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The first two rounds of the 2026 NCAA Tournament are officially in the books, and the results have produced a number of trends that longtime college basketball fans may well find concerning.
For one, it appears that the Cinderella run through the tournament by a small school is on the verge of extinction. This year’s tournament marked the second in a row where no team seeded 13th or lower advanced past the opening round.
But an even more eye-opening trend is the number of teams making deep tournament runs that were heavily supplemented by transfer portal additions.
Where every Sweet 16 Team’s Starting-5 began playing college basketball.
(Try to figure out which teams are which) pic.twitter.com/L8VqdWpe8E— NCAA Buzzer Beaters & Game Winners (@NCAABuzzerBters) March 23, 2026
Michigan State Is The Only Sweet 16 Team With Five Homegrown Starters
Only one team remaining in the NCAA Tournament as we enter the Sweet 16 has all five starters who began their college basketball careers at the same school they currently play for.
Fittingly, that team is the third-seeded Michigan State Spartans, who will square with second-seeded UConn in the semifinals of the East Region.
Legendary Michigan State coach Tom Izzo had been one of, if not the most outspoken voice against current NCAA rules regarding player movement.
“I think it’s ridiculous that the NCAA or any other entity put these two things together (the portal opening with the tournament ongoing), that people like you have to ask these questions,” Izzo said last year prior to his team playing in the Sweet 16. “And I value that you have to ask them. And I do get upset when people are talking to our kids about them. I saw what happened at one school. Teams get a chance to play in the Sweet 16, and people are entering the transfer portal.
“Kids gotta do what they gotta do. And they’re really not doing what they gotta do. They’re doing what their parents or their agents are telling them to do. Because they still gotta go to practice, go in the same locker room unless they leave the team. And I think that’s insane. I think it’s disgusting. But that’s my own personal opinion.”
Four teams, Arizona, Purdue, Houston, and Duke, have four starters who began their careers at those respective schools.
The remaining 11 teams have at least two transfers in their starting lineups. Both top-seeded Michigan and fifth-seeded St. John’s have five starters who began their careers at five different schools.
Ultimately, the rules are the rules. But you have to wonder if it becomes more difficult for fans to have a strong connection with teams when the players are all new every year.