been a year where the power conferences were so stratified in March Madness? Big 12, Big Ten, and SEC have 6, 8, and 8 teams left, respectively. So 22 of the 32 teams left. Big East only has 3, and ACC only has Duke. Pretty wild. And the stratification isn’t due to a strong mid-major/low-major group. There’s only 4 mid-majors left (St. Mary’s, New Mexico, CSU, and Drake—I don’t consider Gonzaga a mid-major) and only 1 low-major (McNeese).

BTW, there isn’t one game in the round of 32 that doesn’t include a team from the Big 12, Big Ten, or SEC, and in many of the games, both teams are from those conferences. Of the 16 Sweet 16 teams, I’m expecting that only 3 will be from non-Big 12, Big Ten, or SEC teams. There’s a chance there could be a few more, but that would require some significant upsets.