SI:AM | A Different Kind of Cinderella for NCAA Tournament

Good morning, I’m Tyler Lauletta, filling in once again for Dan Gartland, who is off today while he invents a new type of Dodger Dog. Can’t wait to see what you come up with, Dan! On to the newsletter.

In today’s SI:AM:

🏀 Purdue escapes

🐅 LSU’s throwback star

⚾ Skenes’s opening flop

What makes a Cinderella in the modern era?

Through the first weekend of March Madness, one question kept surfacing: Where, oh where, had our Cinderellas gone?

Sure, No. 12 High Point’s first-round win was a fun time, but the Panthers were the lowest seed to reach the second round and failed to make it to the Sweet 16. The only double-digit seed to reach the second weekend of play was No. 11 Texas, and it is extremely tough to call Texas, whose athletic program was worth approximately two bajillion dollars last year, a Cinderella story.

Multiple theories have been offered to explain the current lack of Cinderella runs. Maybe it’s a byproduct of the NIL era. When players have the uninhibited ability to jump schools and schools can offer bigger and bigger deals, the cream simply rises to the top.

Sports Illustrated’s Kevin Sweeney theorized that the absence of upsets could be due to the style of basketball that has become more popular among the best teams. A few years ago, the top teams spread the floor and shot a ton of threes. This year, the best teams are bigger and more physical, with the likes of Arizona and Michigan bullying their opponents. Relying heavily on threes is a great strategy when it works, but it’s also high variance. That may not be the best tactic when the championship is decided by a three-week, single-elimination gauntlet. Getting bigger and stronger can help limit volatility and raise a team’s floor, and, as a result, limit upset potential.

So where does that leave our Cinderellas? It may just be a matter of perspective. Maybe the No. 11 over No. 6 upset in the first round is the new 12–5 matchup, and maybe we’re simply going to see lower seeds winning at a lesser clip, at least for the time being. There are still underdogs out there winning—No. 9 Iowa is through to the Elite Eight after a win over No. 4 Nebraska on Thursday night and has already knocked off Florida, the region’s top seed and the reigning champion, last weekend.

Are the Hawkeyes a Cinderella? It depends on the lens through which you look. On one hand, the term Cinderella is usually reserved for mid-majors, rather than power conference programs that have a football stadium with a capacity to seat 69,250 fans. On the other hand, no one expected the Hawkeyes to get this far, and with a win on Saturday, they could be through to the Final Four for the first time since 1980.

“Maybe they should have seeded us better,” coach Ben McCollum said on Thursday. “They seeded us right where we should be. I guess there's Cinderella. You know, we were so close in a lot of games and I don't like to use that. We were right there. And then we lost some games we probably shouldn't have.

“Yeah, Cinderella, whatever they want to call us, just we're in the Elite Eight. That's what they need to call us.”

McCollum is no stranger to Cinderella status. After extended success leading Division II powerhouse Northwest Missouri State, McCollum jumped to Drake last year and led the Bulldogs to a regular season championship, conference tournament championship and a March Madness win. In another timeline, McCollum is the type of coach who would be the one leading Drake on a magical run to the Sweet 16. He’s just at Iowa now and has them in the Elite Eight.

The term “Cinderella” is so ingrained in our understanding of what March Madness is, and we’re never going to get rid of it. But similar to the idea of finding a “sleeper” pick in fantasy football—in an era where nearly every single sports outlet is covering football with a fantasy slant in mind—it feels like “Cinderella” might need to evolve to survive.

So while it might feel a bit gross to think, “Wow, those plucky Iowa Hawkeyes are making quite a run this March!” it might be the direction we’re heading. We will still get mid-majors to fall in love with every March. But, at least when it comes to the second and third weekend of the tournament, the new Cinderella isn’t a school you’ve never heard of. It’s a football school you didn’t expect to have a good basketball team.

The best of Sports Illustrated

Reporting from San Jose, Pat Forde details how Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn delivered a split-second tip-in to lift the Boilermakers into the Elite Eight.

Bryan Fischer writes about how the ruthless bottom line now rules college basketball.

Four powerhouse programs, four marquee coaches and a Sweet 16 bracket: Bryan Fischer argues that the East Regional feels like a Final Four has descended on D.C.

Michael Rosenberg says the Sweet 16 battle between Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo and Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes is a March Madness treat worth savoring.

LSU’s Flau'jae Johnson has become the epitome of an NIL superstar, but Emma Baccellieri describes how Johnson’s decision to return for a fourth season at the program she helped build shows that she’s pretty old-school, too.

Michigan's sophomore class is already the best in the history of its women’s basketball program. But it's more about what this team isn't that makes them so special, Rosenberg writes.

When the worst start of Paul Skenes’s career finally came to an end on Opening Day, his conversation with Pirates manager Don Kelly was short. Stephanie Apstein dives into Skenes’s outing and how he is refusing to dwell on his performance.

Conor Orr says a Myles Garrett trade makes sense for the Browns, and he lists 12 teams that could be possible destinations.

Chris Mannix digs into the variety of topics that NBA commissioner Adam Silver addressed after the Board of Governors meeting, such as expansion, fixing tanking and whether the 65-game rule works.

For Rickie Fowler and others, time to make the Masters is running short. John Schwarb maps out how golfers on the bubble could still receive an invitation to Augusta.

The top five…

…things I saw last night:

5. Schwarbombs are back, baby.

4. Alex Ovechkin, 40, is still putting up hat tricks.

3. I need the muscular college basketball fan to keep chasing Iowa across the country.

2. This Nick Pringle put-back.

1. The ABS revolution is here, and it is fabulous.