College basketball takes center stage

Some sports fans believe the annual end-of-the-season NCAA basketball tournaments are the “greatest shows on Earth.”

Extending for multiple weeks, these events – for both men’s and women’s teams – are always full of “bracket buster upsets” and “buzzer-beater shots” from beyond the three-point arc. The anxious anticipation has already begun as the smaller conferences’ automatic qualifiers are being determined.

 

Everything you need to know to “watch smarter” can be found on the Hungry Fan website, based in New York City, which was created by Daina Falk, 43, a Duke University graduate from the Class of 2005.

 

She grew up around professional athletes who were clients of her sports agent father, David Falk. During her days as a Duke student in Durham, N.C., Daina played club tennis. She also studied abroad in great European cities known for their culinary arts – Florence and Paris – where she was inspired to become a chef.

 Our focus today is solely on the men’s game.

Tournament time has long been termed as “March Madness.” Falk’s staff at Hungry Fan tell us the phrase was first coined in 1939 by Henry Van Arsdale Porter (shown below), an official with the Illinois High School Athletic Association. He referred to the state’s high school basketball tournament as “March Madness” and even wrote a poem about it.

 

The Hungry Fan researchers also noted that the term “March Madness” first became associated with the NCAA Tournament in 1982 when sports broadcaster Brent Musburger used the phrase in his college basketball coverage.

 

Perhaps you’ve also heard the entire basketball tournament affair referred to as “The Big Dance.” Where did that come from? Apparently, credit goes to Al McGuire, former coach at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis.

He explained to a reporter in 1977 that a navy-blue blazer was required apparel “when you go to the big dance.” So, he wore his lucky blazer repeatedly during Marquette’s 1976-77 basketball season. 

McGuire’s Marquette Warriors made it into the tournament field and advanced to the championship game to oppose the University of North Carolina, coached by Dean Smith.

Led by Butch Lee, Jerome Whitehead and Bo Ellis, Marquette won the game, 67-59. Notable Tar Heels on the court were Phil Ford, Walter Davis, Mike O’Koren, Tommy LaGarde and John Kuester.

Al McGuire was a “good copy for sportswriters.” He once said he followed one rule on the recruitment trail. If the prospect lived in a house with a grassy front yard, McGuire would back off, saying that an urban environment with cracked, big-city concrete was his comfort zone.

When viewing his team, McGuire could get quite philosophical: “I see either roses or weeds. It’s definitely going to depend upon if the players really love each other, or just make believe. It all gets down to love. If we have love, we’ll be good. If we don’t, we’ll be bad.”

That will be the test: Which teams in the 2025 field will be feeling the love?

Perhaps there is some kind of romantic relationship between “The Big Dance” and another noted tourney term, “Cinderella teams.”

These “Cinderellas” occasionally rise up and over-achieve against all odds during the tournament to knock out favored, higher-ranked teams, explained Shea Corrigan, an editor at FanSided.com, which specializes in covering sporting events of all descriptions. 

Charles Curtis of USA TODAY Sports said the first use of the Cinderella reference was attributed to Alfred Damon Runyon, a journalist and short-story writer, who covered the heavyweight boxing title fight in 1935 between Max Baer and “Cinderella Man” James J. Braddock (shown below).

Their bout was a slugfest, with the judges awarding a unanimous decision to Braddock, outpointing Baer 8 rounds to 6. Braddock’s upset of the heavily favored Baer earned Runyon’s praise…and the moniker Cinderella Man.

The first Cinderella team in college basketball was the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., as the Crusaders cruised past the University of Oklahoma, 58-47, to win the NCAA championship game in 1947.

Curtis said that Paul N. Johnson, sports editor at the Worcester Telegram, called the Crusaders the “Cinderella kids of college basketball” in his post-game article, while applauding the efforts of Holy Cross coach Alvin Fred “Doggie” Julian and players George Kaftan, who was tournament MVP, star Joe Mullaney and freshman point guard Bob Cousy. (Cousy is wearing jersey number 17 below).

 

The well-known “Cinderella” folk tale originated in Europe, and was published in the 1600s, first in Italy by Giambattista Basile and then in France by Charles Perrault. According to the New World Encyclopedia, the story of Cinderella embodies “a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances, which suddenly change to remarkable fortune.”

“The word ‘Cinderella’ has, by analogy, come to mean…one who unexpectedly achieves recognition or success after a period of obscurity and neglect.”

In 1950, Walt Disney Productions distributed the animated musical fantasy film “Cinderella,” which was a box office sensation.

 

Sportswriters pounced on the opportunity to label the City College of New York (CCNY) a Cinderella team, as it made a “fairy-tale run” in the 1950 NCAA tournament. The CCNY Beavers knocked out second-ranked Ohio State and fifth-ranked North Carolina State to reach the title game against the top-ranked Bradley University Braves from Peoria, Ill.

CCNY won the game, 71-68, and Beavers who were major contributors included Nat Holman, Irwin Dambrot, Ed Roman and Ed Warner.

