March 17, 2023 was a dark day for countless North students. While some undoubtedly have no idea what happened that day, Boilermaker fans will instantly shudder at the memory of the Fairleigh Dickinson vs. Purdue game: the second 16th/first seed upset in March Madness history. And while both my drywall and I felt much pain that day, I don’t think anyone can deny that it was one of the most memorable and exhilarating games in college sports history. Others may remember the 2018 Loyola run, the 2022 Saint Peter’s run, or the 2024 NC State run. Why do so many of us remember these? It’s because these runs are exactly what makes the Big Dance the holy grail of sports that it is. However, these runs might go down as some of the last in history, due to almost certain changes planned soon by the basketball overlords at the NCAA.
Currently, small-market teams that wouldn’t have much of a chance in larger conferences are guaranteed a spot in the tournament if they win their smaller conference, often filling up the lower 14-16th seeds. However, this occasionally edges out larger-market teams that weren’t good enough to win their conference, and were thus unable to receive a guaranteed spot.
The consequences of rectifying this “problem” are numerous, none of them good. The two primary solutions that have risen to prominence are expanding the tournament drastically, or eliminating guaranteed spots altogether
The former decision, while not eliminating Cinderella teams per se, will ultimately kill the tournament. No one wants to wait a decade just for the tournament to get to the Sweet Sixteen. Half of the appeal of the tournament is its electrifying brevity, and tampering with this element is reckless at best. As bad as the former is, the latter is incomprehensibly catastrophic. Destroying the lifeblood of the tournament can only prove disastrous. Sure, blue bloods are fun. Who doesn’t love a good ‘ol Duke game? But they’re empty. You know, for the most part, going into the game, who’s going to win. Unless you don’t. Unless teams like Farleigh Dickinson and Saint Peter’s are allowed to survive.
The NCAA has already proved its complete indifference to tradition. They destroyed any cultural cohesion in conferences, they expanded the College Football playoffs to purely serve the big conferences, and they diced the Pac-12 and sold its organs in a manner of days. Don’t expect their opinions on March Madness to be any different. The bottom line: enjoy the Cinderella runs of the 2025 tournament. They might be the last.
