We entered the 2024 NCAA tournament hearing that the men’s game had no name stars and few blue bloods among the legitimate national title favorites.
Meanwhile, the powers that be in college athletics — commissioners and athletic directors attached to major football — were discussing expanding the tournament, at least when they weren’t busy raiding each other's leagues, filing lawsuits or lobbying Congress for antitrust carve-outs.
As run-ups go, it was less than ideal. Pretty much everything was negative.
Then came the first weekend of the tournament, and in between the dramatic upsets, the instant legends born and the online searches to determine that Oakland University is in Michigan, not California, the CBS Sports public relations team kept issuing news releases.