Morning Brew: Cinderella has left the ball

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Sixteen teams remain in this season’s NCAA tournament and Cinderella has already gone home.

Consider this: All 12 teams with one, two or three seeds are still around after two games for the first time in tournament history.

Even worse, only Arizona — a 12-seed, but traditional power nonetheless — is seeded higher than five.

What happened to the Davidsons (10-seed), the Western Kentuckys (12-seed) or even the Villanovas (12-seed) of 2008?

Where are the darlings of 2006? It was arguably the NCAA tournament that most belonged to the underdog.

George Mason (11-seed and eventual Final Four participant), Bradley (13-seed) and resurgent Wichita State (7-seed) made appearances in the tournament’s second weekend.

Even the Sweet Sixteen in 2007, which didn’t feature a team seeded lower than seven, still had two 5-seeds, a 6-seed and a 7-seed, spoiling the tournament runs of the supposed favorites.

I, for one, am disappointed in the complete lack of Davids around to hurl rocks at the foreheads of the proverbial Goliaths.

The potential for upsets was there, too. Three of four 12-seeds won in the first round. Only Arizona — not exactly the prototypical little guy — remains. Other underdogs, such as, Siena, Western Kentucky and Cleveland State all came up short in their bids to crash the Sweet Sixteen party.

And although there are teams remaining from Conference USA (Memphis), the Atlantic 10 (Xavier) and the West Coast Conference (Gonzaga), all three are about as far from underdog as it comes.

Memphis, of course, just barely fell short against Kansas in last year’s national title game, and John Calipari has what is arguably the most powerful program in the nation.

Xavier has won the last three Atlantic 10 championships and finished runner-up four years ago. Gonzaga has transformed itself from perennial underdog to national power.

So although this weekend will probably feature some down to the wire games between 16 of the nation’s best teams, something will be missing.

The dance is already over for Cinderella.

WHERE IS

THE SUPPORT?

It may not the NCAA tournament, but March Madness is taking place at Allen Fieldhouse this week and nobody is paying attention.

The Kansas women’s basketball team is in the Sweet Sixteen as well, albeit in the WNIT.

Either way, it was just plain embarrassing to see only 1,981 fans show up on Monday night for Kansas’ second-round game against Creighton, a 79-64 victory.

But fortunately for the Jayhawks and their fans, there will be another chance to show up in force on Thursday when Arkansas comes to Allen Fieldhouse.

Kansas barely missed out on an NCAA tournament appearance but appears to be capable of making a prolonged run in the WNIT and even winning the whole thing.

To do that, they will need support from students. Admission is free with a valid KUID.

— — Edited by Jesse Trimble

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