March Madness

Cinderellas

This year’s March Madness lacked upsets, but the 11-seed Texas Longhorns and the 9-seed Iowa Hawkeyes kept the madness and Cinderella spirit alive.

Texas began their run in the first four when they beat the NC State Wolfpack 68-66—a jumpshot by guard Tramon Mark with a second left to get into the Round of 64 as an 11-seed. In the first round, they then confidently beat the 6-seed BYU Cougars 79-71, along with potential first overall pick AJ Dybantsa. The Longhorns then made their biggest upset of the tournament in the second round—a close 74-68 win over the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Texas’ run came to an end in the Sweet 16, when they lost 79-77 to the Purdue Boilermakers off a frustrating putback layup just as the buzzer sounded. Although they lost, this was arguably their most impressive showing, especially for guard Tramon Mark who had 25 points on 11-15 shooting.  

The more impressive Cinderella story was that of the Iowa Hawkeyes, as they dealt with much tougher matchups. The Hawkeyes handled business in the first round against the Clemson Tigers 67-61 and never trailed once. In the Round of 32, Iowa played a common champion pick, the 1-seed Florida Gators. Iowa led for most of the game, but when Florida took the lead back late, the odds said Iowa had no chance. Then, with a three in the final seconds, Iowa pulled off the biggest upsets in one of the most exciting games of the tournament—73-72. The Hawkeyes continued their streak against the 4-seed Nebraska Cornhuskers. Unlike their other games, Iowa trailed almost the whole game. However, they showed their resilience by hitting a couple clutch threes in the final minutes to win 77-71. The Hawkeyes’ run ended in the Elite Eight against Illinois, but as the lowest seed left in the tournament, they established themselves as the most impressive Cinderella of the year. 

Despite Iowa and Texas having great runs, the Cinderella spirit of March Madness seemed to be missing this year. Even Texas’ run was arguably not shocking, because the teams they beat were incomplete and weren’t common picks to go far in the tournament. At the end of the tournament, Iowa and Texas were the only significant teams in what felt like an unsatisfactory, non-chaotic bracket with an expected champion.

The Champions

The Michigan Wolverines were the winners of the 2026 March Madness tournament. They won every game by double digits except for the championship game against the UConn Huskies, showing extreme dominance. The only notable challenge they had were the 4-seed Alabama Crimson Tide. Michigan beat them 90-77, but were down by two at halftime. Alabama earned their respect by scoring more points against Michigan’s dominant defense than any other tournament team. The Wolverines’ most impressive win was against the Arizona Wildcats in the Final Four, who were the favorite to win the tournament right from the start. Michigan came out on fire from the beginning and had a nine-point lead in just four minutes. They were up 48-32 at the half, their largest lead was 30 in the second half, and they eventually won 91-73. Many argue that these were the best two teams in the tournament, making this the true championship game. In the actual championship, Michigan almost never led by double digits over UConn, but the odds were in their favor throughout the game as they held a constant single digit lead in the second half, and ultimately ended up winning 69-63.

Michigan had the second highest odds to win the championship heading into the tournament and won every one of their tournament games with dominant fashion. Although their tournament run wasn’t that exciting, they made for a good story by getting Michigan’s second championship ever. Their win was also fitting for this tournament where most favorites won in dominant fashion.

Where Has the Madness Gone?

Over the past couple years, the March Madness tournament has gotten more and more predictable with fewer upsets. This year, besides Texas and Iowa, the Sweet 16 was very predictable. The Final Four also contained two 1-seeds, a 2-seed, and a 3-seed. In terms of seeding, this tournament was not that exciting. However, it was still an improvement from last year where every single 1-seed made the Final Four and only one 2-seed didn’t make the Elite Eight. Two years ago, there was only one major Cinderella run—the 11-seed NC State Wolfpack who lost in the Final Four. These last three tournaments look incredibly different from the 2023 March Madness tournament. In 2023, all 1-seed teams were out by the Elite Eight, and only one 2-seed made it and ended up losing. The Final Four was made up of a 9-seed, two 5-seeds, and one 4-seed. There was also the second ever 16-seed over 1-seed upset, and the 15-seed Princeton Tigers made the Sweet 16. So why has the typical madness dissipated over the past few tournaments?

The disappearance of the madness is due to the Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) era, which started in July 2021. Since then, college athletes have been able to profit from endorsements, social media, and personal branding. This has led to an increased amount of athletes entering the transfer portal, meaning that an unprecedented number of athletes are switching teams. This, in turn, means that the talent gap is increasing between elite sports colleges and mid-major teams. Therefore, almost all the star players end up playing for the best colleges; it just took a couple of years for this to completely take shape in the tournament. Already, a shocking more than 50 percent of Division 1 men’s college basketball athletes have entered the transfer portal, showing that this trend is becoming more popular.

In fairness, March Madness is still one of the most exciting sports events every year. Even though the more highly ranked teams are often winning, the games are still exciting and it is still incredibly hard to make a good bracket. However, the major complaint is that people don’t want to see the same teams win March Madness every year. The NIL era is also causing the NCAA to appear more and more like a business, which is the biggest criticism of most professional sports. If it goes on like this, March Madness might lose its madness.