More often than not, basketball tournaments are not just run on normal performances, but narratives. The most common is the rise of underdog teams, and no one does these stories better than March Madness. Unfortunately, the ongoing tournament has been criticized by many for being too ‘predictable’. “If this continues, it will be the death of college basketball,” said ESPN sportscaster Stephen A. Smith more than a week ago, about the lack of ‘Cinderella’ teams in the ‘Sweet 16’. However, amid such criticism, one of Stephen A. Smith’s co-workers attempted to make people look at the bright side.
ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg recently appeared on The Next Round to break down the latest twists in March Madness. The tournament is now in the Final Four stage, and only the Auburn Tigers, the Florida Gators, the Duke Blue Devils, and the Houston Cougars remain. Given that all four teams entered the tournament as No. 1 seeds, their presence at this stage is hardly a shock. While complimenting the teams’ progress, Greenberg admitted that none of the squads can be considered as ‘underdogs’. Yet, to him, a battle among the best might prove to be more compelling.
“To me, there is no sleeper in this Final Four. It’s good on good. We can talk about Cinderella all we want, I want to see good on good,” Greenberg said in the interview. “I want to see the best teams. Their body of work, during the course of this season. I want to see the best teams going at it. Different styles of basketball, no doubt about it. Great storylines”.
“To me, there is no sleeper in this Final Four. It’s good on good. We can talk about Cinderella all we want, I want to see good on good.
As a coach, as a guy that loves watching good ball, this is an incredible Final Four.” @SethOnHoops pic.twitter.com/zN2VcdDTDD
— The Next Round (@NextRoundLive) April 1, 2025
This isn’t the first time the analyst has defended only top-seeded teams making it through March Madness. When asked about the same dynamic during a recent interview on ‘Get Up’, the 68-year-old replied, “Look at these matchups, why do we need a Cinderella? Auburn, Michigan…. Florida, Maryland. I mean, every single one of these games, they are not games, they are events. They are games within the game”.
Being a former coach with over 34 years of experience (22 years as head coach), Seth Greenberg would certainly know a thing or two about what things click in college basketball. Despite this, not every sports enthusiast holds his opinion, as Stephen A. Smith has already made it abundantly clear. His criticism about the NCAA was based on his belief that NIL deals are ruining the league. The more successful players were lured to well-funded teams, leading to the creation of highly talented rosters that the small-money franchises cannot compete against.
Since the NIL became available to college athletes in 2021, there have been some impressive runs that have stood out as exceptions. Runs that have countered the claim that only big-money teams rule above all. This includes the Florida Atlantic and San Diego State, who made it to the Final Four in the 2023 season. Unfortunately, such instances are rare. In the case of the ongoing March Madness series, they are downright non-existent.
However, the former coach/analyst is not alone in disagreeing with Smith’s stance, as a few other individuals use big numbers to defend against the “death of college basketball” claims.
Terrence Oglesby and Seth Davis took shots at Stephen A. Smith’s claim amid 9.4 million viewership numbers
No sooner had Stephen A. Smith made the remarks than a perfect counter was unintentionally put out by the official X account of March Madness (men). According to the social media post, TNT Sports and CBS Sports have delivered the NCAA Tournament’s Best Viewership since 1993, averaging 9.4 Million Viewers through the Second Round! The tweet also stated that Sunday games, led by Kentucky-Illinois and Duke-Baylor, averaged 10.1 million viewers, up 13%.
The post caught the attention of American-Norwegian professional basketball player Terrence Oglesby. He used it as a way to take a shot at the ESPN analyst. Reposting the tweet on his feed, he wrote “The death of college basketball” in the captions and accompanied it with a ‘Face With Rolling Eyes’ emoji.
Oglesby wasn’t the only one who used the viewership count to counter the claims that college basketball was in decline. Hoops HQ co-founder and editor-in-chief Seth Davis highlighted Terrence’s remarks and wrote, “Also “no one wants to watch middle of the pack teams from power conferences.””
“The death of college basketball”
— Terrence Oglesby (@T_Oglesby22) March 25, 2025
The mixture of top-seeding teams and Cinderella programs certainly creates entertaining storylines. However, they do not necessarily guarantee high viewership. After all, the game’s outcome can become predictable. This was seen last year, when NC State played eventual national runners-up Purdue. The game drew 2.67 million fewer viewers than the other national semifinal that day: UConn-Alabama. Before that year, San Diego State and Florida Atlantic recorded about one million fewer viewers than UConn and Miami that same day. In 2022, Saint Peter’s major 20-point loss to UNC became the least-watched late Sunday Elite Eight game since 2016.
All of this proves one thing: Top-seeding teams making it far in March Madness can be good news for viewership. Therefore, the next time Seth Greenberg is asked about ‘Cinderella’ teams, he has a good counter-point to use.
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