NCAA men's basketball Final Four locked in after string of upsets

March Madness is down to the final four Miami and San Diego state each one yesterday and we'll move on and join Yukon and Florida Atlantic as the remaining four teams. It is one of the lowest seated final four brackets in years with one with actually no one seed, no two seed, no three seeds left in the tournament. So joining us now for more on this is CBS Sports Senior writer Dennis Don. Thank you so much for joining us Dennis. Many people are shocked. God and I didn't know what we were talking about anyway. Right.

And we ended up in exactly the same zone as everybody else in America. Exactly. So these experts. So for the first time in more than 50 years, three schools in the men's NCAA tournament are making their first final four appearance. What does that signal about how the tournament may be evolving? Yeah, I don't think it's evolving or not. I think this is just one of those years involving the transfer portal in one time transfer situation where the talent is just spread out. I think we should get used to this in seasons to come.

You've got San Diego State, a team from the mountain west that had never been to the final four in that conference. You've got FAU who've been a program in the NCAA level division one for 21 years. They play in a 2900 seat arena. They're going to be playing for 72,000 in Houston this week. And then Miami with those five national championships and football, but never to a final four being led by Jim Larenaga. God bless him at 73 years old. There were teams that got upset.

Number one overall, Alabama was upset to the delight of many who didn't want to deal with the controversy of the murder in the middle of the season. Duke was probably overseeded at number five. They got eliminated early in North Carolina. One of the mainstays in this tournament didn't even make the tournament. So it's nice to have some new blood. So yes, but let's talk about the spreading of the talent, the spreading of the wealth, across the NCAA. What does it mean going forward? I mean, now if you've got a team like San Diego State or Florida Atlantic, will they be able to compete when it comes to recruits? Because can you expect either more money from boosters or from alumni to at least have a shot at recruiting some kids who might want to go to Kentucky or NC? Yeah, talk about the NIL benefits that have been around for a year and a half.

And the thought was that schools like FAU, like San Diego State, would be victimized by their players moving up. It has turned into a case, Vlad, where coaches that adapt the quickest are the most successful. And don't whine about roster management. Just go get players. College basketball for a while has been used to the transfer environment. A couple of years ago, before NIL even started the transfer portal, 40 percent of Division I players were transferring before the end of their sophomore year. So you've got a situation at Miami where Nigel Paak was a very good guard for Kansas State and the Big 12, received an $800,000 two-year salary for his NIL name, image and likeness at Miami.

So when you saw him last night starring, he was making $400,000 a year for videos and social media posts. All right. Dennis Dodd. I mean, they don't call it madness for nothing. Thank you, friend.

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