 

More recently, sportscaster Gus Johnson advanced the Cinderella mystique to new levels. When a Cinderella team comes up short, Johnson rationalizes that “the clock struck midnight” and the magic is over. On the other hand, if a Cinderella team wins, Johnson would hoop and holler and exclaim that “the slipper still fits!”

 

Daniel Gilhooley of Brookfield, Ill., who is an accounting major at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Calif., contributes sports columns to the university’s social media communications portal.

Traditionally, a team that earns the title of “Cinderella” is low seeded (11 or below) and is expected to lose in every game, mostly by multiple points, Gilhooley asserted.

He offered his analysis: “Out of all the Cinderella stories in college basketball history, Loyola University of Chicago’s run in 2018 truly fits the criteria of what it means to receive this label and shows how being recognized as a Cinderella story alters the trajectory of a program due to the publicity provided.”

With Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the 98-year-old Roman Catholic chaplain of the Ramblers men’s team on the sidelines, wearing her traditional maroon and gold Loyola “lucky scarf” wrapped around her neck, “her boys done good” in 2018.

 

On their way to the “Final Four,” Gilhooley said: “The Loyola of Chicago Ramblers edged sixth-seeded Miami just before the buzzer. They clipped No. 3 seed Tennessee when a jumper rattled home in the closing seconds. They buried No. 7 seed Nevada with a late three-pointer.”

 

“Based on margin of victory – winning three games by just four points – Loyola’s unexpected run is unparalleled in March Madness history,” Gilhooley wrote.

The bubble burst...and the clock struck midnight…in the semi-final contest, however, when Loyola lost to a powerhouse University of Michigan team, 69-57. Villanova (Pa.) University defeated U-M, 79-62, to claim the national title in 2018.

Fast forward to 2025. Sister Jean is still ticking at age 105, and her Ramblers have had a good season in 2024-25. They are poised to finish strong in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament this week, having earned a “double bye.”

If they win the A-10 crown, they’re in The Big Dance. If they don’t, they’re out...and the basketball program turns into a pumpkin.

 

Cinderella teams stir basketball juices in all of us

Other top Cinderella teams in the men’s NCAA basketball tournament over the years have included a pair from Virginia – the George Mason University Patriots in 2006 and the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams in 2011.

George Mason, named after one of the “founding fathers” of the United States, is located in Fairfax County in northern Virginia, near Alexandria and Arlington in the shadow of Washington, D.C. Once a branch of the University of Virginia, GMU became independent in 1972 and has grown to become the largest public university in Virginia, enrolling nearly 40,000 students.

The Patriots entered the Big Dance in 2006 as an 11th seed and promptly defeated the 6th seeded Michigan State Spartans, a team that had played in the previous year’s Final Four. In its second round matchup against 3rd seeded North Carolina (the defending national champions), the Patriots were once again underdogs. George Mason responded by knocking off the Tar Heels to “survive and advance” to the “NCAA Sweet Sixteen.”

 

The Patriots cruised by the 7th seeded Wichita State Shockers to move on to the “Elite Eight” to face the top-seeded Connecticut Huskies. George Mason prevailed, winning in overtime, 86-84. Moving on to the “Final Four,” the Patriots tangled with the Florida Gators. 

That didn’t go well for George Mason, as Florida pulled away for a 73-58 victory. It was a good tune-up for Florida, which went on to win the 2006 championship by toppling UCLA in the title game.

Turning now to Virginia Commonwealth University, which is based in Richmond, Va., its men’s basketball team had a Cinderella run of its own in the 2011 NCAA tournament. This year was the first time that the field of teams grew from 64 to 68 teams, adding four “play-in” games, which the NCAA politely termed “The First Four.”

VCU was invited to compete for an 11th seeded position in a face-off with the University of Southern California. The Rams won that contest, 59-46, and then rolled on to post an impressive string of tournament wins over Georgetown, Purdue, Florida State and Kansas.

In the Final Four, the Rams lost to the Butler University Bulldogs of Indianapolis, Ind., by a score of 70-62.  (UConn handled Butler in the championship game in 2011.)

 

Worth noting is the fact that Davidson (N.C.) College had a fairy-tale run of its own in the 2008 tournament. Since the Davidson Wildcats were seeded 10th, the squad didn’t qualify officially as a Cinderella team.

Jason Richards, one of the Davidson players, described Davidson’s appearance at The Big Dance as “Steph Curry’s coming-out party. People around the basketball world knew how good Steph was, but that put him on the map, because everyone watches the NCAA tournament. We became the darlings of that year, with Steph being our guy, our leader. He took the nation by storm, and ran with it.”

The Davidson Wildcats clawed their way through the NCAA tournament bracket in 2008, disposing of Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin to reach the “Elite Eight” in the regional finals against top-seeded Kansas. Davidson put up a battle but came up short, losing 59-57.

As an aside, for the first time (and currently the only time) since the current seeding system started in 1979, all four No.1 seeds made it to the Final Four. These teams were Memphis, UCLA, Kansas and North Carolina. Emerging from this premier group as the tournament champion in 2008 was Kansas.

Steph Curry, a native of Charlotte, N.C., went on to become a professional super star in the National Basketball Association. He is currently playing his 16th season as a member of the Golden State Warriors.