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March Madness

March Madness: Sweet 16 Showdown

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SAN JOSE – The lowest-seeded team left in the NCAA Tournament will try to continue its unexpected run when No. 11 Texas faces No. 2 Purdue in the West Region semifinals on Thursday night.

The Longhorns (21-14) are the sixth team to go from the First Four to the Sweet 16, getting there by knocking off No. 11 North Carolina State, No. 6 BYU and No. 3 Gonzaga. The last two games were in Portland, Ore., making this the second trip to the West Coast in as many weeks without much downtime in between.

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“I’m incredibly proud of our group, the resiliency that we’ve shown,” Texas coach Sean Miller said. “We caught fire in about a 10-day period. We were grateful just to have the opportunity to be in the tournament, and then we kind of entered this second weekend as a dangerous team.”

Purdue (29-8) beat No. 15 Queens and No. 7 Miami (Fla.) to notch its fourth Sweet 16 appearance in five seasons and third in a row. That run includes a trip to the NCAA title game in 2024, and the Boilermakers have three starters left from the team that fell to UConn in the finals.

The Boilermakers were No. 1 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 but dipped to as low as 18th during the regular season. They’re on a six-game win streak that includes beating Midwest Region top seed Michigan in the Big Ten tournament championship game 80-72 on March 15.

“We’ve just been collectively better defensively,” said Purdue coach Matt Painter, whose team has held the last five opponents under 48% shooting after the seven previous foes shot at least 51%.

Texas is in its first year under Miller, who previously coached at Xavier (twice) and Arizona. The Longhorns made it to the Elite Eight in 2023 under Rodney Terry, but he was fired last March following a First Four loss to Miller’s Xavier squad.

It’s been an uneven season, struggling in nonconference play and then starting 3-5 in the Southern Conference. Texas won five in a row, only to drop five of six down the stretch and end up in the First Four.

“I think the one thing about this tournament that you learn is the best team doesn’t always win in this tournament,” Miller said. “It’s the team who plays the very best on that particular day. Where we began (the season) and where we ended are two different places.”

Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn have each played at least 145 games for Purdue, a rarity in college sports. Smith is the NCAA career assists leader, with 1,091, breaking Bobby Hurley’s 33-year-old record in the first round, and all three Boilermakers average 14 points per game.

Texas’ leading scorer is Dailyn Swain, at 17.4 per game, but in the three NCAA Tournament games, 7-foot sophomore Matas Vokietaitis has been the main offensive weapon. He had 17 points and nine rebounds against Gonzaga after going for 23 points and 16 rebounds against BYU.

The Longhorns could be without senior guard Jordan Pope, who is dealing with an ankle injury suffered against Gonzaga. He had 17 in that game and averages 13.1 for the season.

A win for Texas would make it the second No. 11 seed in three years to reach the regional finals. North Carolina State got to the Final Four in 2024. The 2021 UCLA squad joined VCU (2011) as teams to go from the First Four to the national semifinals.

–Field Level Media

March Madness: Big Ten Showdown

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HOUSTON – For Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg, there was ample familiarity in reviewing how the fourth-seeded Cornhuskers’ next opponent, Iowa, dispatched both Clemson and Florida en route to the South Region semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.

For the ninth-seeded Hawkeyes (23-12), imposing their will comes via exerting control. While film study reveals what Iowa aims to accomplish, the Cornhuskers have firsthand knowledge of the Hawkeyes’ preferred style of play.

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When the teams meet for a third time this season on Thursday, the onus will fall on Nebraska to prevent the Hawkeyes from doing what they do best.

“When you look at the two games that we played earlier this year — Iowa with the way that they controlled pace and controlled tempo, I thought they did a great job with that in those first two (NCAA Tournament) games,” Hoiberg said. “They get up 10 early on Clemson and did the same thing, got a double-digit lead against Florida, and they were able to control pace and tempo for the entire game.

“That was the story, I thought, in our two games as well. They do as good a job as anybody.”

The Hawkeyes and Cornhuskers (28-6) split a pair of Big Ten conference games during the regular season, with Iowa claiming a 57-52 home victory on Feb. 17 before Nebraska closed the conference slate with an 84-75 overtime win three weeks later in Lincoln.

There will be few secrets between Iowa and Nebraska when the rubber match tips off. Throughout the season, teams add wrinkles to their approaches, often deleting those that prove unsuccessful. The team best able to execute something new might have the advantage in pursuit of an Elite Eight berth.

