It already had plenty.
Obviously, the conversation about how the transfer portal is ruining the madness has already started.
This is sure to keep that flame ablaze.
I mean - in fairness, it was a good theory.
I was absolutely psyched for Duke/Alabama.
What a let down.
And that performance severed the Tide like Moses.
So the question is - is March Madness in trouble?
Have WE been forced into the portal into an upside down March Mundaneness reality?
OK - so maybe there’s more than just one question.
Let’s look at some numbers here.
But what’s most interesting to me is the trajectory this tournament has been on lately.
Ever since 2010 we’ve been gluttonous for Madness.
We couldn’t get enough of it.
Gotta think that’s played a role in why this year has been so disappointingly chalky.
And quite frankly, lacking suspense.
I mean, the only good buzzer beater shouldn’t have even counted.
Last year at least had some spiciness in the Elite-8.
We had #11 seed NC-State and even a #4 vs #6 match-up.
This year’s lowest seed was a #3.
The lowest sum of seeds possible in all Elite-8 games is 12.
Guys, we were at 13 this year.
Let’s run another graph.
Same idea as before except with Elite-8 sum of seeds instead of Final Four.
That means 2025 is officially the chalkiest year in history.
No matter what happens from here.
And the worst part is we didn’t even get better games in exchange.
The total difference in scores from all Elite-8 games this year was 50.
Last year’s difference?
This will be interesting to circle back to next year.
Have to think next year will regress back towards the madness at least a little bit.
We need another NC-State.
UMBC (first round).
Maybe that’ll make it all the more special to do it in this new age.
