5 Reasons Why Underdogs Rule March Madness

1. What you resist persists.
   We created the NCAA Tournament program initially to get kids to stay in school, and in doing so the reverse occurred, where NCAA basketball has became a one-and-done factory. Schools like Kentucky, Louisville, UConn, UNC, and UCLA have programs that thrive on getting these unbelievable 18-year-old talents who would stay 1 or 2 years and then move to the NBA. With many smaller programs the reverse has now happened, with those “other” schools now focusing on building slow over time...
2. The “Others” aka the Have-Nots
   The “Other” schools hire coaches that know how to develop talent, recruit from junior colleges, snag the occasional grad transfer, build and strengthen their team so that when the team is comprised of fourth and fifth year seniors, they are playing not only as strong individuals, but as a team. Much like the “Miracle on Ice” team, even though they're not as talented and athletic as these young 18 and 19 year old soon-to-be-pro talents, they ended up being dominant forces. It is in this way that small schools like Gonzaga and VCU can compete with the larger one-and-done colleges.
3.  The Spotlight Burns Bright
   The bigger schools also are under immense pressure to recruit these teenagers who, coincidentally, do not have much situational knowledge and maturity. Some schools cut as many corners as they can during recruitment in order to entice these kids to come to their school. In the early days, the NCAA required a freshmen year where you couldn't play in order for players to gather that maturity. Now, we've gone in the exact opposite direction. Teenagers are promised and handed the world on a silver platter. The competition for this top talent also results in many of these schools getting severe penalties and all types of fines and suspensions, like Louisville who is missing out on this year’s tournament.                                                              
4. David vs. Goliath                                                                                                       Prosperity of underdogs is due to what I call the David and Goliath theory. That's when you get into a situation where emotion is part of the game; David always has a superior advantage over Goliath because he has nothing to lose. Because of the enormous exposure that March Madness gets, the pressure is even worse.  With nothing to lose, it provides great examples of Cinderella stories like when the ‘13 Wichita State team beat powerhouse Ohio State.  The ‘06 George Mason team was an 11 seed, who went on to defeat perennial contenders UNC, Michigan State, and #1 seed UConn before losing to Florida in the Final Four. The list of Cinderella stories goes on and on as we all look forward to more and more this year!

5.  The Deep Ball                                                                                                           The 3-point shot is the great equalizer—the game has changed where those athletic professional players are now competing with those players with superior hand-eye coordination, and that's what makes even the NBA’s Steph Curry so great. In the NCAA Tournament, we can have a fifth-year senior with little size, little strength, and little speed but incredible accuracy from 3-point range, and he can change the face of the game and become the MVP. The underdog mentality and a few subtle nuances are able to create David into Goliath and make every team comparable, every team competitive.

These are the 5 reasons that underdogs are taking over March Madness and also why March Madness is taking over the world!