1.The first weekend of the men’s NCAA tournament is in the books and now an emerging narrative is that the sport is in trouble because there aren’t any Cinderella teams in the Sweet 16.
The theory is that with NIL here, the bigger schools have the most money and they can buy the best players and the smaller schools will get screwed and the early tournament upsets that everyone loves will become fewer and fewer as the years go on.
Stephen A. Smith weighed in on this Monday with a bad take.
"If this continues, it will be the death of college basketball." 😯@stephenasmith weighs in on college basketball not having Cinderella teams pic.twitter.com/Km2HlCCjRv
— First Take (@FirstTake) March 24, 2025
The NCAA tournament is not in trouble and will never be in trouble for a couple of simple reasons.
One, the tournament is part of Americana. It’s an event. It’s one of those things that everyone looks forward to every year and even pulls in the fringe sports fan.
Two, brackets and gambling. You cannot overemphasize how much the brackets help the tournament. Nearly 25 million brackets were filled out on ESPN.com alone.
Combine the bracket pools with legalized sports betting being more prevalent than ever and there will always be enormous interest in the tournament.
If the truly awful and subpar quality of play is not going to hurt the tournament, a lack of Cinderellas won’t hurt it either. If you sat through St. John’s embarrassing itself Saturday afternoon by going 8-for-25 on layups and 2-for-22 from three-point range, you will be just fine tuning into the Cinderella-less later rounds.
But you don’t have to believe me telling you the men’s NCAA tournament is just fine despite the lack of upsets. Just look at the numbers. CBS and Turner had the most-watched opening day of the tournament ever on Thursday.
CBS Sports and TNT Sports Deliver the Most-Watched NCAA Tournament First Round Opening Day Ever pic.twitter.com/RrwWYyqCPC
— March Madness Men’s Basketball TV (@MM_MBB_TV) March 21, 2025
These numbers do not seem to reflect a sport that is on the verge of death.
2. Speaking of betting, here’s how the first two rounds went in terms of sides and totals:.
A #MarchMadness betting recap for first two rounds:
— Ben Fawkes (@BFawkes22) March 24, 2025
Favorites: 36-12 SU (26-22 ATS)
Unders: 27-20-1
3. Here are the men’s NCAA tournament broadcaster assignments for Thursday and Friday
THURSDAY
Brian Anderson–Jim Jackson:
BYU-Alabama
Arizona-Duke
Kevin Harlan-Stan Van Gundy-Dan Bonner:
Maryland-Florida
Arkansas-Texas Tech
FRIDAY
Ian Eagle-Bill Raftery-Grant Hill:
Ole Miss-Michigan State
Michigan-Auburn
Andrew Catalon–Steve Lappas:
Kentucky-Tennesse
Purdue-Houston
4. This tweet was the single-best thing I saw all weekend.
Calipari is wearing the table cloth from the Italian restaurant where Pitino had sex with that waitress for 15 seconds. The ultimate troll job. #ncaatourney pic.twitter.com/z8QD6NWydm
— The Sklar Brothers (@SklarBrothers) March 22, 2025
5. Maybe it’s because baseball doesn’t move the needle like the NFL or NBA or maybe it’s because the NCAA tournament is going on, but it seems like this story about Mookie Betts losing 23 pounds in TWO WEEKS because of an unknown mysterious illness should be a bigger story.
Mookie Betts has lost roughly around 23 pounds over the last two weeks.
— Fredo Cervantes (@FredoCervantes) March 24, 2025
Betts said it all began two days before leaving to Tokyo. @SportingTrib | #Dodgers pic.twitter.com/a79oOTTTQk
6. This week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast is an all-mailbag edition in which I answer listener-submitted questions.
Among some of the topics covered: Would Fox move Tom Brady from games to its studio show? Why has ESPN changed Monday Night Football directors for the third time in four years? Would you rather have Kevin Harlan or Ian Eagle calling the final two minutes of a tied game? Why is ESPN totally dropping the ball with Around the Horn’s final episode?
Following the mailbag, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week’s topics include Major League Baseball and Fox ruining Opening Day with several terrible decisions, the NCAA tournament, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo’s rant against the Mets, John Cena’s first promo after turning heel,The White Lotusand more.
You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.
You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: The Office debuted on NBC 20 years ago today.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Men’s NCAA Tournament Will Be Just Fine Without Cinderella Teams.
