Each NCAA Tournament isn’t entirely new. Once in a great while, North Carolina or Kentucky might fall to the NIT, but only once in a while, and when that happens, plenty of other blue-blood schools take part in America’s biggest Dance. Each NCAA Tournament does involve a lot of familiar faces. No one is making an argument that the 2019 tournament will exclude the great superpowers of college basketball from the conversation.
Yet, do you notice how different this NCAA Tournament will be in some ways?
Consider the Pac-12 possibly having only one team in the field. That would be crazy by historical standards. A Power Five league has never had only one team in the Dance since the expansion to 64 teams in 1985.
Consider the strong possibility that Ole Miss and Mississippi State will both be in the same NCAA Tournament. (Ole Miss still has a little bit of work to do.) That has happened only once before, in 2002.
Tennessee is likely to be a 2 seed. The Vols have never been seeded higher than that.
Do you see what I mean? Much of this tournament will have fresh colors and new contours.
Virginia Tech and Florida State are part of this dynamic.
The fact that both the Hokies and Seminoles will be in the NCAA Tournament is notable enough. These are football schools which have been part of the have-nots of college basketball. They have combined for only four Elite Eights in all of recorded history. They have made only one Final Four — FSU in 1972. They can’t call upon the various talking points or sexy historical realities other programs can offer in recruiting.
That they are both in the Dance is a big deal in itself.
Then realize that they are both going to be higher seeds in the round of 64.
Then realize that they both might be higher seeds in the round of 32.
Then realize that the winner of Tuesday night’s upcoming game in Tallahassee will get a double-bye into the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.
Duke. North Carolina. Virginia… and then the Hokies or Noles.
Not Louisville.
Not Syracuse.
Not the once-proud basketball schools such as N.C. State or Wake Forest which are still searching for a return to true glory.
Not Notre Dame.
Buzz Williams and Leonard Hamilton have coached their rear ends off this season, and now they meet for the right to get two days off, not merely one, in the Cadillac version of all college basketball conference tournaments.
Virginia Tech and Florida State hoops have come a long way. Hokie and Nole fans should savor Tuesday night’s meeting, which will precede a new-look NCAA Tournament.
