A Four with more

Well, then: UConn, Miami, San Diego State, Florida Atlantic.

This ain't your father's Final Four.

This ain't anyone's idea of a Final Four, unless you're the anyone who says "Let's throw darts at an NCAA bracket and see who we get." Three of the four schools have never played in a Final Four. The fourth (UConn) has played in six since 1999, but hasn't reached one in nine years -- and it's the first for Huskies coach Dan Hurley.

The most experienced guy in the deal is 73-year-old Miami coach Jim Larranaga, who last coached in a Final Four 17 years ago. And it was at a different school, George Mason. 

A lot of folks out there think that makes this the Faceless Four. Or the Boring Four. Or the "I Bet CBS Is Still Negotiating To Get Duke Or Kentucky Reinstated" Four.

The Blob begs to differ.

The Blob says the TV numbers will actually get a bump because none of the same-old same-olds is there.

I say this because the four programs who'll meet in Houston this weekend have made a name for themselves, in the way teams do when they play hard and well and aren't jerks about it. There's now a whole pile of Florida Atlantic fans out there, and they'll all be watching Saturday evening. And who doesn't love watching this Miami team play, or doesn't know the names Nigel Pack and Isaiah Wong now?

San Diego State may not be a power  conference school, but the success of its football and basketball programs -- and its geographic location -- have a  lot of observers convinced it's the logical choice to be the next Pac-12 addition when USC and UCLA leave in a couple of years. So there's that.

UConn, meanwhile, is the lone blueblood, and your likely national champion. The Huskies were one of the top teams in the nation back when all this began in November and December, but then they hit a bad patch in conference play. Now they're back playing the way they did three months ago, destroying Arkansas by 23 and Gonzaga by 28 in the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight.

No one's come within 15 points of them so far in Da Tournament. They've been the best team in this thing since it began, and there's no reason to think they won't be again in Houston.

On the other hand ...

On the other hand, Florida Atlantic has an esprit de corps rare in the brave new NIL I-got-mine world of professional college buckets. Miami has Wong and Pack and unearthly quicks that wear teams down at both ends. And San Diego State knocked out the overall No. 1 seed (Alabama) in the Sweet Sixteen, and, in the Elite Eight, held one of the nation's top scoring teams (Creighton) to 56 points.

The only thing about this tournament we know is we don't know anything. That's been the last two weeks in a nutshell.

I wouldn't call that boring. I wouldn't call it a ratings loser, either.

Know why I say that? 

Because back in 2010, when Gordon Haywood's last-second heave circled the bowl and fell off, permitting Duke to escape with its life against the upstart Butler Bulldogs, 24 million viewers tuned in. It was one of the highest-rated title games in NCAA history, dwarfing the numbers from the three previous years.

Nobody outside Indiana knew who Butler was when Da Tournament began that year, either. But everyone knew the Bulldogs by that first Monday night in April.

And this year?

Been the craziest, and therefore the most intriguing, NCAA Tournament in recent memory. And that draws eyeballs.

The Boring Four?

Nah. A Four with more.