The images are iconic.

Jimmy Valvano racing across the court searching for somebody to hug after N.C. State won it all … on the dunk. Harold Jensen hitting another jump shot as Villanova stunned mighty Georgetown. Larry Bird leading Indiana State all the to the final Monday night of the college basketball season until the Magic ran out.

Those are our images of March Madness. Alas, the images also are in black and white.

As much as love to romanticize the Madness, March doesn’t really belong to Cinderella anymore. Blue bloods from the power conferences have combined to win 20 of the past 24 NCAA championships. The four exceptions? They all belong to UConn, formerly of the Big East, but now in the American Athletic Conference.

That trend starts at the conference level, too. In the past 20 years, Cinderella — a team seeded in the bottom half — rarely has used a Power 5 conference tournament to earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

But the SEC authored the most unbelievable one.

ACC

No. 1 seed won: 10 of 20 times

No. 2 seed won: 3 of 20 times

No. 3 seed won: 5 of 20 times

No. 4 seed won: 0 of 20 times

No. 5 seed won: 1 of 20 times

No. 6 seed won: 1 of 20 times

Skinny: Twice in the past 20 years, a seed worse than No. 4 has won the ACC Tournament. In 2017, it was No. 5 Duke, exactly nobody’s definition of an underdog. In 2004, No. 6 Maryland upset No. 1 Duke in overtime to win the conference tournament and automatic bid. That Terps team likely would not have made the NCAA Tournament without winning the automatic bid. They finished just 7-9 in the ACC during the regular season and were 16-11.

Big Ten

No. 1 seed won: 8 of 20 times

No. 2 seed won: 7 of 20 times

No. 3 seed won: 2 of 20 times

No. 5 seed won: 1 of 20 times

No. 6 seed won: 1 of 20 times

No. 8 seed won: 1 of 20 times

Skinny: Cinderella donned the blue and maize in 2017 when No. 8 seed Michigan stunned No. 1 seed Purdue in overtime in the quarterfinals to start their surprising title run. Michigan entered the Big Ten Tournament with 20 wins, but the Wolverines clearly were on the bubble until ripping off 3 unexpected victories to become the lowest seed to win the Big Ten Tournament. They were just a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but reached the Sweet 16.

Big 12

No. 1 seed won: 8 out 20 times

No. 2 seed won: 5 of 20 times

No. 3 seed won: 5 of 20 times

No. 4 seed won: 2 of 20 times

Skinny: The Big 12 isn’t a fan of fairytales, obviously. Not only have better seeds dominated, only twice in 20 years has a team seeded worse than No. 5 reached the final. Both times, it was Baylor. In 2009, No. 9 seed Baylor won 3 games to reach the final, including knocking off No. 1 seed Kansas in the quarterfinals. But the Bears were blown out in the championship game and relegated to the NIT. They went on another run there, however, losing to Penn State in the NIT Championship Game.

Pac-12

No.1 seed won: 6 of 17 times

No. 2 seed won: 4 of 17 times

No. 3 seed won: 3 of 17 times

No. 4 seed won: 1 of 17 times

No. 5 seed won: 1 of 17 times

No. 6 seed won: 2 of 17 times

Skinny: The Pac-12 restarted its tournament in 2002. Since then, only twice has a low seed won it all to secure the automatic bid. USC did it in 2009, and it’s safe to say the Trojans weren’t going to get an at-large bid otherwise. They entered the tournament with just 18 wins and had lost 6 of their previous 9 games. After winning the Pac-12 Tournament, they were seeded just 10th in the NCAA Tournament and lost their second game. In 2012, No. 6 seed Colorado won the Pac-12 Tournament and likely needed too. They were seeded No. 11 in the NCAA Tournament and lost their second game.

SEC

No. 1 seed won: 8 of 20 times

No. 2 seed won: 6 of 20 times

No. 3 seed won: 4 of 20 times

No. 4 seed won: 1 of 20 times

No. 6 seed won: 1 of 20 times

Skinny: First, I think we all celebrated when the conference expanded in 2012 and got rid of the East vs. West seeding and brackets. At any rate, the biggest Cinderella story in the past 20 years — in this league or any other — still belongs to Georgia, which somehow won the 2008 SEC Tournament after going 4-12 in the league. That doesn’t need a lot of perspective or explaining, but Georgia matched its regular season SEC win total by winning 4 games in 4 days to win the tournament.

Two of the wins came on the same day — Saturday, after a tornado ripped through downtown Atlanta on Friday night. The entire weekend was anything but ordinary.

Under traditional seeding, Georgia would have been No. 11 out of 12 teams in 2008 thanks to its tiebreaker victory over Auburn. Instead, the Bulldogs entered as the East’s No. 6 seed.

Semantics aside, nobody who endured a regular season as poor as that has won a Power 5 conference title since.

Keep that in mind and the expectations in check as you settle in for the conference championships this week.