Freshmen seeds in bloom for March Madness

The big stories at this year's NCAA basketball tournament are young stars and surprising teams without basketball tradition.

from the March 9, 2007 edition

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Even the small schools have gotten in on the act. At Davidson College in North Carolina, frosh guard Stephen Curry, the son of retired NBA veteran Dell Curry, led the Southern Conference in scoring this season. He also led the Wildcats to an NCAA berth with a win this past weekend in the conference tournament.

Analysts cite a variety of factors for the freshmen uprising.

"Kids have played so much more basketball by the time they get to college now than they used to," says CBS analyst Seth Davis, noting the summer camps, traveling all-star teams, and myriad other options for youth and prep players. "They're a lot stronger and a lot more mature. It's all kind of converged."

Davis believes that this year's tournament – which begins with the play-in game March 13 and gets going in earnest two days later – features the perfect blend of newcomers and traditional powers. UCLA, Kansas, North Carolina, Duke, and Louisville, among others, represent the latter. And, of course, a more recent powerhouse, defending national champs Florida, looms large with a veteran-laden roster led by Joakim Noah, a comparative graybeard as a junior.

When the ubiquitous NCAA tournament brackets begin circulating through millions of offices next week, expect many TV talking heads to advise would-be basketball prognosticators to take a long look at Winthrop University. The tiny South Carolina school has been to seven NCAA tournaments in the past nine years, but, until recently, was viewed as first-round roadkill. Not anymore. Last year, SEC power Tennessee held Winthrop off with a late shot to survive a first-round scare. Now analysts say coach Gregg Marshall and Winthrop stand a chance to become this year's version of George Mason, which rode its glass sneakers all the way to the Final Four last year.

Then again, maybe a bigger school known more for football than basketball might upstage such notions. Texas A&M, led by senior guard Acie Law and fiery coach Billy Gillispie, reached the second round in 2006 and spent much of this season nestled in the Top 10.

Talk of bracket-busters leads Mr. Davis to sum up March Madness's popularity in blunt terms. "Two words: office pools," he says. "It's a great sporting event, but it's also a great gambling phenomenon."

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