mid-Majors becomes feeders for the richest heavy weights, the argument continues, the deep runs of the tournament will become harder for another George Mason, Butler or VCU in the men’s game and are even more unlikely for women.
For the first time since 2008, the final tournament Men’s NCAA Final Four of all seeds No. 1.#Marchmadness pic.twitter.com/6yrbbw7ddr
– Athletic (@Theathletic) March 30, 2025
History could disagree. Auriemma spent it ten years ago. When his Huskies prepared for the last four of all the best seeds in the same city, the male field of the Duke, Kentucky, Michigan State and Wisconsin stressed.
“The guys will almost never get to the last four,” Auriemma said sarcastically.
Parity comes and leaves. If Cinderelllas did not disappear ten years ago, it may not be endangered now.
Although the most important results of this season are extreme, they are not eccentric. Four previous four male four men’s four men had one real Cinderella in 2018 The only Mid-Major programs were Utah of WAC in 1998 and the US Memphis conference ten years later.
Final Four History of Women is similar. At four events in Tampa (including this year), no program was deployed worse than the second. Since 2002, nine semifinals of all seeds No. 1 or three seeds no. 1 and No. 2 have been mentioned.
Some Sundays, the selection commissions simply get awarded the right. Some seasons are still winning. And the triple all-American chiney ogwumike is fine with it.
“Many times people watch March madness for those Cinderella and all the types of things,” said Ogwumike, ESPN analyst, who played in three women’s finals in Stanford in 2010–2014. “But at your core you want to reward the best teams that have been there all year round.”
Especially if these teams are not common suspects. Although South Carolina and Uconn have been four in the women’s final, Texas has not been at this stage since 2003. UCLA has never been so far in the current format of the tournament. Last year, North North Carolina becomes 3 for the first time in this century.
After 22 years, @Texaswbb returns to #Wfinalfour ‼ ️#Marchmadness pic.twitter.com/egjse0kqdg
– NCAA MARCH MADNESS (@MARCHMADNESSWBB) April 1 2025
“It’s a slow building,” said Espn Andraya Carter, former Tennessee. “We will not have in the last four 4 and 7 (seed). But we still see different 1 (seeds).”
It’s the same with the field of men. Auburn never did Final Four until Bruce Pearl led the tigers in 2019.
Upset such as programs, EBB and flow. Consider what happened a year after Auriemma trained in tampie semifinals of all the best women. The last two rounds in 2016 were UConn and the Trio of Final Four newcomers (Oregon State, Syracuse and Washington), which have never produced sweet 16 years in 15 years.
Men watched their historically loaded semifinals 2008 with a 2009 tournament, which had three teams deployed on the 10th or worse earning the first round in one region.
It is worth acknowledging the possibility that the national environment has developed. Uconn can bag the starting guard (Kaitlyn Chen) from Princeton – a perfect accessory. Auburn can add all-American (Johni Broome) as a transfer from the MOREHEAD state. The portal works in both ways, but it seems to help more main programs more at the expense of medium spines. It is also possible that the growing financial gap among the largest brands and all others will be worse when schools are preparing to share income with players at the end of this year.
Even in this scenario, there is a pink more way to look at Final Fours in heavy weight. It is the one who emphasized Roy Williams 17 years ago in San Antonio.
His tar heels were in the highest quartet with Kansas, Memphis and UCLA. Instead of thinking about lack of upset, Williams leaned towards success and called him “the biggest assembly of any four teams for Final Four”.
Talent was remarkable: National player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough, No. 1 Pick Derrick Rose, NBA MVP Russell Westbrook, five-time NBA All-Star Kevin Love and three Hall coaches (Williams, Bill Self and John Calipari). In the title game Kansas’ Mario Chalmers hit a miraculous shot to force overtime against Memphis and finally ended 20 -year -old drought Jayhawks. It was one of the most memorable college basketball moments of the last quarter.
This year’s tournaments also have epic potential. Four male teams rank among the seven best in the net assessment of Kenpoma efficiency since 2002; According to this metric, they are all better than Jayhawks 2008.
The women’s parenthesis still contains one of his biggest names (Uconn’s Paige Bueckers), a hard Texas team, the most star list Cori Close gathered in UCLA and the South Carolina program, which was looking for its third national title in four years. His last four teams have 11 total losses.
“Whoever passes this semifinals and the finals, did it against the best of the best,” said Longhorns Vic Schaefer coach. “It’s definitely a glove.
(Illustration: Will Tullos / Athletic;; Photos Bruce Pearl, Geno auriemma, Cori Close and Jon Scheyer: Stew Milne, Jeffrey Brown, Ben Solomon, Tyler McFarland / Getty Images)
