While fans expect upsets and Cinderella stories this time of year during March Madness, this year's NCAA Tournament has given us the complete opposite, with only one double-digit seed (No. 10 seed Arkansas) reaching the Sweet 16. And given the Razorbacks are coached by Hall of Famer John Calipari, it is hard to consider a team coached by him an underdog.
In today's day and age with the transfer portal and NIL deals, it has become commonplace for players that begin their careers at a mid-major school and then transfer to a bigger program later on. Take No. 3 seed Kentucky, for example, who is in the Sweet 16 with a team that was put together from scratch over the offseason under first-year coach Mark Pope. Guards Lamont Butler (San Diego State, Koby Brea (Dayton), forward Ansley Almonor (Fairleigh Dickinson) and center Amari Williams (Drexel) all transferred from mid-major programs and have found tremendous success with the Wildcats this season.
Kentucky is one of many examples of top programs across the country taking advantage of the transfer portal and experiencing immediate success as a result. With the amount of mid-major transfers throughout Division I, the Sweet 16 is represented by four of the power conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC), and not one mid-major program. However, that is not the case for one tournament that has reached its semifinals.
The NIT semifinals look completely different than the Sweet 16
Even though this year's NIT began with four power conference teams (Georgia Tech, Oklahoma State, Stanford, SMU), none of them remain after the Yellow Jackets were eliminated in the first round, SMU and Stanford went home after the second round and Oklahoma State was defeated in the quarterfinals.
With the No. 1 seeds UC Irvine and Loyola Chicago advancing to face the No. 2 seeds North Texas and Chattanooga, respectively, the semifinals of the NIT are entirely comprised of mid-major teams. It is the first time since 2007 that all four NIT semifinalists are mid-majors; that year, George Mason, Dayton, Saint Louis and Butler, then a member of the Horizon League, made up the semifinals, with George Mason taking down Dayton in the final.
If you like captivating matchups and big-time programs meeting with a lot on the line, this year's power conference-dominated Sweet 16 is for you. However, if you enjoy seeing mid-major teams and underdog programs have success, the NIT has played out in your favor. No, there were not many power conference teams represented to begin with, but each of the teams had to win three games to reach the semifinals and the four mid-major schools left standing did just that.