March Madness concludes this weekend as the men’s and women’s Final Fours play out in San Antonio and Tampa, respectively.

For the men’s tournament, the new landscape of college sports has led to fewer upsets on the court but much more chaos off it.

Top-Dog Status

Duke, Houston, Florida, and Auburn are the first four No. 1 seeds to all reach the semifinals since 2008. It was a mostly chalk bracket, as no team seeded lower than No. 12 won a first-round game, and the Sweet 16 was represented by a record-low four conferences: the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, and ACC.

The lack of Cinderella stories didn’t turn away fans in the opening weekend, though, as TV ratings hit a 32-year high, with an average of 9.4 million viewers tuning in to first- and second-round games on CBS, TNT, TBS, and truTV. However, the record pace slowed down a bit in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, and the tournament overall is now flat in viewership (9.4 million viewers per game through the Elite Eight) compared to the 2024 edition.

Cooper Flagg, Duke’s star forward and the consensus No. 1 pick in the upcoming NBA draft, remains the biggest draw left in March Madness.

Musical Chairs

With players and coaches seemingly on the move from school to school now more than ever, a staggering 1,300 college athletes declared their intent to change schools last week after the transfer portal opened the morning after the second round of the tournament concluded. 

For coaches, rumors swirled about who would leave their current school for a better job. 

Will Wade made the unprecedented move of speaking publicly about his interest in taking the NC State job (which he ultimately did) while he was still coaching McNeese State. In the Big East, Xavier hired Richard Pitino, who will now coach against his father, Rick Pitino (St. John’s), in the same conference.

Show Me the Money

The SEC, with both its regular-season champion Auburn and conference tournament winner Florida in the Final Four, topped all other leagues by earning a record $70 million from NCAA tournament “units.” Here were the biggest earners: 

• SEC: $70 million
• Big Ten: $42 million
• Big 12: $40 million
• ACC: $18 million
• Big East: $18 million
• Mountain West: $12 million

The West Coast Conference earned $8 million, and the Missouri Valley, Southland, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, and Southwestern Athletic Conference each earned $4 million. The other 20 conferences each earned just $2 million, as their sole tournament team did not win a game.

TAMPA, Fla. — As the women’s March Madness tournament continues to grow, the NCAA may soon make another major format change.

NCAA VP for women’s basketball Lynn Holzman told Front Office Sports that the next step for the tournament may be changing the location of its first two rounds and First Four to neutral sites rather than school campuses.

“As we continue to look to grow our fan base … having those campus-hosted sites has been a means for us to do that. Is that the model for the future? We have to do some very diligent, comprehensive business analysis around all of that,” Holzman said.

The tournament’s first two rounds have been hosted at campuses since its inception in 1982. When the First Four was added in 2022, it was also held at campuses. 

A year later, the NCAA made another format change, shifting the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight from four regional sites—which is similar to the men’s tournament—to two. The attendance numbers have skyrocketed since the change.

The NCAA has averaged 91,205 total fans at its regional games in the three years since making the change, up 54% from the 59,230 average between 2018, 2019, and 2022 (2020 tournament was canceled, 2021 limited by COVID-19).

“The metrics that demonstrate we have increased attendance at regionals, therefore we have increased ticket sales, therefore we have increased revenue, we have increased hospitality packages,” Holzman said. 

Not everyone is pleased with the change, though. “By going to two regionals, we’ve taken the game away from the people,” UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said Thursday in Tampa.

The timing of a potential format change for the initial rounds will likely not be executed by next year. “Almost anything is possible in the short run, but I think we have to be cautious. … There’s a lot that goes into it logistically,” Holzman said.

Final Four Staying Put

The format change highlights the NCAA’s efforts to improve the women’s tournament since the 2021 gender equity report revealed systemic problems. Other changes include giving the women’s tournament the “March Madness” moniker in 2022 and distributing unit payouts for teams starting this year.

However, one of the recommendations from the gender equity study that is not currently on the table is combining the Final Four of the men’s and women’s tournaments at one site.

“It is currently not an agenda item for either men’s and women’s basketball committees,” Holzman said.

This split format is assured until at least 2031. Both the men’s and women’s tournaments have already announced their host sites until then.

TAMPA, Fla. — Every passing day adds to the anticipation of UConn star Paige Bueckers’s WNBA debut. 

It is no longer a matter of if Bueckers will enter the WNBA draft this year after she made her plans to declare official. The big question now is: Where will she end up? 

Ever since the Dallas Wings won the draft lottery in the fall, reports have circulated that Bueckers will either forgo the draft entirely or pull an Eli Manning and force her way elsewhere. So does Bueckers say? On Thursday, Front Office Sports asked her directly. Bueckers was speaking with reporters in Tampa the day before her national semifinal against UCLA and just 11 days before the draft.

“I don’t know,” Bueckers responded when asked what she makes of reports that have speculated she may not wind up playing for the Wings. “The reports are the reports. People write stories, and it’s whatever. Honestly, I’m not really worried about that at the moment. I’m just worried about being here, being present with the team, and trying to get better every single day. So whatever the future may hold, it’s only in God’s hands.” 

But is there somewhere specific Bueckers wants to be, as has been indicated by reports? 

“Nowhere specific,” Bueckers said. “Wherever I end up.” 

By all accounts this is true. The Wings and Bueckers team have not been in communication regarding the draft and her future, according to one league source.

Several league sources who have spoken with FOS this season have downplayed the possibility of Bueckers refusing to play for Dallas.  

WNBA history does not offer up examples of players refusing to play for the franchise they’re drafted by. But the 2008 draft, and what might have been, has long been discussed in league circles. 

The Sparks drafted Candace Parker with the No. 1 overall pick, but many have said, including Parker herself, that if she wanted to end up in Chicago—the Sky had the No. 2 overall pick—she could have. Parker signed with the Sky as a free agent in 2021 and led the franchise to its first WNBA title that same year. 

Bueckers’s future will be further solidified whenever her UConn season comes to an end, whether that be Friday with a loss to UCLA or following the title game Sunday. As far as her commitment to the Wings goes or even her thoughts on the franchise, she’s remained quiet.