Stephen A. Smith warns lack of Cinderella runs will be ‘death of college basketball’

The first weekend of the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament was noticeably devoid of the usual madness we’ve come to associate with the sport in the month of March. That has Stephen A. Smith worried.

With only one double-digit seed remaining in the Arkansas Razorbacks, many are willing to proclaim the end of mid-major programs making runs in the NCAA Tournament, due to the advent of NIL and the Transfer Portal. Since the Cinderella runs are what the masses have come to love about the sport, Smith believes college basketball could be in major trouble if the illusion disappears, and this trend continues.

“If this continues, it will be the death of college basketball,” Smith said, via First Take. “… March Madness owns sports for those four weeks. … What is the allure? That everybody has a chance. That’s what gravitates you.”

— This story is developing and will be updated.

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