“We’ve kind of opened the entire playbook,” Cornhuskers forward Rienk Mast said. “Throughout the season, we’ve added new sets, we’ve gone away from some things that teams scouted.

“So, yeah, just everything’s open, and we got a bunch of guys with a high basketball IQ, so that definitely helps with just having a huge amount of sets that we can go to.”

Bennett Stirtz scored 25 points, including 10 of the Hawkeyes’ final 14 points, in the triumph over Nebraska. He shot 4 of 10 and totaled 11 points in the rematch. While Stirtz, an Associated Press All-America honorable mention, is the linchpin for Iowa, the senior guard fully grasps that his influence on the game goes beyond simply scoring. His assertiveness against the Cornhuskers will be paramount.

“They obviously did a great job, and I wasn’t on my A game that game,” Stirtz said. “So unfortunately, I didn’t play well at all, but that’s a testament and credit to them. Their defense was ready to go, and I didn’t really get many looks, many clean looks at the rim or from 3.

“So it’s not a big worry because even if I don’t get any looks and lots of eyes are on me, then Cam (Manyawu) or Kael (Combs) or any of the other guys on the team will get looks. So, yeah, just trying to get everyone involved, and if I need to go score a bucket, hopefully, I can do that (Thursday).”

Three of the four South Region semifinalists represent the Big Ten. The Iowa-Nebraska winner could face third-seeded Illinois, which will take on No. 2 Houston, for a spot in the Final Four. The chore of preparing for a familiar foe would be revisited in that event.

The challenge required to advance this far for the six remaining Big Ten teams is a badge of honor.

“I think the night-in, night-out grind prepared us,” Iowa coach Ben McCollum said. “I do think sometimes it can hurt you, too. Meaning you get exposed a lot, and if you get exposed too much, eventually it can break you.

“Fortunately, we’ve got a really tough team, and so it didn’t break us when we got exposed quite often. It just sharpened us up a little bit and got us ready for the postseason.”

–Field Level Media

Tale of Two Coaches?

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SAN DIEGO – (Wire Service Preview) – Only three active head coaches in Division I college basketball have won multiple national championships. Two of them meet for a berth in the Sweet 16 when Bill Self’s No. 4 Kansas Jayhawks face Rick Pitino’s No. 5 St. John’s Red Storm on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament East Region.

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Self, winner of the 2008 and 2022 national championships at Kansas, praised Pitino’s continued success over multiple eras. Pitino is 30 years removed from winning his first title with Kentucky in 1996 and won another at Louisville in 2013, although the latter has been officially vacated by the NCAA.

“To me, the coaches (who) are so impressive are (those who) coached without a 3-point line, then became efficient with the 3-point line. Coached without a shot clock, then became one of the best with the shot clock – always evolving with the game,” Self said. “And (Pitino) has done that as well as anybody maybe ever.”

Pitino began his full-time head-coaching career in 1978 at Boston University, seven years before the introduction of the shot clock and eight before the 3-point line was introduced across college basketball.

His longevity puts Pitino in the unique position to guide his fourth different program, along with Providence, Kentucky and Louisville, to the Sweet 16. It would be the first such appearance since 1999 for St. John’s (29-6).

The Red Storm advanced to the second round with a 79-53 rout of No. 12 Northern Iowa on Friday, St. John’s seventh straight win overall and fourth in a row by 10-plus points.

The veteran trio of Oziyah Sellers, Bryce Hopkins and Kansas transfer Zuby Ejiofor have paced St. John’s, combining to average 40.5 of St. John’s 81.6 points per game. Ejiofor, the Big East Conference Player of the Year, posted a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double in Friday’s win.

Kansas (24-10), meanwhile, weathered a furious second-half comeback on Friday to advance past No. 13 Cal Baptist behind standout freshman Darryn Peterson’s 28 points.

The Jayhawks led by as many as 26 points before Cal Baptist cut the deficit to six points with 1:20 left in the 68-60 Kansas win.

Pitino offered effusive praise of Peterson, a potential No. 1 overall pick in this summer’s NBA draft. The 6-foot-6 guard is averaging 20.1 points per game despite battling a variety of injury issues throughout the season.

“He’s got great size,” Pitino said of Peterson. “He’s got a beautiful-looking jump shot. …He’s going to be a great NBA player because he has an NBA game.”

Peterson’s presence on the Kansas roster reflects one of the many positives Pitino touted when analyzing his counterpart in Self. Pitino called the Kansas coach a “great evaluator of talent” on top of being a multidimensional tactician.

