March Madness is missing Cinderella this year — and she may never come back
📖 Full Retelling
In 2010, the Butler Bulldogs gave Duke the fight of its life in the national championship game, losing only after Gordon Heyward’s halfcourt heave bounced off the rim as time expired
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March Madness is missing Cinderella this year — and she may never come back For the second consecutive year, no mid-major teams made the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, a sign of the widening gap between the haves and have-nots. Cameron Boozer #12 of the Duke Blue Devils during the 2026 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament in Greenville, S.C. Jamie Sabau / NCAA Photos via Getty Images Share Add NBC News to Google March 25, 2026, 10:07 AM EDT By Rohan Nadkarni Listen to this article with a free account 00:00 00:00 In 2010, the Butler Bulldogs gave Duke the fight of its life in the national championship game, losing only after Gordon Heyward’s halfcourt heave bounced off the rim as time expired. In 2013 and 2014, the Wichita State Shockers looked like a new men’s basketball powerhouse, following up a Final Four appearance by securing a No. 1 seed in the tournament. Then as recently as 2023, the Florida Atlantic Owls made a miracle run to the Final Four in only the school’s second tournament appearance. What Butler, Wichita State, Florida Atlantic and many other schools have in common is they belong to mid-major conferences. That is, schools who don’t belong to the NCAA’s Power Four of the Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12. More Sports from NBC News Rangers pitcher finds out he made the team during surprise mound visit during game Baseball ushers in a high-tech replay review system for calling balls and strikes One perfect women’s March Madness bracket going into Sweet 16 Sign up for The Sports Desk newsletter For most of this century, one of the most exciting aspects of watching the men’s tournament is seeing a smaller school, that seemingly nobody could find on a map, make a deep run in March. The “Madness” moniker, arguably, is inspired by teams like Florida Gulf Coast, remembered as “Dunk City,” which became the first No. 15 seed to reach the Sweet 16 in 2013. But for the second straight year, zero schools from a mid-major conference have made the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tour...
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