This past March, Cinderella never made it past the door. There was not even a busted bracket to sigh over. For the first time since the tournament expanded in 1985, the Sweet 16 of March Madness only saw power conference teams. It seemed like the charm of buzzer-beater upsets and teary underdog celebrations was a thing of yesterday.
Colorado State, hyped as this year’s glass-slipper hopeful, watched the clock strike midnight before it even got to dance. While there were upsets like No. 10 Arkansas over No. 2 St. John’s, No. 6 Mississippi stomping Iowa State, none of them stuck. And so, March Madness didn’t feel very mad at all. But then something furious started happening in another sport.
Is Baseball’s Wild Tournament Proof March Madness Hasn’t Gone Mild?
When the hoops fandom started to declare Cinderella dead, college baseball came in with hope. In a matter of hours, two of the biggest giants in baseball, No. 1 seed Vanderbilt and No. 2 seed Texas, were out of the NCAA tournament. And that too before even making it to the super regionals.
On this day one year ago, DJ Burns and @PackMensBball upset Duke to continue their cinderella run to the #MFinalFour 🐺#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/um43WSL3Fp
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 31, 2025
Wright State beat Vanderbilt in their house, and UTSA sent Texas packing in Austin. And just like that, the two national seeds were gone. The last time this kind of collapse happened was nearly a decade ago. And then came Murray State, a No. 4 regional seed.
Ideally, Murray State would not be seen with the national powerhouses. Yet, they were taking down No. 10 Ole Miss, Georgia Tech, and toppling Duke to make their way to Omaha. The madness begs the question: if college baseball can still deliver these wild, chaotic, nobody-saw-that-coming runs, why can’t basketball?
Let’s see what is going on in the hoops world. As March Madness came to an end this year, the fandom blamed NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) money and the transfer portal for the lack of Cinderella stories.
The power schools are stockpiling talent. The mid-majors develop a star, then watch him leave for a bigger paycheck at a bigger school. That imbalance makes it hard for smaller programs to pull off those dreamy tournament runs.
Meanwhile, in baseball, seeding matters but does not rule. Since the current format began in 1999, only two No. 1 national seeds have gone on to win the title. Baseball, by nature, invites chaos.
One hot bat or one bad inning can change everything. That’s the beauty of the game. Anyone can win on any given day.
KEEP READING: Analyst Blames College Football for NCAA Pres. Charlie Baker’s March Madness Expansion
So maybe March wasn’t mad, but perhaps that’s just a one-off. Maybe it was a fluke. Of course, the two sports are very different and come with different pay and draft numbers. But baseball is proof that the spirit of the upset still lives on. Murray State’s heroics remind us that the slipper still fits, just maybe in a different sport this year.
But who knows, come next March, the glass slipper might just come flying back across the court. And when it does? Madness will be waiting.
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