Over the years, we have become accustomed to a few early upsets in the tournament leading to one or two "Cinderella's" arriving at the ball that is the Sweet Sixteen. There will always be a Loyola-Chicago or a Saint Peters or a George Mason or a VCU that gets fans more excited than they should be about underdog runs deep into the tournament. But at the end of the day, our expectation is that big conference teams will dominate the later rounds, and that the historically dominate and familiar programs from Power Five conferences will be well represented in the Final Four.
That will not be the case this year. Consider that only two of the remaining teams have won a National Championship since 2000, and only six have made it to the Final Four in that time. There is no Kansas, Kentucky or Duke, and North Carolina and Villanova didn't even make the field. Believe it or not, the most decorated remaining team in the field is UConn! And yes, I know UCLA remains but I am talking about recent history.
The next two weeks will be interesting. This Sweet Sixteen is represented by eleven conferences! I don't know if this is a real shift in college basketball that acknowledges coaching shifts, the transfer portal and NIL among other things, but the next few years will be interesting. I don't think the blue bloods will go away quietly, but I do believe that there is a new guard arriving.
For the block pool, your commissioner remains winless and despondent. Thankfully, my real gambling is going better. Through two full rounds, Steve Hofmann continues to build his pile with 5 wins. We also have a few people with 3 wins. Congratulations to you all for impressive first weekends. The results for Sundays games are below
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