“He’s a great offensive coach and he’s a great defensive coach,” Pitino said. “He’s such a well-rounded guy. His teams do everything well.”

The Jayhawks come into the second round with a balanced resume but with especially impressive defensive credentials. They have held opponents to 44.5% shooting on 2-point field-goal attempts and only 30.5% from beyond the arc, both top 25 nationally.

Big men Flory Bidunga and Bryson Tiller both rank in the top 150 nationally in block percentage, per KenPom.com.

They will clash with a stout St. John’s frontcourt led by Ejiofor, whose 16.3 points per game come on 55% shooting from the floor.

–Field Level Media

March Madness: Tournament Round-up

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OKLAHOMA CITY – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Braden Frager drove for the winning layup with 2.2 seconds left Saturday night and fourth-seeded Nebraska rallied for a 74-72 win over fifth-seeded Vanderbilt in the second round of the NCAA Tournament’s South Region.

The result wasn’t secured until the Commodores’ Tyler Tanner, who scored a game-high 27 points, barely missed a 3-point shot from beyond halfcourt as time expired. Tanner’s heave hit the glass and bounced out after hitting both the front and back rim, causing a gasp and then a wild ovation from the pro-Cornhusker crowd inside Paycom Center.

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Frager and Pryce Sandfort each scored 15 points for Nebraska (28-6), which will play either top-seeded Florida or No. 9 Iowa Thursday in Houston in its first Sweet 16 appearance in program history. The Gators and Hawkeyes match up on Sunday night in Tampa.

Tyler Nickel added 16 points for Vanderbilt (27-9), which rallied in the second half by canning 10 of 22 3-pointers. Tanner’s layup gave the Commodores a 72-70 edge with 58 seconds remaining but Mast equalized with 37 seconds on the clock by tipping home Sam Hoiberg’s missed layup.

No. 2 Houston 88, No. 10 Texas A&M 57

Emanuel Sharp scored 18 points and the Cougars delivered an 18-0 knockout punch in the first half to sail into the Sweet 16 with a win over the Aggies in Oklahoma City.

Chris Cenac Jr. registered 17 points and nine rebounds and Milos Uzan added 15 points for the Cougars (30-6), who will face third-seeded Illinois in next week’s Sweet 16 in Houston. Mercy Miller added 12 points as the Cougars notched their fifth consecutive 30-win campaign and reached the Sweet 16 for the seventh straight season.

Josh Holloway was the only scorer in double figures for the Aggies (22-12) with 12 points off the bench. Leading scorer Rashaun Agee was limited to seven points. The Cougars connected on 44.1% of their field-goal attempts and held a commanding 46-29 rebounding edge, grabbing 19 on the offensive glass.

No. 3 Illinois 76, No. 11 VCU 55

Andrej Stojakovic scored 16 of his 21 points in the first half to help the Fighting Illini breeze past the Rams in Greenville, S.C.

Tomislav Ivisic added 14 points and 11 rebounds for Illinois (26-8), which advanced to its second Sweet 16 in 21 years. It will face No. 2 Houston on Thursday in Houston. Keaton Wagler scored 14 and Kylan Boswell finished with 12 for the Fighting Illini, who won their first two NCAA Tournament games by a combined 56 points.

Terrence Hill Jr. led VCU (28-8) with 17 points and seven boards, while Barry Evans and Tyrell Ward had 11 apiece. The Rams shot just 7-for-32 (21.9%) on 3-point attempts in the lopsided loss.

WEST REGION

No. 11 Texas 74, No. 3 Gonzaga 68

Matas Vokietaitis and Jordan Pope scored 17 points apiece and Camden Heide hit a key 3-pointer with 14.7 seconds left to lift the Longhorns past the Bulldogs in Portland, Ore.

With the Longhorns leading by one after a dunk by the Bulldogs’ Graham Ike, Texas called a timeout with 32 seconds left and inserted Heide, whose 3-pointer from the right corner pushed the lead to 72-68. Mario Saint-Supery missed a desperation Gonzaga 3-pointer for Gonzaga (31-4) and Vokietaitis hit a layup to close the scoring for Texas (21-14), the first First Four winner to win at least three games in the tournament since 11th-seeded UCLA won five straight to reach the 2021 Final Four.

West Coast Conference Player of the Year Ike had 25 points and Jalen Warley had 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists for Gonzaga.

