We are now down to the final four teams in March Madness, and the first two weeks have not lived up to the “madness” of some viewers’ liking. For only the fifth time in tournament history, all of the No. 1, 2, 3, and 4 seeds advanced to the round of 32. Only five double-digit seeds won in the first round, and zero 11 seeds or higher moved onto the Sweet Sixteen. The last time this happened was in 2007, so it can seem a little underwhelming.

With that being said, this wasn’t the worst case scenario for the long run of the tournament. We saw more high-level matchups in the later rounds, with the lowest seed remaining in the Sweet Sixteen being the 10-seeded Arkansas Razorbacks, coached by a Hall of Famer in John Calapari.

I can understand why some people come into March Madness looking for Cinderella stories and plug upsets into their brackets, but this year that just hasn’t happened, as there’s been a big gap in talent between the top teams and the average teams.

For the first time in tournament history, the top eight teams in KenPom all advanced to the Elite Eight. This was amazing for the sport, as the best of the best facing off against each other in the later stages of the tournament set us up for some very high-profile matchups: Florida vs. Texas Tech, Duke vs. Alabama, Houston vs. Tennessee, and Auburn vs. Michigan State. In addition, for just the second time in tournament history, all of the No. 1 seeds have advanced to the Final Four, as Florida will take on Auburn and Duke will face off against Houston.

Of the teams that reached the Elite Eight, four of them were from the SEC, which set up many teams from the conference to have a chance to compete for an exclusive spot in the Final Four. This was important for the narrative of this season, as some complained about how the SEC shouldn’t have had 14 teams in the tournament, but the results show that it was deserved coming out of what was truly the best conference all year.

I do not understand how someone could complain about the way the tournament has played out. I want to see who is truly the best, I don’t want to see someone have a severely easier matchup than the rest of the field. I can understand the lack of madness being disappointing in the tournament that specializes in it, but the chalkiness of this year’s bracket has set us up for great matchups between high-level teams.

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