HERE IS THE MADNESS? Chalk Madness?
College basketball fans here at NCC and around the world are asking the same question, where is this year’s madness? Where are the upsets? The Elite Eight was 1 Auburn vs 2 Michigan State, 1 Florida vs 3 Texas Tech, 1 Duke vs 2 Alabama and 1 Houston vs 2 Tennessee with all number one seeds winning. This means, we have a full chalk Final Four consisting of four number one seeds for just the second time in the history of the tournament. The last time was in 2008. Funny enough, the 2008 Final Four was actually located in the same location as this year’s Final Four; in San Antonio, TX.
Meeting up with business administration major and Sophomore here at NCC, Brighton Demitropoulos, he mentioned the differences he has noticed growing up watching the sport. “
Its more about image than before, the games aren’t as blood, sweat and tears as before… The players care about their image and their stats, that’s all,” said Demitropoulos, ’27.
Claiming he believes that the lack of love for the sport has died down, and that it is “all about their draft stock and the viewership they’re pulling online”. It’s an interesting argument to say the least. Lets break down the match-ups actually occurring before diving into NIL and transfer portal.
The Match-ups
- 1 Auburn (32-5) vs 1 Florida (34-4) [FLA -2.5] | Saturday, 5:10 p.m. CBS
- 1 Houston (34-4) vs 1 Duke (35-3) [DUKE -5.5] | Saturday, 7:50 p.m. CBS
What Does This Mean?
We have four number one seeds in San Antonio once again. Two of them consist of SEC teams (Auburn and Florida), the same SEC conference that broke a record of bids into the madness from a single conference at 14. Furthermore, this also means that NIL and transfer portal are a must talk when it comes to its impact on the tournament. This is given the fact that the sum of the Elite Eight teams seed-wise was a whopping 13 with 12 being the lowest possible. For those unaware of what NIL is, you can access it here at ESPN for a further breakdown.
In short, there is a serious pattern occurring—Super teams. Super teams are being built through the transfer portal. For the first time since 2019, there were no mid-major teams in the Sweet Sixteen and you could argue that’s due to NIL, but more importantly in this case, the transfer portal. Stars like Walter Clayton Jr, Mark Sears, Chaz Lanier, J.T. Toppin and Lamont Butler are just a few to point out that have transferred out of mid-majors to go play for a high Power Five school. We saw Clayton Jr. transferring out of Iona to play at Florida, Sears went from Ohio to Alabama, Lanier went from North Florida to Tennessee, Toppin went from New Mexico to Texas Tech and Butler went from San Diego St. to Kentucky.
This is destroying the mid-majors to say the least, making it almost impossible for any of them to make a deep run. It seems no coincidence we saw no 13-16 seeded upset in this year’s tourney, along with no 11+ seed in the Sweet Sixteen either.
Breakdown of National Champions and the transfer portal
Lets take a look at the past National Champions and their starting fives. For starters, lets take a glance at last year’s UConn Huskies team, coached by Dan Hurley. Losing stars like Jordan Hawkins and Adama Sanogo to the NBA, Hurley was stuck looking for replacements. These were replacements to not only take back the Big East but to go back-to-back and be the first to do so since the Florida Gators did it back in ’06 and ’07. Furthermore, Hurley brought in Rutgers guard Cam Spencer, a stellar three-point shooter. He shot a 44% clip to lead UConn to back-to-back titles.
How about Kansas? The 2022 champs hit quite the jackpot in their quest of the transfer portal leading up to their championship run. They cashed in on Arizona State’s Remy Martin. Martin, known for his ability to lead an offense in the scoring category, brought his A-game to Bill Self’s Jayhawks. He was delivering clutch shot after clutch shot in their 16-point championship comeback win over North Carolina.
The point is, these are transfers completely shifting a team’s potential and it’s happening every single year. More and more than ever before. The portal broke a record this season for players entered. It’ll only continue to rise with NIL becoming more prevalent as well. Time will tell how the impact of this. But when the Final Four is all number one seeds, and the Elite Eight consists of three of four number two seeds, the portal, NIL and ability to build powerhouses is already in suite.
