The Final Four is set and it is obviously a group that very few people anticipated would be the last four teams standing.
There is UConn, Florida Atlantic, Miami and San Diego State. If you had those four, you are definitely taking all of the money out of your office pool.
Here is another way of announcing the Final Four this year: a competition between a blue blood, a Cinderella, an AAU team of old dudes and the team powered by smart use of name, image and likeness (NIL) opportunities.
OK, maybe that is being cynical — too cynical — but I have to be honest with you: I absolutely hate this Final Four. But I don't hate it for the reasons you think I hate it. And I don't hate it for all of the reasons being thrown around by the Charles Barkleys of the world, who decry NIL and transfers and all that other stuff.
First, NIL is here to stay, and frankly, the athletes should be able to cash in on their ability to generate wealth and attention for their programs. Every school in America has quickly figured out how to use NIL and how to find money to fund their NIL coalitions, so the "have vs. have not" bogeyman is silly.
Sure, the richest programs probably have more NIL money to give, but that isn't any different than it was before, so NIL hasn't created a have vs. have not situation that didn't already exist.
NIL is not the problem. It isn't a problem.
Nor is the transfer portal, even though I hate what it has become. The transfer portal was never intended to be this free agent mechanism in which guys change programs every year.
I think the rules need to be curtailed some to slow down some of the second and third transfers, but regardless, the rampant free agency is merely an unintended consequence of a good rule that gave athletes more control of their careers.
It is absurd when you see teams like Kansas State and San Diego State, which are basically just AAU teams of a bunch of guys from other programs, but that's a part of it. The best and smartest coaches are the ones who figured out how to make the transfer portal work for them and work for their programs.
In short, NIL and the transfer portal are a part of college athletics. They have been good for the empowerment of athletes, and they are here to stay, so just deal with it. As I just wrote, the smartest coaches are those who figured it out, embraced it, stopped bitching about it and made it work for them.
None of that is why I hate this Final Four, though, as it has a lot more to do with the talent — or lack thereof — that will be playing in it. Don't get me wrong — there are wonderful stories and really great players, but for me, the Final Four has always been about the best players competing on the largest stage.
A few years ago, I did a story about the "NBA factor," which was used to determine who had a chance to get to the Final Four.
I went back 25 years from whatever year it was and looked at the 100 Final Four teams in that period.
What I found was something like 95 of them had at least one first-round draft pick and like 92 of them had at least two guys who played in the NBA. The list of teams that didn't have a first-round draft pick was tiny, and that's how it is supposed to be.
You know why the college football system is better than the college basketball system? Because the best teams, largely fueled by many of the best players, are showcased in the football Final Four.
And teams like San Diego State, that slow down every game and turn it into an ugly rock fight, almost never made it to the Final Four in the past. Let's hope that continues, at least.
That kind of basketball is awful — not defense, not measured offense but basketball that is dependent on the games being officiated a certain way in order to work. And it also lends itself to "starless" teams winning, and quite frankly, again, I want to see the best players on the biggest stage.
I hate this Final Four, not because of transfers or NIL but because it is the first time there isn't a No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3 seed.
I hate this Final Four because it is the first time there are no former McDonald's All-Americans in it, and that is generally a collection of the best players available.
And most of all, I hate this Final Four because there is only one player — UConn's Jordan Hawkins — who is projected to be a first-round pick in the NBA, and he is projected to be somewhere in the mid-20s.
Heck, for that matter, the only other player from this Final Four I see showing up in any of the mock drafts is the Huskies' Andre Jackson, who shows up as a possible late second-round pick.
I don't know if this is a one-year deal or if the transfer portal has changed college basketball forever, but I certainly hope it is the former.
Y'all can love on the "Cinderella" feel of this Final Four, but I am here to tell you it sucks.
I want to see the most talented players compete on the sport's largest stage and that's probably why the women's tournament this year is much better and much more compelling than the men's tournament.
The women have it right — the two best players in the country play for South Carolina and Iowa, and they will play against each other this weekend in the Final Four. That is how it was meant to be, how it used to be and hopefully how it will be next year and beyond.
