Entering yesterday afternoon, the magic of the NCAA Tournament seemed to be on life support. Through the first three and a half days, there had been lots of blowouts and no real Cinderella stories. Then came two spectacular finishes: St. John’s beating Kansas at the buzzer, and Iowa knocking off No. 1 seed Florida, the defending national champs.
Just when we started to doubt … March Madness pulled us back in.
We dive into the topsy-turvy first weekend of the NCAA Tournament below, and our Rohan Nadkarni has more over at NBC News. Stay tuned for more coverage throughout the week, too, as the tourney rolls on.
Party Like it’s 1999
For lots of college basketball fans, what makes March Madness special is the seeming randomness of it. The small school that comes from nowhere. The player who becomes a folk hero. The Cinderella story. The feeling that anything can happen in any given game.
A few days in, this year’s NCAA Tournament had been largely lacking that element. More than one-third of the first-round games ended as blowouts, with a team winning by 20 or more points. On Friday, the favorites went a perfect 16-0 for the first time since 1992, according to ESPN. Imagine that: a March Madness day with no madness.
What that left us, as a consolation, was some high-quality early round matchups between power conference teams.
Like St. John’s vs. Kansas. Coach Rick Pitino vs. Bill Self. That game came down to the wire yesterday. St. John’s had the ball, tied game, 3.9 seconds left. In the huddle, guard Dylan Darling, who hadn’t made a shot all game, asked for the ball. Sure enough, Darling made a layup as the time expired, sending St. John’s to its first Sweet 16 since 1999.
“The ball left my hands and I hit the ground, and I didn’t even see the ball go in,” Darling said. “I just heard everybody going crazy.”
Later, No. 1 Florida looked as if it might skate by No. 9 Iowa, until the Hawkeyes’ Alvaro Folgueiras hit a go-ahead, corner 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds remaining. After he made the shot, Folgueiras pointed to the sky, as is his tradition, to honor his late father.
After the clock struck zero, and Iowa had secured its first Sweet Sixteen berth since 1999, Folgueiras found his mother in the crowd and hugged her. “This one is for her and my dad,” he said. “He’s watching up there.”
Iowa and St. John’s might not be your traditional Cinderella stories. But this year? We’ll take it.
(For more on Cinderella’s hardships this year, read Nicole Auerbach over at NBC Sports.)
More Magic Moments
Before we turn our attention to the Sweet Sixteen, let’s run through some moments you might’ve missed from the weekend:
Tooth Fairy: On Friday, UCLA’s Skyy Clark was wrestling for a loose ball against the University of Central Florida, when his front tooth got knocked out. Later that night, Clark went to see a dentist. “I’m all good now,” he told reporters the next day. “So shout out Dr. Goldfine. He got me right. Took me in at like 12:00 at night. Thank you to him.”
All that effort, and the Bruins lost to UConn in Round 2.
Timeout!: A wild sequence unfolded at the end of the Kentucky-Santa Clara game. Allen Graves hit a 3-pointer to put Santa Clara ahead with 2.4 seconds remaining. Then Santa Clara coach Herb Sendek tried calling timeout to set up the team’s defense, but the referees apparently missed it. Kentucky inbounded the ball and Otega Oweh hit a miracle shot to send the game to overtime. After the Wildcats won in OT, Santa Clara was left wondering what-if.
Dominique Dimes: In the Kansas-California Baptist game, all eyes were probably on Darryn Peterson, the future NBA draft pick, who scored 28 points in his tourney debut. But the Lancers’ Dominique Daniels Jr., a 5-foot-10 guard from Compton, California, scored 25 points himself. It was reminiscent of a time when shorter guards could dominate college basketball. “I just doubled down on who I am and who God made me to be,” Daniels said afterward.
Women’s Bracket Roundup
Some of the first and second round women’s tournament games probably could’ve been called off by halftime. Even some of the better matchups turned into blowouts. No. 2 seed LSU walloped No. 7 Texas Tech by 54 points. No. 2 Michigan crushed No. 7 NC State by 29. No. 3 Duke beat No. 6 Baylor by 23.
But the first weekend of women’s hoops did deliver some highlights. On Saturday, No. 9 seed USC, playing without injured star JuJu Watkins, beat No. 8 Clemson in overtime 71-67. Jazzy Davidson, the Trojans’ next big star, had a breakout performance, tallying 31 points, six rebounds and five assists. The Watkins-Davidson duo will be one to watch next year.
Then yesterday, in the second round, No. 4 Minnesota and No. 5 Ole Miss gave us another nail-biter. The Golden Gophers, playing on their home court, made a fourth-quarter comeback and won on a last-second jumper by Amaya Battle.
“I think any basketball player, when you shoot on your own, you’re like, OK, three, two, one, throw it up there and see what happens,” Battle said afterward. “It was real life today.”
Later, No. 3 TCU also outlasted No. 6 Washington, 62-59, in overtime.
What We’re Watching
Want more basketball? We have the second day of Round 2 from the women’s tournament coming up tonight. After its thrilling win over Clemson, USC is rewarded with … a match against No. 1 South Carolina. Good luck, Trojans. Also, Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes had 30 points against High Point in Round 1.
All times are Eastern:
- 6 p.m.: No. 1 seed UConn vs. No. 9 Syracuse, on ESPN
- 7 p.m.: No. 2 seed Vanderbilt vs. No. 7 Illinois, on ESPN 2
- 8 p.m.: No. 1 seed South Carolina vs. No. 9 USC, on ESPN
- 10 p.m.: No. 1 seed UCLA vs. No. 8 Oklahoma State, on ESPN
What We’re Reading
Tragic news in the NHL world as Minnesota Wild reporter Jessi Pierce died in a fire along with her three children and a dog.
Jessie Diggins, the most-decorated cross-country skier in U.S. history, finished 12th in her last race.
Arsenal’s disappointing performance in the Carabao Cup final shows why the Premier League title race isn’t over, NBC Sports’ Joe Prince-Wright says.
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