No. 4 Arkansas 94, No. 12 High Point 88

Darius Acuff Jr. had 36 points, Meleek Thomas added 19, and the Razorbacks burst the Panthers’ tournament bubble, pulling away late for the victory in Portland, Ore.

Acuff scored nine of the Razorbacks’ last 11 points as they broke from a tie at 83-83 in the final three minutes to overcome a 30-point performance from High Point guard Rob Martin. Billy Richmond III had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Malique Ewin had 14 points and 12 boards for the Razorbacks (28-8), who have won seven in a row and nine of 10. Ewin’s two free throws with 44.4 seconds made it 92-85.

Cam’Ron Fletcher had 25 points and was two rebounds short of a third straight double-double and Terry Anderson had 15 points for High Point (31-5), which had a 15-game winning streak broken after posting the first NCAA Tournament win in school history Thursday.

EAST REGION

No. 1 Duke 81, No. 9 TCU 58

Cameron Boozer scored 17 of his game-high 19 points in the second half to help lead the Blue Devils past the Horned Frogs in Greenville, S.C.

Isaiah Evans added 17 points and Dame Sarr scored 14 for Duke (34-2), which advanced to the Sweet 16 against the winner of No. 4 Kansas and No. 5 St. John’s. Boozer added a game-high 11 rebounds while Maliq Brown finished with 12 points and nine rebounds for the Blue Devils, who outscored TCU by 19 points in the second half.

Micah Robinson led TCU (23-12) with 18 points, followed by Xavier Edmonds’ 12. The Horned Frogs were outrebounded 42-25 for the game, but 24-14 during the second half.

No. 3 Michigan State 77, No. 6 Louisville 69

Coen Carr had 21 points and 10 rebounds, Jeremy Fears Jr. scored 12 points with 16 assists and the Spartans locked down the Cardinals to advance to the Sweet 16 for the 17th time under Tom Izzo.

Fears set a Michigan State NCAA Tournament assists record and Carr helped carry the offense for the Spartans (27-7) and fell one point shy of his career high. The Spartans head to the East Region semifinal in Washington, D.C., where their first game in the Sweet 16 will be the winner of seventh-seeded UCLA and No. 2 seed UConn

Louisville leading scorer Ryan Conwell played through a left foot injury in the second half and did not appear to have his typical spring. Conwell had 21 points and made 5 of 11 attempts from 3-point range for the Cardinals (24-11).

MIDWEST

No. 1 Michigan 95, Saint Louis 72

Yaxel Lendeborg scored 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting, and the Wolverines pulled away for a win over the Billikens at Buffalo, N.Y.

Morez Johnson Jr. added 15 points and eight rebounds for Michigan (33-3), which advanced to the Sweet 16 to face either Texas Tech or Alabama. Aday Mara finished with 16 points, and Elliot Cadeau scored 12 points to go along with a team-high eight assists.

Amari McCottry scored 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting to lead Saint Louis (29-6). Dion Brown finished with 13 points, and Robbie Avila contributed nine points.

–Field Level Media

Howard Hangs on for Historic Win

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DAYTON – Ose Okojie scored 16 of his team-leading 23 points in the first half and Bryce Harris added 19 points and 14 rebounds as Howard held off a furious rally by UMBC 86-83 on Tuesday in an NCAA Tournament First Four contest.

As the shot clock was expiring, Harris hit a clutch turnaround jumper with 12.7 seconds left to give Howard (24-10) a four-point lead. The Bison held on to advance as the No. 16 seed and oppose No. 1 seed Michigan in a Midwest Region first-round game Thursday in Buffalo.

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“We talk about how important it is for them to have a chance to get to an NCAA Tournament and win games. It’s a box that we checked,” Howard coach Kenneth Blakeney said of Howard’s first-ever NCAA Tournament win in five tries. “We talked about that before the game. We’ve never won a game. We’ve done a lot of things in our program, but let’s check off the box of winning an NCAA game today.”

Harris gathered the team together on the court after the win and spoke about the history they made.

“Bryce’s speech was just like, we did it,” Okojie said. “We made history with these guys. And it wasn’t just me. It wasn’t just the starting five. It was 1 to 16. The energy they gave up is the (credit to the) coaching staff.”

The Bison, who qualified for the 68-team field by capturing the MEAC tournament title, extended their season-best win streak to nine games.

“I think our guys’ resiliency and being battle tested in our tournament and some of our games this year, it was a very familiar place for us,” Blakeney added. “I’m just so happy for our university, our players. We talk about this moment, these moments when we present our university to our young men.”

