Carson Neuhausen | Sports Editor
April 4, 2025
March Madness is known for its unpredictability and upsets, but this year the excitement has been lacking. For many fans, the tournament has felt as if it was just going through the motions rather than the usual excitement. Why is that?
Firstly, the lack of upsets and Cinderella stories has been the main issue for fans. One of the trademarks of March Madness is the surprise team that comes out of nowhere to make a deep run, beating top teams along the way. However, for the most part, many of the higher seeds beat the lower seeded schools with the exception of McNeese (12-seed) taking down Clemson (5-seed). This absence of upsets has led to fans criticizing some of the new NCAA rules and regulations, specifically NIL.
NIL is a program that was introduced to college football in 2021 and has made its debut appearance in basketball this year. NIL allows college students to profit from their name, image, and likeness. This doesn’t sound like a problem on the surface, but many teams use booster clubs and large donors to create NIL funds that draw players to that school. For example, one-seed Florida has one of the highest NIL budgets in the nation and gave out the most amount of NIL deals this year. It is because of this recruitment ability that they were able to make it to the final four of the NCAA tournament. Junior at SCHS and avid college basketball fan Cole Fuller expressed his disdain, “This tournament just hasn’t felt like the normal March Madness.” When asked why he thinks this is he said “It’s for sure NIL; some teams just can’t be stopped.”
Furthermore, many of the games have been lopsided. Blowouts have dominated the tournament, reducing the number of close finishes. Highly anticipated games such as one seed Duke vs. two seed Alabama and one seed Houston vs. the two seed Tennessee have ended in 20 point victories for each respective one seed. SCHS Basketball player and Tennessee basketball fan AJ Creek said it was “painful to watch. It was such a boring game.” Fans crave the drama that comes with very tight games. Without them, the tournament becomes dull due to the lack of game winning shots or triple overtimes.
In the end, March Madness has failed to live up to its storied reputation this year. The predictability of the games, NIL, and abundance of blowouts have all contributed to a tournament that feels underwhelming.
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