Montverde’s Fab Five, SEC Supreme, Cinderella’s Slipperless—NIL & Portal Strike Again
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Reminder: There are only two choices in life: Results Or Excuses
You either find a way to get it done, or you find an excuse. You can’t have both. The choice is yours.
Montverde Academy’s Fab Five Could’ve Owned the Sweet 16
Picture this: Montverde Academy’s starting five from last year—Cooper Flagg at Duke, Derik Queen at Maryland, Liam McNeeley at UConn, Robert Wright at Baylor, and Asa Newell at Georgia. These dudes were straight fire in high school, rolling to a perfect 33-0 record and snagging the 2024 Chipotle Nationals title. Undefeated. Untouchable. They smoked Oak Hill 79-52 in the semis—Flagg dropped 28 like it’s a warmup, dunking on souls! Even a year before, they had Will Riley, a 6’8” sniper now cooking at Illinois—Montverde is a factory, fam!
Now these freshmen are balling out: Flagg’s on the Naismith watchlist and projected #1 overall NBA pick, Queen’s SEC All-Freshman and just hit the buzzer beater to advance to the Terps to the sweet 16, McNeeley’s Big East Freshman of the Year who just dropped 22 in their loss to Florida, Wright’s Big 12 All-Freshman, Newell’s SEC All-Freshman too. I honestly think this team last year could’ve made it to the sweet 16.
SEC Dominance—They’re Flexing Hard
The SEC’s out here breaking records! Fourteen out of the 16 teams in the conference made the tourney—the most ever, topping the Big East’s 11 in 2011. Twitter clowns were whining ‘too many bids’—check the scoreboard, fam, they’re eating crow now! Might as well call it half of the Sweet 16 teams, because Seven of the Sweet 16 are SEC squads–which is absolutely insane—Kentucky’s dancing, Tennessee smoked Purdue like a BBQ brisket, and Florida’s flexing. They’re not just here to party—they’re here to WIN.
Where’s the Cinderella Magic?
Highest seed left? A 10-seed Kentucky, led by the wizard John Calipari—a top-tier coach and recruiter. They’ve been on a tear, taking down Bill Self’s Kansas crew and then Rick Pitino’s St. John’s squad. Next lowest? A 6-seed BYU. No 11s, no 12s, no fairy-tale runs. Where’s the Cinderella slipper, y’all? Two culprits stole the show: NIL and the transfer portal. Let’s break it down my way.
How NIL’s Shaking Up the Madness:
Big Dogs Eating Bigger: NIL’s like a buffet for the power programs—big markets, fat donor cash, and shiny deals. Stars are flocking to the Dukes and Kentuckys, leaving mid-majors with crumbs. The talent gap is wider than a grin after hitting a parlay!
Recruiting on Steroids: Top teams flash NIL bucks like a rap video, snagging transfers and recruits left and right. Smaller schools can’t keep their breakout studs—parity’s toast, and the little guy’s stuck holding an empty bag.
Me Over We: Players are chasing the bag and the brand now, not the brotherhood. Why stick with a mid-major building a run when you can cash out at a blue-blood? Loyalty’s taking a backseat to the dollar signs. Though this point specifically is hard to argue, because 95% of these guys are not going to the league, so I respect that you have a small window to cash in. It just sucks for 95% of the programs in the country, and basketball fans.
How the Transfer Portal’s Messing With the Vibes:
Chaos Mid-Tourney: They need to fix the dates ASAP. The transfer portal is already live.. Today.. While we still have the sweet 16 to play. For example, Scottie Pippen’s son who plays for Michigan has entered the portal. How the hell are his teammates expecting him to be war ready this week when he’s already officially entered the transfer portal. That is absolutely wild. Whoever is on the board and ok’d these dates needs to be fired, it’s absolutely ridiculous.
Mid-Majors Getting Robbed: One hot season, and those studs from the little schools? Poached by powerhouses. No continuity, no Cinderella dreams—just a talent pipeline to the big leagues.
Roster Roulette: It’s free agency out here! Teams flip players like I’m flipping pancakes every sunday—less chemistry, more chaos. The rich programs reload with studs, while the underdogs are left scrambling. Balance? No, it’s tilted hard.
The result? Cinderella’s grounded. No more senior squads grinding four years for a Final Four. Coaches are ego wranglers now—recruit hard, glue the team together fast, and pray it sticks. Chemistry’s a luxury, because there is a very short window to build it.
The result of this? Top heavy tournament with one seeds feasting
All four 1-seeds are still dancing, and they’re looking thick:
Duke
The team to beat. Tyrese Proctor’s a flamethrower, and they’re deep—Flagg, Maluach, Knueppel, all top-10 picks in June. In the game against Baylor, Duke was up 5 with 3 minutes to play in the first half with Flagg on the bench with 2 fouls. Scheyer decided to put him back in to close out the half. The result: 12-0 run to extend the lead to 17 at the half. You have to have complete trust in your player to not pick up that 3rd foul and believe in his IQ. A big, risky decision that ultimately iced the game.
Arizona is up next, with Caleb Love dropping 29 last game. Yup, the same Caleb who retired Coach K in ’22 while playing for the Tar Heels. Will he end Duke’s season again?
Houston
Credit to Ralph Sampson on his 6th straight Sweet 16.. Longest active streak! They’ve got to this point with the same formula: toughness and straight suffocating teams–tops in the nation, holding teams to 57.9 points a game and true ball fans respect it. Cryer was straight cash dropping 30 to stop Mark Few and Gonzaga from reaching their 10th straight sweet 16.
Houston draws the Boilermakers who just ended McNeese State’s run, but they’re not the Zach Edey juggernaut anymore—still scrappy, though, and playing close to home with crowd love.
Florida
Long, athletic, and cool as ice. They outlasted UConn’s two-time champs in a slugfest. Hurley threw everything, but Florida’s depth and clutch shots sealed it. Composed and ready.
Florida takes on No. 4 seed Maryland. The Terps are scrappy as hell, with Derik Queen banking in a buzzer-beater to stun Colorado State, proving they’ve got clutch DNA and a defense that could make Florida sweat!
Auburn
Bruce Pearl’s Tigers are roaring as the No. 1 seed, torching Creighton 82-70 to crash their first Sweet 16 since ’19! They’ll take on the No. 5 Wolverines who are scrappy underdogs, coming in confident after unleashing a 56-point second-half blitz on Texas A&M to book their ticket to the sweet 16.
Will we see four #1 seeds in the final four? 2008, was the only time in tournament history we saw four #1 seeds make it to the final four: Kansas, Memphis, North Carolina, and UCLA. Mario Chalmers hit the late 3 to force OT with Memphis, then the Jayhawks cut down the Nets in OT.
Don’t sleep on Thursday-Friday action! Hit me with your Final Four picks—text me during the games, you know I’ll be locked in. Let’s keep this energy rolling!"