Jah’Likai King had 19 and DJ Armstrong Jr. added 17 for the Retrievers (24-9), who had their program-record 12-game win streak snapped. The Retrievers, tournament champions of the America East, were making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since their historic 2018 upset of No. 1 seed Virginia.

Caden Diggs added 15 points and eight rebounds off the bench for UMBC. Armstrong’s 30-foot 3-point attempt was off the mark to the right as time expired.

Howard led by double figures for most of the second half, but Diggs converted two free throws with 53.8 seconds left to draw UMBC within 83-78. After the Bison’s Cam Gillus came up short on the front end of a 1-and-1 with 52.9 seconds left, Armstrong drained a long 3-pointer with 43.4 seconds left to cap a 9-0 run, and UMBC was within 83-81.

“In the second half, I think you got to see what UMBC does all the time where we didn’t foul and we really guarded, played good offense, and we made it a game,” Retrievers coach Jim Ferry said. “It was a very exciting game to watch, but I’m so proud of my guys because I saw it in warmups and I don’t really want to say it, I thought those guys were flying around on Howard and we were kind of (passive). But then we fought through it and fought through it which is what we’ve done all year and made it into a fantastic basketball game.”

After UMBC opened with the game’s first four points, Howard scored the next nine points to take an early lead. The Bison used an 8-0 surge to take a 19-11 advantage on a layup by Okojie.

Trailing 21-13, the Retrievers went on a 9-3 spurt to draw within 24-22 on a King layup. UMBC cut the gap to 31-30 before Howard answered with a 12-0 run that gave them their biggest first-half lead after a pair of free throws from Alex Cotton.

Cougar Downing’s layup with two seconds left in the half sent UMBC into halftime down 49-41.

–Mike Petraglia, Field Level Media

Texas Advances Past NC State

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DAYTON – Texas guard Tramon Mark capped his team-leading 17-point effort by sinking a pull-up jumper with 1.1 seconds remaining, lifting Texas past North Carolina State 68-66 in an NCAA Tournament First Four thriller on Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio.

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Matas Vokietaitis had 15 points while Chendall Weaver had 11 points and 10 rebounds for Texas (19-14), which advances as the No. 11 seed in the West Region to face No. 6 BYU on Thursday in Portland, Oregon.

Dailyn Swain (13 points, eight rebounds) blocked a potential 3-pointer at the buzzer to preserve the game for the Longhorns.

The two teams faced off at the Maui Invitational in November, and Texas won that meeting 102-97.

“Today it was very slow and very different,” Texas coach Sean Miller said of the game’s tempo. “One thing about the tournament, it can bring some anxiety and probably (to) both teams. I just thought like we missed a few easy shots, and we weren’t who we’ve been all season on offense but thrilled we were able to win.”

Tre Holloman converted a three-point play with 1:48 remaining to draw NC State within 62-56. After a pair of Swain free throws, Paul McNeil Jr. drained a deep 3-pointer from the left baseline to bring NC State within 64-59 with 1:30 remaining. Another McNeil 3-point heave from the opposite baseline with 1:06 left cut Texas’ lead to 64-62.

Mark’s turnaround in the lane with 36.8 seconds remaining put the Longhorns up 66-62 before Darrion Willams answered with a trey to make it 66-65 Texas with 29.4 seconds left. Swain was double-teamed in the corner after receiving the inbounds pass and lost it out of bounds with 20.3 seconds to go.

Holloman drove to the basket and was fouled and given two free throws with 18.3 seconds left. He missed the first but hit the second for a 66-66 tie, and setting the stage for Mark’s game-winner.

“I got a great look,” Mark said. “I looked at the clock, and I just sized them up and got a great look at the rim. I practice those shots every day, so just got a great look at it.”

It was the second straight First Four for Swain and Miller. In the 2025 First Four, the two of them helped Xavier beat Texas on the same court and advance to the field of 64, where the Musketeers lost to Illinois.

Williams had 21 points and Quadir Copeland added 16 points and eight rebounds for NC State (20-14), which ends its season losing eight of the final 10 games.

“Disappointing end to a pretty disappointing season for us, the way I look at it,” NC State coach Will Wade said. “We haven’t been very good in close games. We hadn’t earned the right to win in close games, and our season ended very similar to the reason we’re sitting in Dayton.

