Opinion: 2022 Men’s Final Four Proves What We All Know About College Sports

March truly brings all the madness it can, and this year’s tournament has not disappointed. From St. Peter’s making history as the first 15 seed in the Elite Eight, to multiple second round exits of high seeds, the idea of the tournament “madness” continues.

Despite the madness, the one consistent factor that always remains is the teams that make it far in the tournament are the teams in winning programs. Not winning coaches, not winning players, but winning programs. In college sports, these programs are better known as “blue bloods.”

No, not every winning program has the blue blood status yet, like Villanova. But, time and time again the programs that win will always stick around in the Big Dance.

That seems like an obvious conclusion to reach, but in an event with as much variation as the NCAA Tournament, finding any sort of consistent success is overwhelmingly impressive.

This is why in 2022, a school like North Carolina, a team with a first-year head coach and an eight seed, can still go to the Final Four and meet the rival Duke for a chance at the championship.

Hubert Davis is proving that his Tar Heel team was one of the best in the country after spending most of the year mediocre at best. Now at the end of the season, though, the seed for North Carolina does not nearly matter as much as the logo on their jerseys.

There is a way for these programs to lose that status and success, though. Teams that lose the consistency and brand power become irrelevant; they become a losing program.

A great example of this in college basketball is the Indiana Hoosier program. This is a program with great history and tradition. With a spout of mediocrity though, they lost that elite standing in the eyes of fans, and the program has struggled to succeed at the elite level.

Now, the Final Four will soon tip off, its combatants are all primed and positioned to hang a championship banner. No matter who wins it all, each program has showed that with consistency and a winning culture, they will stay around no matter what.