Right off the top, the average hoop-head with a good memory might recall that was the year Rick Pitino coached Louisville to a title, later erased due to a sex scandal. Unless you’re a fan of one of these teams, it’s a lot tougher to name No. 4 seeds Michigan and Syracuse and No. 9 seed Wichita State, a Cinderella story lost to time.
Yet it’s much easier to picture the field five years prior in 2008, the last time all four No. 1 seeds reached the national semifinals. Four of the biggest brands in college basketball—Kansas, North Carolina, Memphis and UCLA—charged into San Antonio, bringing us Mario Chalmers’ all-time 3-pointer and producing a thrilling overtime win for Kansas over Memphis in the title game.
It’s often said that we want upsets and Cinderellas for the first week of the tournament, but by the Final Four, we prefer teams we recognize. I’ve rooted for the underdog all my life, and I’m bummed the number of upsets was so few this year.
But now we’ve reached an all-No. 1 seed Final Four, and amid all the hand-wringing for the future of the sport, I’d like to remind you that we’re in for a doozy of a final weekend.
Duke, Florida, Auburn and Houston earned their trips to San Antonio—coincidentally the same site as the last all-chalk Final Four—with some absolutely dominant play. Their combined record is 135-16, and that loss total includes three games played within that group in the regular season.
KenPom.com data goes back to 1997, and four of the 10 highest team ratings in the site’s history belong to these four teams. Yet the snark masters in the reply section of this post are focused on two things.
One is, “You can’t compare ratings from different years,” because the data only shows how strong a team is relative to an average opponent of that given year. But that’s kind of the point, guys; you’re free to get lost in debates over “Would 2023-24 UConn kill this Duke team,” but I’m not going to. For four teams to be this head and shoulders above the pack in their given season is impressive on its own merit.
The other complaint went, “Something, something, portal and NIL.” Overreact to a single-season sample size all you want, but I’ll hold off at least another year before declaring the death of my beloved college hoops. There’s no doubt the current portal arrangement, which needs major remedies, makes the average mid-major program weaker. But it’s a big leap from there to getting four No. 1 seeds in the Final Four every year.
By the way, most of the upperclassmen on these four teams have been with their respective programs for at least two years, especially the core Kelvin Sampson retained at Houston. Yeah, Duke signed a tremendous freshman class—same as it ever was. I’m reminded of a jealous Jim Boeheim going, “Pittsburgh bought a team, Wake Forest bought a team, Miami bought a team,” but retention and coaching still mattered here. No shortcuts.
Look, I wanted to see Yale or UC San Diego take down Goliath as much as anyone, but despite the lack of upsets, we’ve had some truly tremendous games. I’d rather watch Maryland beat the buzzer against Colorado State or Arkansas choke away a lead against Texas Tech than the Warriors and Rockets winning by 40 like last night.
You’re free to disagree if you didn’t like the journey it took to get here. But now that we’re here, we get to enjoy watching the four best teams in the sport go blow for blow to determine a national champion for the ages.
