Tournament may be better off without "Cinderella's"

UCF beating Duke would have been fantastic, but it wasn't to be. Maybe that was for the better (Photo creds to the Orlando Sentinel)

By Joe Smeltzer

All non-Duke fans wanted, at least partly, to see Central Florida beat Duke.

Regardless of how far we had the Blue Devils going in the NCAA Tournament; and if you're reading this, you probably had them winning the whole thing or at least making it to the Final Four, at least part of you was pulling for the Knights. The thought of watching what would have been one of the greatest upsets in college basketball history was enticing, and if not for a poorly executed alley-oop attempt, it probably would have happened.

As likable as Johnny Dawkins is, and as fascinating as Taco Fall is to watch,  however, would UCF beating Duke have been a good thing for college basketball? At that moment, absolutely. When you think long-term, however, the answer is much more complex.
It's hard not to like a Cinderella story. We saw a great example of one as recently as last March when Loyola-Chicago made it all the way to the Final Four as an 11 seed. In a lot of ways, seeing Sister Jean become a national celebrity was a lot more interesting than, say, Virginia rolling through the South Region.

On the contrary, the best teams make the best games, and as the tournament moves toward its final stages, isn't that what we want? This year, only one top-four seed lost in the first round, and every top three seed made it to the Sweet 16. "Straight chalk" sounds boring, but it just might be preferable than having another Loyola.

Once again, let's look at last year's tournament for reference. Loyola had a great backstory, and it also played an exciting brand of basketball. When the Ramblers got to the Final Four, however, they were out of gas. Their underwhelming performance against Michigan, coupled with Villanova killing everybody it played made for one of the dullest Final Fours in recent memory. Loyola's Elite Eight win over a dull Kansas State team, well, dull. Would the final 10 days of the tournament held as boring had, say, Tennessee been in that spot over Loyola? Maybe not, but maybe so.

Another reason why we want high seeds in the later rounds of the tournament is that the best teams feature the best players. 12th seeded Murray State would have been an outlier in this regard, as JA Morant alone is more interesting than Florida State. Imagine, however, if Aubry Dawkins' shot fell, UCF went through and we didn't get to see Zion Williamson or RJ Barrett?  It would have stunk.

Sure, low seeded, small schools making it far creates great storytelling, but the NCAA tournament will always have compelling storylines. If Cinderella takes away from the quality of play on the court, I'm pulling for the glass slipper not to fit and for midnight to strike as soon as possible.

When the lights are the brightest, I want the best teams and the best players to fight it out. Whether they know it or not, I think most basketball fans feel the same way.