Gonzaga’s Mark Few refuses to call Texas a Cinderella story after March Madness loss

With its win over Gonzaga in the Round of 32, Texas is the first double-digit-seeded team to reach the 2026 March Madness Sweet Sixteen. Bulldogs coach Mark Few knows his team got upset, but does not want fans to label the Longhorns the annual “Cinderella” team.

After the game, Few expressed frustration with college basketball fans creating too many monikers that he has “a hell of a time” keeping up with. The longtime Gonzaga coach said he believes Texas has “more than enough” to continue winning in the Sweet Sixteen and beyond.

“Some of these monikers we put on everybody — from Cinderella to Blue Bloods and all that — I have a hell of a time understanding it,” Few said after the game. “They make literally no sense. No, [Texas] is not a Cinderella team. That’s a really talented basketball team with a really, really, really good coach that has incredible resources. [Sean Miller] has a great history of doing great things in the tournament. It’s just an 11-seed that had some tough losses during the year, but definitely more than talented enough to win another game after this.”

Gonzaga HC Mark Few pushes back on the “Cinderella” narrative for Texas. pic.twitter.com/beuqaruFKb

— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) March 22, 2026

As a power conference program, Texas is not the typical March Madness Cinderella team. But with the modern NIL and college basketball transfer portal era making upsets more difficult to come by, the Longhorns are as close to a fairytale story as there will be in 2026, just as 10-seeded Arkansas was in 2025.

With 12-seeded High Point, 10-seeded Texas A&M and 11-seeded VCU all losing on Saturday, Texas is the only double-digit-seed remaining in the tournament.

Texas awaits the winner of two-seeded Purdue and seven-seeded Miami for its Sweet Sixteen matchup.

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