by Sweetbob

Created on: March 09, 2007   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

In the past few years, parity has grown more common in college basketball. Upsets in the NCAA tournament will happen, but the teams that are underdogs will be known this time around. ESPN have over-analyzed the NCAA tournament and their possible brackets since "Midnight Madness," last fall. ESPN has made teams like Gonzaga, Butler, and Nevada into recurring teams in their television broadcasts and highlight shows. The term "mid-major" is a fairly new term and before the word's birth, the teams that are considered "mid-majors" were just small schools.

ESPN has the ability of turning these "mid-majors" into rock stars. The new stature will skew the NCAA tournament seeds. Teams are expected to pull the upsets and become so-called "Cinderellas." Gonzaga, Nevada, Butler, and Winthrop will be put in situations where they are pitted up against teams that they should beat. Even though these teams will be 7 seeds to 13 seeds, people filling out their brackets will put these "sexy" teams as their predicted winners.

These "mid-major" teams are living off of the Gonzaga teams of the past, NC State's National Championship run, Villanova's run 20 years ago, and also teams like Valparaiso in the late-90s. The only upsets that could occur are if the teams that are seeded 13 down to 16, would win a game. The yearly 5 vs. 12 upset, is where I would draw the line. Usually the 5th seed in a bracket isn't that good of a team and usually did not do well in their conference tournament. The 12th seed is usually a conference tournament champion of a smaller conference or a runner-up with at least 25 wins from a small conference.

The "Cinderellas" in this year's NCAA tourney are Winthrop, Drexel (if they make it), Butler, Davidson, and Creighton. Winthrop and Drexel are getting a lot of love from popular sports analysts. They think these two teams are built to be this year's George Mason or Bradley. Winthrop has a lot of juniors and seniors on the team and already pulled off close games against North Carolina and Wisconsin.

Butler started off very hot this year. Butler knocked off Notre Dame, Indiana, Tennessee, and Gonzaga by late November this season. A.J. Graves and Mike Green, a pair of back-court juniors, have to stay hot in order to make a run in the NCAA tournament.

Creighton and Davidson have played some decent competition. They have showed a lot of talent and the ability to keep some games close. Creighton beat a tough Southern Illinois team in the conference tourney and confirming their ticket to the Dance.

This year should be fun, it will be over-analyzed and if a 9 seed beats an 8 seed, the replays will saturate your television. Use caution when using the term "Cinderella," they are usually just over-hyped pumpkins.

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