Safe to say, Stephen A Smith doesn’t like the dominance within college basketball and March Madness. While there haven’t been any Cinderella teams, it hasn’t made Smith happy in the slightest.
On First Take, he simply said what he feels about the state of college basketball.
“If this continues, it will be the death of college basketball,” Smith said.
While he makes a good point about Cinderella teams, it doesn’t mean that powerhouse teams are succeeding. For instance, Ole Miss is advancing to the Sweet 16.
As a six-seed, they took down a blue blood in North Carolina and dismantled Iowa State on Sunday. Not to mention, Arkansas stunned St John’s basketball as a tenth seed.
There aren’t any legitimate mid-majors at this stage of the tournament. However, just because they are D-I schools, doesn’t disqualify them from not being a powerhouse.
Even a school like Ole Miss isn’t a basketball powerhouse. Still, they’ve managed to make it this far by elite coaching. Just because a team like Oral Roberts or Loyola Chicago is not in this portion of the tournament doesn’t make it a fair claim by Smith.
Stephen A Smith thinks that March Madness, Sweet 16 is a wash
Although there are no Cinderellas, it doesn’t discredit how accomplished teams are. Most notably, the SEC has a record seven teams in the SEC.
It previously beat the ACC’s record of six teams in 2016. Despite that metric, the Power conference are dominating this year. While the transfer portal and NIL are a major factor, so is coaching.
For instance, the SEC has Chris Beard, Rick Barnes, and Bruce Pearl as head coaches. Those are only a glimpse at the coaches that are elite in that conference.
On the flip side, the Big 12 has a 9-1 record in tournament play before heading into Sunday’s game. As Houston is one of the favorites to win, they do so with good reason.
The majority of the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds are projected to win the tournament. There isn’t anything too shocking thus far. Besides St John’s being upset in the Round of 32, there haven’t been too many surprises.
Either way, March might not have the chaotic madness it usually does. However, it’s showing how elite programs are becoming. There might be a passing of the torch to programs that haven’t had that notoriety in the past.
Smith might not like it, but it’s the state of college basketball at the moment.
The post Stephen A. Smith sends shocking warning to college basketball after chalk Sweet 16 appeared first on ClutchPoints.
