DANCING! We’re in the midst of a month long “dance” as we follow the 2026 NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament. Every year there are surprises, head-scratchers, excitement. There are all types of different “angles” to consider about the BIG DANCE!

…DANCING WITH UPSETS…. Fans just seem to love seeing the underdog  jump up and bite the favorite teams. We’ve already had several (based on their seedings). Now, I don’t count a #9 beating a #8 as an upset..it’s a toss-up game in my mind.  St Louis U trouncing Georgia (I wrote about it last week) is an exception to the rule since one school came from a very prestigious conference (SEC) while the other school was referred to by the announcers as a
“Mid-Major”.

….The biggest upset from my view was #9 Iowa beating #1 Florida. As big as the upset was, the “hero” of the game was even MORE surprising. Alvaro Folgueiras, who averaged a  modest 8.5ppg, didn’t seem like the “go to” guy for the Hawkeyes. But Folgueiras came up with the shot of his life in the game’s waning seconds, taking a Bennett Stirtz bounce pass before firing his shot  towards the target with 4 seconds left. Iowa advances to the Sweet 16 for the first time this century!! They last reached the Sweet 16 in 1999.

…Another Atlantic 10 team (same conference as SLU), VCU (ranked #11) stunned the sports world as they DANCED to an Overtime Win over #6 ranked, N. Carolina 82-78! The Tar Heels hit a 3-game losing streak at exactly the wrong time of the year. The last time that Carolina lost 3 consecutive games was in the 2009-10 season. To put that is perspective, the 4^th year Seniors would not even have reached 1^st grade when Carolina last lost 3 consecutive games!!   VCU & ST Louis U tied for 1^st place in the Atlantic-10 conference with identical 10-3 conference records.

…While both of those upsets were startling, the most surprising DANCE  to me was #12 seeded High Point beating #5, Big 10 (or Big 19-whatever) school, Wisconsin 83-82. Now, I had NEVER even heard of High Point!! To me, the name itself, HIGH POINT, sounds more like a High School name than a college name but…. let’s give them their “day in the sun”….WHAT A WIN!

…It’s my feeling that High Point, who held a 1 point lead when Cam’Ron Fletcher was fouled with only seconds remaining, MISSED the free throw(I’m guessing intentionally) which makes the long pass down court much tougher to execute and it preserved the huge upset. (If he’d made the basket, it would have been taken out-of-bounds for the throw-in. That extra space standing out of bounds, gives a player much more space to make a long throw. Being completely ignorant of all High Point basketball history, I’d say that this had to be THE BIGGEST WIN in the history of the school.

… Another oddity.. Chase Johnston made his first 2-point basket of the season,(he’s a 3-point specialist) a fast-break layup with just a few seconds remaining (different articles had different times) that gave No. 12 seed High Point its 83-82 lead that turned out to be the final score.

…btw….the number of times that upsets of #12 teams over #5 seeded teams in the NCAA BIG DANCE is stunning! 56 different times, the #12 seeded team has beaten the #5 seeded team! Keep that in mind next year when you fill out your bracket 😊

….All 16 teams that advanced to next weekend games in the BIG DANCE  came from the Power 5 Conferences!  I think, that it’s due to the money being paid to players. Which teams have the most money to buy athletes?  The Power 5 conferences. The gap continues to widen as these Power 5 schools see/scout outstanding talent on the lower level teams. When they find one….. out comes the wallet!! If you were a player, could YOU say NO to the offer?

…on the other side of college athletics, Sportsmanship still exists (albeit it’s not noticeable often). Even though, for the 1^st time since 1999, St Johns upset Kansas. It was a game that featured 2 of the best coaches in this era. After Dylan Darling’s buzzer-beating game-winning layup, Darling was mobbed by his teammates as they were celebrating St. John’s last-second 67-65 win. Yet St John’s HC, Rick Pitino remained stoic, As the St Johns team was mobbing Darling. He had been on “the other side” of these tough losses many times so he knew how Bill Self (a legendary coach in this era) felt.  Pitino seemingly refused to show his excitement on his face, especially as the distraught Kansas players walked by him on the court. He gathered himself together and, not cracking a single smile or showing any emotion, walked over to shake Self’s hand in a customary postgame act of sportsmanship. Many observers of college basketball thought that Pitino was intentionally down-playing his win at that moment as a gesture of respect to a fellow HOF College Coach—Bill Self. Bravo!!!

… BTW… Pitino is just 1 of 3 NCAA D-1 coaches to earn a Sweet 16 spot in the BIG DANCE with 4 different schools. Remarkable stat, makes me wonder why he’s “moved so much”?

…Well, it’s no longer possible to repeat the event of 2025. Last year, all 4 of the #1 seeds reach the Final Four.

…The balance across the entire NCAA Mens Basketball tournament is remarkable. Consider this, 3 times in the modern era, the Final Four teams did not include even one #1 seed! (2006, 2011, 2023).  Another remarkable tribute to balance across the country in the BIG DANCE–at least 1 team seeded 7^th, or worse, has reached the Final Four in 10 of the past 12 tournaments.

…Yet, another demonstration of NCAA Mens Basketball “balance” is demonstrated when one realizes that teams of the   Missouri Valley Conference( not usually viewed as a “power conference”) seeded 10th or worse in the NCAA Tourney, have won 5 first-round games since 2016. Only the ACC (7), Big Ten (7) and Pac-12 (six) have more in that span.

… With Colleges seemingly playing musical chairs with their conference commitment, check out the current MO Valley roster(frankly, I don’t recognize it)… Belmont, Bradley, Drake, Evansville, Ill-Chicago, Illinois State, Indiana State, Murray State, N. Iowa, S. Illinois, Valparaiso University. ST Louis U was in the MO Valley for 37 years from 1937-1974.

…Well…. I worn out from my DANCING! Thanks for your read! Please pass the word to family/friends.  Bob