The Fairy Tale that was (Very) Short Lived

You can't be considered a Cinderella team for winning one game. You can't be considered a Cinderella team when that win was against this years Duke squad. And you can't be considered a Cinderella team after winning one game against Duke when you are the #11 seed, and historically, the #11 seed wins 32 percent of the time, with a 63-29 record in the first round of the tournament since 1985 (The year the tournament was expanded to 64 teams).

After Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) beat the Duke Blue Devils in the first round of this years NCAA Tournament, analysts were already calling the team "The Next George Mason," and "This Years Cinderella Story." The only problem is, the team is neither, and commentators are just looking to create a storyline, because nearly all of this years games were won by the top seed.

Duke was not a good team this year. For the first time in 220 weeks, the Blue Devils were not ranked in the AP Top 25. The streak, which had been intact since 1996, ended in February as the Devils were on their way to an 8-8 ACC season. That record was their worst conference record since the 1995-96 season. Their overall season ended with a 22-11 record, their first season with more than ten losses since 1995-96. It was also the first time since that 1995-96 season that Duke didn't with either (or both) of the ACC regular season or tournament. It just wasn't Duke's year, and you can't automatically tag VCU as a Cinderella because the team they played has a history of being good.

If the tournement was about teams histories, VCU wouldn't even be in it. The tournament is about today, it's about this season. I commend VCU for their effort, and congratulate them on their win, but as they learned in their second round, it takes more than a mediocre win against a mediocre team to be the Cinderella story.