Money. It can’t buy you love or championships. A lot of things have to go right for the highest-paid teams to win titles.

Poor Cinderella has hit a spate of bad publicity. There’s been chatter since the 2026 NCAA basketball tournaments began with things like “she’s gone forever,” or true underdogs like Butler or VCU will never again get near the top. Most attribute it to money that lures players into the transfer portal. But that doesn’t tell the whole story.

Yes, times have changed. But maybe Cinderella’s just changed her style and we didn’t recognize her during the first weekend of games. We should have. Like wardrobes and haircuts, a lot of what was fashionable 25 years ago is trendy again, but with a present-day spin. See coaches like Izzo (Michigan State), Pitino (St. John’s) and Calipari (Arkansas), among others in the men’s Sweet 16, and Auriemma (UConn) and Staley (South Carolina) in the women’s.

But if money means wins, consider this: Kentucky, the team with the highest reported payroll, is out. Kansas, North Carolina (which this week fired its head coach, Hubert Davis) and top-seed/defending champ, Florida — all out.

Power 4s/Past 5s have long held competitive advantages

We’ve seen years when then-outlier Gonzaga sped through the men’s tournament, and teams like VCU and Butler beat the big boys. If you look at decades of champs, however, it’s been SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Big 12 programs with a dash of Big East schools that consistently rose to the top.

So maybe it’s not money through NIL or the transfer portal that left traditional Cinderellas behind. Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wolken aptly noted how major conferences were made King Kong-like via realignment. Creating new conference dimensions—in the name of money—did more to disrupt the college sports landscape than anything in history. Some that once snuck peeks from the outside were wearing slick new kicks for the world to see. Move to a flush conference and you, too, can buy a whole new wardrobe – and shiny new coaches, multi-purpose locker rooms and facility upgrades.

The biggest difference between the NCAA Tournament of years past and today is that athletes can maximize their highlights thanks to NIL, with the added freedom to move from school to school without penalty (thank the NCAA for that).

Yes, 2026 Cinderella has a different look than say, 1990 Cinderella. But TV ratings are up and there are still thrills in the NCAA tournaments. The publicity machine for the men’s and women’s events continues to roll.

So let’s hold off on burying Cinderella. She merely took what was given and got a glow-up. And a pair of sweet new kicks.

###

©2026 Gail Sideman; NILPublicity.com; The NIL Edge