For the first time in NCAA Tournament history since seeding began in 1979, there were no No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3 seeds in the Final Four. This year's March Madness Final Four consisted of No. 4 seed Miami, No. 4 seed UConn, No. 5 seed San Diego State and No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic. It has raised the talk of increasing parity in college basketball, even more so considering the fact that none of those schools are among the traditional ‘blue-bloods.' After a wild finish that sent San Diego State to the national championship game, Aztecs head coach Brian Dutcher spoke about that increasing parity.
As Pat Benatar once said… We Belong. pic.twitter.com/zaJW8NlJZg
— Mid-Major Madness (@mid_madness) April 2, 2023
“I just think there's more parity than there has ever been,” Dutcher said. “Hopefully on Selection Sunday's they don't ignore mid-major conferences with really good teams. That they don't keep throwing in losing record teams from Power 5 conferences, the mid-majors are very good. I don't consider ourselves a mid-major, I think we're a high major program.”
There is something to be said for how the transfer portal has almost evened out the playing field in college basketball. Both San Diego State and Brian Dutcher and Florida Atlantic and Dusty Mays had several transfers on their roster.
This is Dutcher's sixth season as head coach of San Diego State. Previously he had served as an assistant coach for the Aztecs under Steve Fisher. Not counting the 2020 COVID cancellation, he has led the Aztecs to March Madness in each season he's been at the helm with the exception of the 2018-19 season.
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