Letting the Big Boys Play This Year

Dan Patrick isn’t feeling North Carolina State as a true Cinderella and bemoans the lack of surprises as we are left with only 16 teams in the Men’s NCAA Tournament. Most years we have a significant underdog to root for during the second weekend but NC State, even as an 11th seed, just isn’t that gritty little school we all want to get behind. But that’s actually just fine because it means we are more likely to have competitive games in the later rounds instead of watching scrappy school get blown out.

Dan Patrick: “We love crazy, chaotic March Madness until we get to the Elite Eight and then we want the good schools to be there, because what other sport do we go, ‘Man, we want a surprise!’? OK, you want a surprise until that surprise gets blown out…We like chaos until we don’t. And then we go, ‘Cute story, now go away. Now let the big boys play.’ And that’s the feeling that you get this year, we’re letting the big boys play.”