Mike Celizic

We’re down to the Sweet 16, and I have just one question: Where’s the drama? Where’s Cinderella? Where are the underdogs? Where’s the little school we never heard of that we suddenly fall in love with? Who in the name of 3-second violations are we supposed to cheer for?

OK, that’s probably more than one question. Sorry.

I got carried away when I looked at the bracket and saw just one team that isn’t supposed to be there still playing basketball. And even that isn’t a delightfully obscure place like Southwest East Arkansas Normal. It’s not even Western Kentucky or Cleveland State. It’s Arizona.

Sure, Arizona is a 12 seed that beat a five seed — Utah — and then took out 13th-seeded Cleveland State. But it’s a major school, a traditional Pac-10 power that’s been to the Final Four four times and won the national championship in 1997. It may be an underdog, but Cinderella it’s not.

Last year, we were all agog because for the first time ever all four of the top-seeded teams made the Final Four. But at least in the Sweet 16 we had 12-seeds Villanova and Western Kentucky, 10 seed Davidson, and 7 seed West Virginia. That’s one quarter of the field. Only Davidson made it to the Elite Eight, but at least they were there. At least we had some little guys to cheer for.

This year, there’s nobody. Even the three surviving mid-majors — Memphis, Xavier and Gonzaga — are all exactly where the chalk says they’re supposed to be. Every top seed is still alive. Every second seed is still kicking. Every third seed is heading for the next round. And two of the number four seeds are also going. Other than Arizona, the only other team that’s technically overachieved is No. 5 Purdue, but the Boilermakers beat Washington, a 4 seed. As upsets go, that doesn’t qualify.

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Left with no alternatives, we can pretend that Xavier and Gonzaga are actually underdogs and hope they can beat Pitt and UNC. They are small schools, and any surprise is better than no surprise at all.

But as upsets go, they won’t be the sort that people talk about for the next 20 years. If Pitt — tagged as the top seed most likely to mess the bed — loses to Xavier, they won’t talk about it for 20 minutes.

What’s a bit unsettling is the suspicion that this may be a trend. After years of expansion of top-level college hoops, we may be entering an era in which parity does not apply to the game. Two years of tournaments dominated by the top teams isn’t enough of a sample to make a call. It’s still possible it’s just a freaky coincidence. But it would also be a sign of things to come.

My suspicion is that it’s a real trend that is just going to get worse. The big teams have the big coaches and the big players and the big TV contracts and the big arenas. They also have the tournament entries that impress recruits.

If you’re a Big East team trying to get a top kid to sign on for next season, all you have to do is point at the five teams your conference has in the Sweet 16. The Big 12 has three, the ACC and Big Ten two each, the Pac-10 one, and the mid-majors their three.

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