March Madness has always been known for one thing, and that is the crazy amount of madness we see in every tournament. During the 2020-2021 March Madness tournament, there were nine double-digit seeds who advanced to the second round of the tournament, including a 15 seed, a 14 seed, and two 13 seeds. Also, the 11-seeded UCLA Bruins made it all the way to the final four. This was the final tournament before NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) was introduced for college athletes.

Here’s the number of double-digit seeds who advanced to the Round of 32 over the past few March Madness tournaments.

2021-2022- 7 (15 Seed Saint Peter’s)

2022-2023- 5 (16 Seed FDU, 15 Seed Princeton, 13 Seed Furman)

2023-2024- 8 (14 Seed Oakland, 13 Seed Yale, 12 Seed JMU, 12 Seed GCU, 11 Seed NC State)

2024-2025- 5 (12 Seed McNeese, 12 Seed Colorado State)

2025-2026- 4 (12 Seed High Point, 11 Seed Texas, 11 Seed VCU)

NIL is great for student athletes, as it will provide them with a life-changing amount of money, but it has its downsides. The 2021-2022 Saint Peter’s Peacocks were a great example of what NIL has potentially taken away from college basketball.

Saint Peter’s was an unknown school before the 2021-2022 March Madness tournament, but after becoming the first 15 seed to reach the Elite Eight in NCAA history, the Peacocks became a household name. Saint Peter’s returned 90.3% of scoring and 84.2% of minutes from the previous season. You will likely never see that type of retention in college basketball for the foreseeable future.

After Saint Peter’s amazing tournament run, head coach Shaheen Holloway was hired at Seton Hall. Out of the 12 players on the Saint Peter’s 2021-2022 roster, nine players entered the transfer portal, while only three players returned the next season. This Saint Peter’s team was a perfect mix of building a roster the old way and taking advantage of NIL.

A perfect example of a player taking advantage of NIL was a player like Doug Edert. He was a junior on the Saint Peter’s roster who only averaged 9.5 ppg, but because he hit a few clutch shots in the tournament, he became an overnight internet sensation. It’s unknown how much money Edert brought in from NIL deals, but his NIL brand value was estimated at over $120,000. That’s money that can make your life so much easier. Edert is now a basketball trainer who is still cashing in on his name, image, and likeness.

While Saint Peter’s will likely never reach the Elite Eight again, the university will never forget the positive impact that the 2021-2022 team had for the future of Saint Peter’s.

Now let’s get into a bad example of NIL for the cinderellas.

The 2023-2024 Indiana State Sycamores were absolutely loaded. All five of their starters averaged over 11 points per game, and they looked like a team that could make a deep run in March. Indiana State was the #1 seed in their conference tournament, and they looked almost unbeatable. But the Sycamores ended up losing 80-84 in the conference championship to the #2 seed Drake, who would go on to win a game in the tournament as a 12 seed. That loss would end up being the reason why they missed the tournament.

The Sycamores didn’t achieve their dream of playing in March Madness, but they would end up making it all the way to the championship game of the NIT. That run really showed that Indiana State should’ve been in the tournament. But now that the season was over, and the players had a chance to cash in on some NIL money, everything was about to get crazy for Indiana State.

All five of their starters ended up entering the portal, including their head coach, who took the job at Saint Louis. Their star player ended up following his coach to Saint Louis, as well as their third leading scorer. Two more of their starters transferred to Texas, and the second leading scorer transferred to Xavier. All five of those guys cashed in on a great season, and while Indiana State might’ve had a great year, they haven’t been anywhere near that since then.

Instead of running it back another year with the same starting lineup, the players took the guaranteed money. Don’t blame the players, blame the game.

There are many reasons why NIL is great, but there are just as many reasons why NIL is bad for the sport. It needs to be limited, while paying the players is what they always should’ve been doing, it has gotten out of hand. Money is being passed around like it’s nothing, and the cinderellas are paying the price for it.