"The 2025 tournament was one of the "chalkiest" of all time, meaning the teams that made the final rounds were pretty much the ones you'd expect. It was actually just the second-ever Final Four in history that featured four No. 1 seeds."
"One is the evolution of the transfer portal-which has turbocharged the process of players transferring from school to school during their college career. Another is that name, image, and likeness (NIL) rules that allow student-athletes to receive financial compensation fundamentally changed the shape of college sports."
"Third, teams at the top levels of basketball are simply better than ever, making it much harder for the mid-major programs to compete in even a single game setting."
The 2025 NCAA Tournament lacked the underdog narratives that typically define March Madness, with only top-seeded teams advancing to the final rounds. This contrasts sharply with recent years when mid-major programs like Florida Atlantic, Princeton, and Fairleigh Dickinson achieved deep tournament runs. The shift stems from three primary factors: the transfer portal has accelerated player movement between schools, enabling elite programs to rapidly assemble talent; NIL rules allowing financial compensation have created competitive advantages for well-funded programs; and top-tier teams have become significantly stronger, making upsets increasingly difficult. Despite this trend, elite rosters contain players with underdog backgrounds and journeys.
Read at Fast Company
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]