Did NIL kill the upset? Why this year's NCAA tournament could be chalkier than ever

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Princeton carving up 4-seed UCLA with backdoor cuts in a first-round stunner. Bryce Drew burying a buzzer-beater that vaulted Valparaiso into March lore. The Saint Peter's Peacocks defying the long odds of a 15-seed and prancing all the way to the Elite Eight. These Cinderella stories probably busted our brackets, but they also helped a generation of American sports fans fall in love with March Madness.

Now, though, in college basketball's NIL era, that "anything can happen" feeling is fading. The shocking upsets are decreasing, and fewer double-digit seeds are surviving, as the talent and financial gulf between power…