Don't believe the obituaries: This year's chalky first weekend didn't kill March Madness' beloved Cinderella

You've probably read an obituary somewhere or listened to a eulogy for her on sports talk radio over the past 24 hours. If not, let's distill the hot-take talking point running rampant through sports media after a chalky first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. 

Cinderella is dead. 

It's so tragic, right? The beloved archetype that so often shows her face during March Madness is a casualty of the NIL era and the transfer portal -- and the Big Dance will never be the same.

It's a natural reactionary take as we head toward the first Sweet 16 that will feature no teams worse than a No. 10 seed since 2007. 

But the truth is Cinderella is faring just as well now as she did from 2016-19, before the player empowerment era changed college basketball forever.

2025 NCAA Tournament bracket: Scouting each team in the Sweet 16 as March Madness rolls on

Cameron Salerno

In 2016, 2018 and 2019 the only "mid-major" team in the Sweet 16 was Gonzaga, and the Bulldogs were a No. 1 seed in two of those tournaments. So, all the coroners with microphones could have pronounced her dead back then.

The narrative simply fits better now. Players can transfer without sitting out, and the rich programs can afford to pluck the best players from teams that operate with little or no NIL spending power.

However, this was also true in 2022 and 2023, and we saw legendary Cinderella stories in both those NCAA Tournaments. No. 15 seed Saint Peter's had never won an NCAA Tournament game before reaching the 2022 Elite Eight.

Fast forward one year and there were even more teams wearing glass slippers. That's when FDU became second-ever No. 16 seed to take down a No. 1 seed just one season removed from going 4-22.

The 2023 season also brought us a Sweet 16 appearance from No. 15 seed Princeton and a Final Four matchup between No. 5 seed San Diego State and No. 9 seed FAU, both of which came from outside the high-major structure.

It is factually correct that this is the first Sweet 16 made up exclusively of high-major programs. But that's largely the byproduct of conference consolidation as opposed to some larger indictment on the viability of underdogs in the age of unlimited transferring and player compensation.

Two years ago, BYU was playing in the WCC and mired in a stretch of one NCAA Tournament appearance over eight years. Now, we look at the Cougars in a different light as a member of the Big 12. 

No. 1 seed Houston is a fellow Big 12 transplant. Two years ago, it was in the mid-major AAC. Both sets of Cougars merely leveled up into stronger conferences, which contributes to the prevailing narrative coming out of the NCAA Tournament's first weekend.

Last year's Sweet 16 featured 15 high-major teams. The lone outlier was San Diego State. The Aztecs were a No. 5 seed, coming off a Final Four appearance and hailing from a Mountain West that placed six teams in the field. They were not an underdog. 

We were also enamored this time last year with cramming No. 11 seed NC State into Cinderella's slippers, as if the Wolfpack weren't a high-major program with two national championships in their past.

Truth is, we're one traveling call on Maryland's Derik Queen away from sending No. 12 seed Colorado State to the tailor to get  sized for a light blue dress today.

No. 11 seed Drake didn't make the Sweet 16, but it defeated No. 6 seed Missouri from the mighty SEC in the first round with a bunch of former Division II players. No. 12 seed McNeese also toppled No. 5 seed Clemson for its first NCAA Tournament victory in program history.

We're also a couple made shots away from talking about No. 12 seed UC-San Diego in the same light after the Tritons took No. 5 seed Michigan down to the wire in the first round. No. 13 seed Yale, No. 14 seed UNC Wilmington and No. 15 seed Robert Morris all put up great fights in their first-round games, too.

No, Cinderella isn't dead. She just had an off year by her standards, which remain incredibly impressive, even in this new era of college basketball. FAU, FDU, Princeton and Saint Peter's provide plenty of recent evidence.

We missed her this year. But she will return, and this year without her will make us appreciate her all the more.