Some will try to argue that Texas or Iowa are Cinderellas, being an 11 seed and 9 seed. But the Lunatic feels that you can’t be from a power conference and be a Cinderella. They certainly deserve tons of credit for pulling off upsets to get to the Sweet 16. But the Lunatic holds the term Cinderella in reserve for the mid-major teams that don’t have the same financial resources that schools from the SEC and Big 10 have.

After St. Louis, VCU and High Point went down (and Gonzaga – although it is hard to call a 3 seed Cinderella), the last mid-major standing was #9 seed Utah State. And when the Arizona Wildcats took an 18 point lead with 15 minutes to play, it certainly looked like Cinderella’s magic was done.

But Utah State would make a run – they would cut the lead all the way down to 4 points with 6 1/2 to play when Drake Allen hit a three-pointer.

With a little over 2 minutes left and Arizona draining the shot clock, they got the ball into Brayden Burries in the corner. But Utah State’s defender closed out great and forced Burries to take the ball back out to the three point line. He kept dribbling further and further away from the basket trying to get just a little bit of space, and finally launched the ball high in the air from an NBA three-point range, and the ball goes in to give the Wildcats a 9 point lead.

Utah State would get a few chances from three-point range to try to cut the lead, but none of them would go in. Arizona advances to the Sweet 16, and the last mid-major team has fallen.