The Sweet 16 has a magnificent seven in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
The SEC landed a record seven teams in the Sweet 16 over the weekend, and none of the remaining teams are a Cinderella from a mid-major conference. Sixth-seeded Ole Miss became the seventh SEC team to advance to the tournament’s third round on Sunday night with a 91–78 win over No. 3 seed Iowa State.
Part of what makes the Sweet 16 and all of March Madness special is the mid-major teams pulling off early-round upsets and reaching the third round or further. Known as Cinderellas, numerous mid-major squads have made impressive runs, including former Final Four teams George Mason (2006), VCU (2011), and Loyola Chicago (2018).
This year, no mid-major team made it past the second round. The remaining conferences represented include only four of the Power Five—the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC.
McNeese State, a 12th-seeded Southland Conference team and the closest one to being a Cinderella, made it past No. 5 seed Clemson 69–67 to open the tournament on March 20. The Cowboys then fell to No. 4 seed Purdue 76–62 on March 22.
Other non-Power Five conferences that had teams in the second round also got sent home. That included No. 11 seed Drake from the Missouri Valley Conference, No. 10 seed New Mexico, and No.12 seed Colorado State of the Mountain West.
In addition, mid-major powers No. 6 seed Gonzaga and No. 7 seed Saint Mary’s of the West Coast Conference also bowed out in the second round. The Big East, a Power Five basketball conference, failed to advance any teams. No. 9 seed Creighton and No. 8 seed UConn, the two-time defending champion, both fell short.
Among the remaining conferences, the Big 12 has four teams (Arizona, BYU, Houston, and Texas Tech), the Big Ten has four squads (Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, and Purdue), and the ACC has one (Duke) besides the SEC’s seven. Remaining SEC teams include Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, Ole Miss, and Tennessee.
“We want to be one of those teams that has a chance to win the tournament. And Ole Miss winning the tournament? I don’t know. Probable? No. Possible? Absolutely!”
Ole Miss is among a record 14 teams from the SEC in the 68-team tournament, but the Rebels’ desire for history relates to an ACC school. Beard said his team is drawing inspiration from a film about the Jim Valvano-led 1983 NC State Wolfpack, which won the title as a No. 6 seed.
Beard has been there before with his former team, Texas Tech. In 2019, his Red Raiders lost the national championship game to Virginia—the only Final Four appearance in Texas Tech school history. Understanding the challenges of the tournament, the second-year Rebels coach won’t let his players finish the NC State film unless Ole Miss can pull off a program first in a tournament full of hoops heavyweights.
“Players are like, ‘When are we going to finish this?’” Beard said. “I’m like, ‘We’re going to finish on Sunday night, right before the Monday (national championship) game. So, it’s not arrogance.”
“It’s absolutely belief,” he said. “If I didn’t believe this team was capable of continuing to win games in this tournament, then I shouldn’t be the coach at Ole Miss.”
The Rebels aren’t the only remaining team never to make a Final Four. BYU and Tennessee also haven’t ever reached the Final Four. None of those three will be mistaken for Cinderella if any, or all, reach the ball’s final set.
