On Sunday, ninth-seeded Florida State became the second team to upset a No. 1 seed after dispatching Xavier in the second round of the March Madness tournament, and this, of course, follows UMBC’s historic 16-beats-1 upset of Virginia on Friday.
This is a pretty big deal! According to Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton, however, it may be indicative of a greater shift in the parity of college basketball, where the talent difference between powerhouse schools and the field is getting evened out, and “underdogs” have as strong a chance as ever to eke out wins.
"I think what you see happening in college basketball, it's almost like a revolution," said Hamilton to ESPN. "What happens is, you start categorizing people by the reputation that their players get going into college. But in reality, kids are playing basketball all over the country and teams are getting better. Just because maybe they might not be in one particular conference or maybe they're not considered to be one of the more traditional rich schools, people are playing basketball."
With this context, it’s reasonable to think that upsets aren’t the exact same feat as they may have been ten or twenty years ago, when the sport was less popular and the level of play was less developed outside of traditional recruiting hotspots. Now, there are many more avenues for players to grow their games.
Still, though, Hamilton can’t completely take away our fun. An upset is still an upset, and when a No. 1 seed is toppled by some team that only the gutsiest fan might’ve taken in their bracket, that is still every bit as compelling to watch as it used to be. Seems like Hamilton understands that too, though.
"It's just what they call March Madness," he said.
Power to the bracket-busters, if that means even more upsets in the tournament.
h/t ESPN
