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Money matters, but coaching still defines March Madness

Great coaches are the common thread in the Sweet 16

Author

Kyle Rowland
March 24, 2026

Good morning!

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KICKOFF

The disappearing Cinderella: How March Madness is changing

Everyone is talking about Cinderella, or more accurately, her disappearance from March Madness. For the second straight year, there are no mid-majors in the Sweet 16, and that absence has become one of the defining storylines of the NCAA tournament. 

NIL, revenue sharing and the transfer portal have reshaped the sport. But the bigger question is what it all means. Is the magic of the tournament fading, or is it simply evolving?

The numbers are telling. This marks the fourth consecutive tournament without multiple double-digit seeds reaching the Sweet 16, something that’s never happened before. This year’s lone representative is 11th-seeded Texas, a program with immense resources and a national pedigree. It doesn’t mean the tournament lacks drama, only that something is missing. The underdog runs that once defined March are becoming harder to find.

The biggest driver is structural change. The transfer portal, combined with NIL opportunities, has fundamentally altered roster building, more so in basketball than in football. Power conference programs can operate like year-round free agents, retaining their own stars while recruiting proven talent from mid-majors. If a player earns all-conference honors at a smaller school, there’s a strong chance he’ll transfer.

That reality has made continuity – the hallmark of past Cinderella teams – increasingly rare. Those veteran mid-major squads built on three- and four-year development cycles have largely disappeared. Instead, smaller programs are constantly reloading, often without the time or stability needed to build tournament-ready chemistry.

There are other contributing factors. Conference realignment has thinned the mid-major ranks – Butler and Creighton are now in the Big East, and Gonzaga operates with resources comparable to power conference programs. Scheduling trends also work against smaller schools, limiting opportunities for resume-building wins and favorable seeds.

Then there’s the evolution of the game itself. The idea that college basketball is declining doesn’t hold up. The sport has never been played at a higher level. Players are bigger, faster and more skilled across the board. Guards are more versatile, offenses are more efficient and top teams combine size with spacing in ways that are difficult to counter.

Ironically, that improvement is part of why Cinderella is struggling. The gap between the top and the middle hasn’t just widened financially – it’s widened physically. Power programs are bigger, faster, stronger – and richer. 

Cinderella isn’t gone, but the conditions that once allowed those stories to flourish are disappearing. And while the tournament remains compelling, the slipper is getting harder to fit.

Mid-majors can’t get games, and power conference programs aren’t bending.

The first weekend of the NCAA tournament is filled with debates, and this year was no different. One of the loudest conversations revolved around scheduling, shining a spotlight on a growing divide between mid-majors and power conference programs.

Mid-majors say high-majors are ducking them in non-conference games, making it nearly impossible to build a resume strong enough for at-large bids. Miami (Ohio) was the poster child for that cause this season, as the RedHawks went 31-1 without a single Quad 1 game. 

High Point didn’t face a power conference opponent either. And when his team upset Wisconsin, he let everyone know his opinion about scheduling. But power conference coaches argue the issue isn’t so simple. Matt Painter pushed back strongly against the idea that high-majors are avoiding mid-majors, rattling off Akron, Kent State, Toledo and Oakland as recent Purdue opponents. 

Nate Oats said it’s not about avoiding mid-majors, it’s about selecting the right ones. For power programs, scheduling mid-majors is often a no-win proposition: a victory offers minimal resume boost, and a loss can be damaging. It creates a system where opportunity and incentive are misaligned. 

Mid-majors cannot have good net rankings without games against high-majors. Both sides remain entrenched in their thinking. The debate underscores a deeper question about fairness and access in college basketball. Until scheduling incentives change, mid-majors will keep searching for opportunities that probably won’t come.

March Madness without highlights

College basketball programs and local TV networks are taking matters into their own hands in response to the NCAA’s restrictive rules on sharing March Madness highlights.

Nebraska posted a statement on X explaining why it couldn’t share clips from the program’s first-ever NCAA tournament win. Josh Ayen, a sports anchor at WANE in Fort Wayne, created a tongue-in-cheek “highlight reel” by acting out Purdue’s win over Queens himself.

Under current NCAA policy, teams and media outlets are limited to just three minutes of highlights per day, and those clips can’t be posted until all games have concluded, typically after midnight. In-game clips are completely off-limits on platforms like X, TikTok and Snapchat. On Facebook and Instagram, teams can post up to 60 seconds per game, but only after the game ends, split across no more than two posts of 30 seconds each.

Even original footage isn’t exempt. If teams want to use content captured by their own creators, posts must be co-published with the NCAA’s official March Madness accounts.

The result is a system that feels increasingly out of step with how fans consume sports. While the NCAA maintains tight control over its product, it also limits the very exposure that drives interest. Instead of highlight clips, team accounts have resorted to photos, screenshots, GIFs and even stick-figure drawings.

There is a workaround, but it comes at a cost. Schools can pay $5,000 per tournament, according to emails obtained by Front Office Sports, for expanded access. That package allows up to five minutes of game and ancillary footage to be used after games conclude. Even then, however, posting on X or TikTok remains prohibited.

Unsurprisingly, programs haven’t hesitated to explain the situation to their fans. As the tournament unfolded, frustration mounted, as did criticism of what many see as an outdated and counterproductive policy.

More news and links:

DOWN TO BUSINESS

In the NIL era, coaching still wins in March

I’m not going to say money doesn’t matter because it obviously does. Winning with a meager budget is difficult in today’s college sports landscape. The era is defined by NIL and the transfer portal. But guess what else you need? 

Good coaching. 

This season’s tournament provides a clear example, with experienced, accomplished coaches once again guiding teams deep into the bracket. In the East Region alone, you have Rick Pitino, Tom Izzo and Danny Hurley who have combined for 17 Final Fours and five national championships. 

John Calipari is in the Sweet 16. So are Matt Painter, Kelvin Sampson, Jon Scheyer, Dusty May, Rick Barnes and Nate Oats, each of whom have led at least one program to the Final Four. Sampson has been there with Oklahoma and Houston. The “outliers” are Ben McCollum, Fred Hoiberg, Brad Underwood, TJ Otzelberger, Sean Miller and Tommy Lloyd. If you wrote the names of the top 25 coaches in the country, all the Sweet 16 coaches would be on the list. 

At the forefront is the 73-year-old Pitino who has now taken six different programs to the NCAA tournament and four to the Sweet 16. He’s rejuvenated once-proud St. John’s with his trademark defensive intensity and an infusion of NIL money from billionaire booster Mike Repole. 

McCollum is a prime example of how good coaches can succeed anywhere. After 15 years and four national championships at Division II Northwest Missouri State, McCollum went to Drake, where he went 31-4 in his only season before leaving for Iowa. What does he do in his first season at Iowa? Knock off defending national champion Florida and advance to the Sweet 16, something Fran McCaffery didn’t do in 15 seasons leading the Hawkeyes.

What connects these coaches is not just success, but adaptability. The modern college basketball landscape changes rapidly, with rosters rebuilt year to year. Systems must be taught quickly, roles defined clearly and adjustments made on the fly. In the NCAA tournament, where preparation time is short and opponents are unfamiliar, those coaching traits become decisive. Money to pay players is nice, but a good coach is the biggest prerequisite for winning. 

The tournament consistently produces results that reflect preparation and execution as much as raw ability. Close games are often directly controlled by coaching. The continued success of Pitino, Izzo, May, Hurley, etc. underscores that reality. While the sport evolves around them, the fundamentals of winning in March remain the same. 

And behind each of those elements is a coach responsible for putting players in position to succeed.

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