Cote: Sister Jean gone, Cinderella dead, but our love of NCAAs survives | Opinion
High Point, North Carolina, was known until recently as the “Home Furnishings Capital of the World.” Trust me on that. It is illegal to make up such a thing.
Then High Point, last week, became known for its college men’s basketball team as the No. 12-seed Panthers in purple upset No. 5 Wisconsin and was anointed this NCAA Tournament’s obligatory 2026 Cinderella-designate.
They lost their next game, of course. (Or did that go without saying?) And now High Point is known as the Home Furnishings Capital of the World that mattered in college hoops for a minute, if memory serves. A year from now, or in a month, all we will remember about High Point is that its players returned to enviable home furnishings.
All of this is to say Cinderella is on life support, a college hoops fallacy, and let’s quit pretending it’s why we love March Madness.
As the men’s tourney reaches its Sweet 16, with those games this coming Thursday and Friday, we love this extraordinary annual event because our team is in it, or because of the brackets, office pools and gambling, or because the single-elimination, win-or-out format makes the seven-game playoff series of the NBA, NHL and MLB seem like ponderous marathons.
In the NCAAs, every game is Game 7.
Don’t get me wrong. We love the idea of the Cinderella run — ironically, since it’s almost always a bracket-buster. But Cindy is hardly worth the wait, as she so rarely actually happens. That’s why the pretty-much-annual fleeting tease like a High Point is so embraced and celebrated. Sort of like Punch the monkey. Whatever happened to him, by the way?
Last year all four regional No. 1 seeds made the Final Four. That had only happened one other time (in 2008) since the NCAA went to the tournament expanded to the current format in 1985. That’s still not as rare as a true Cinderella reigning. No. 8-seed Villanova won it all in ‘85, stunning No. 1 Georgetown. No lower seed has ever been champion. Not once since in 40 years.
It’s OK, though. That hasn’t killed the Cinderella mystique. It lives on because because it’s who we are. The Underdog. Rocky Balboa running up the steps. The 1969 Miracle Mets. The 1980 U.S. hockey team.
Part of NCAA Tournament lore and why we love it is George Mason’s run in 2006, Virginia Commonwealth in 2011 becoming the first First Four play-in team to reach the Final four. No. 11 seed Loyola Chicago — cheered on by then near-centenarian Sister Jean — reaching the 2018 Final Four.
Sister Jean would pass away at age 106 this past October, a sad metaphor for the fate of Cinderella. But she lives on as a part of March Madness lore, because not all heroes reach the ladder to cut the net. Sometimes just coming out of nowhere and climbing a few steps is enough.
The NCAA Tournament is the Horatio Alger story in sneakers. (Google him, kids.)
Heck, as recently as 2023 Cinderella took over the whole darned Final Four, with the Miami Hurricanes, FAU and San Diego State barging in. UConn also made it to rep the bluebloods, but only as a No. 5 seed, highest of the quartet. Only one other time since ‘85 (in 2011) had a Final Four not had any 1 oe 2 seeds.
The sport was changing by ‘23, though. The transfer portal and NIL money were taking over, the haves and have-nots further separated. The average SEC team spent almost $10 million on its hoops roster this season; the average mid-major was around $2.3 million. Also, NIL dough is enabling bigger schools to keep more top players away from the NBA an extra year.
Another factor is that big-conference expansion has poached the smaller leagues, many of whom still enjoy automatic tournament bids despite being noticeably weaker.
That’s a reason first-round games this year were decided by an average margin of 17.4 points, highest since 1985. Thirteen of the first 32 games saw 20-plus margins. And all 16 regional top four seeds advanced past the first round for the first time ever.
This year 12 top four seeds have reached the Sweet 16; two others are fifth and sixth seeds. The only Cinderella-esque advancers (though both big schools) are No. 9 Iowa, which eliminated top seed and reigning champ Florida, 73-72, and No. 11 Texas, which toppled No. 3 Gonzaga.
Iowa or Texas would be the lowest-ranked champ since ‘85. Like their chances? Yeah, me neither.
Miami, which beat Missouri before falling Sunday to Purdue, would be facing Texas in the Sweet 16 had the Canes survived the Boilermakers. UM finished 26-9 under first-year coach Jai Lucas, who orchestrated a turnaround that should earn coach of the year votes. The school ought to be backing up the proverbial Brink’s truck right now to try to keep Lucas as more illustrious programs (North Carolina, Kansas State?) may come looking.
We have focused here on the men’s tournament, but the women’s NCAAs tend to be even more predictable, more covered in chalk, in the oddsmakers’ parlance. The glass slipper does not fit any better over there. This year, entering Monday, No. 5 Maryland is the highest seed out early.
Women or men, the NCAA Tournament is bigger and more popular than ever despite Cinderella so rarely delivering on expectations. Check that: Never really delivering.
No men’s team lower-seeded than No. 8 Villanova has ever won it all, and rather astonishingly no women’s team lower than a No. 3 seed has ever reigned.
Cinderella in sneakers continues a great, mythical dream that will never go away, but we can live without it, thanks. Throw some chalk in the air and bring on the Sweet 16!
This story was originally published March 23, 2026 at 11:43 AM.