“You are who you are in pressure moments, and we tried to mask some stuff and we couldn’t do it. That’s why we’re here, and that’s why we’re heading home.”

Texas dominated most of the game on the boards, outrebounding NC State 45-33. The Wolfpack took advantage of an eight-minute Texas field-goal drought to close the first half down just 30-29 after trailing by 10.

–By Mike Petraglia, Field Level Media

March Madness: Coach Cal Awaits

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PROVIDENCE – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – RJ Luis Jr. made a career-high five 3-pointers and second-seeded St. John’s found its shooting stroke en route to an 83-53 victory over No. 15 seed Omaha in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night in Rhode Island.

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St. John’s (31-4) earned its first tournament win since 2000. Coach Rick Pitino and the Big East champs will face John Calipari and No. 10 seed Arkansas in the second round Saturday.

Luis led all scorers with 22 points and added eight rebounds. He made 5 of 8 attempts from deep as St. John’s — a 30.4 percent 3-point shooting team entering the night — matched a season high with 14 3-pointers to counter Omaha clogging the lanes.

Simeon Wilcher scored 13 points for the Red Storm. Kadary Richmond had 10 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Zuby Ejiofor added 10 points, seven boards, four assists and three blocks.

JJ White posted 15 points and five assists to lead Omaha (22-13), which was playing in its first Division I NCAA Tournament after claiming the Summit League championship.

Marquel Sutton scored 11 for the Mavericks, and Isaac Ondekane pulled down 10 of his 11 rebounds in the first half.

St. John’s missed its first five shots and let Omaha stake out a 7-0 lead, prompting an early timeout from Pitino. After Richmond got the Red Storm on the board, Luis scored eight St. John’s points in a row, bookended by a pair of 3-pointers.

The Mavericks moved ahead 20-14 before St. John’s turned the tables. Wilcher cut the lead in half with a 3-pointer, prompting a 16-2 run that featured triples by Deivon Smith, Ruben Prey and another from Wilcher.

Omaha scored six in a row to cut it to 30-28, but Vince Iwuchukwu got inside for a bucket that turned into a three-point play with two seconds left, giving St. John’s a 33-28 halftime edge.

Luis kept the Red Storm 3-point party going by making one 14 seconds into the second half. Teammate Aaron Scott splashed a trey, then Luis and Wilcher went on a two-on-one that ended in an alley-oop dunk by Luis, giving St. John’s firm control at 43-30.

Luis knocked down another two triples to hand St. John’s its first 20-point lead with 13:14 to go. Critically, the Red Storm had assists on their first eight made field goals of the half with no turnovers.

St. John’s held the Mavericks to 7-of-34 field-goal shooting (20.6 percent) and outrebounded them 31-19 in the second half.

–Field Level Media

March Madness Tip-Off

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While We’re Young (Ideas) – Special NCAA Edition

By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

PROVIDENCE – Highly respected sports industry guru Tony Ponturo, he of multi-time nominee and winner for both the Most Powerful Man in Sports and in the theatre industry, wrote a thought-leadership book entitled, “Revenge of the C+ Student.” Ponturo, a two time TONY Award winner for his efforts on Broadway, reviving “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” and producing 2010 Best Musical “Memphis,” helped make the brands “Bud” and “Bud Light” household names on a worldwide basis. Just ask The Budweiser Clydesdales.

Ponturo spent 26 years selling Bud, the exact same amount of time this columnist spent working for David Stern at the National Basketball Association. Looking at those two parallel lines, and enlightened by Ponturo’s book and his transcript, I’d love to author a similar sports business practice book and I’d call it, “At Least I Was Good at Geography.”

To wit, I give you this year’s brackets for NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball.

In the East, we have:

  • No. 2 Alabama
  • No. 3 Wisconsin
  • No. 4 Arizona
  • No. 5 Oregon
  • No. 6 BYU (Utah)
  • No. 7 St. Mary’s Moraga (California)
  • No. 14 Montana

In the West, we have:

No. 1 Florida

No. 2 St. John’s (New York)

No. 3 Texas Tech (Lubbock, Texas)

No. 4 Maryland

No. 5 Memphis (Tennessee)

No. 6 Missouri

No. 8 UConn (Hartford, Connecticut area)

No. 9 Oklahoma

No. 14 UNC Wilmington (North Carolina)

No. 16 Norfolk State (Norfolk, Virginia)

There’s a few more.

In the South, there’s Michigan State (Lansing), Marquette (Wisconsin), Yale (New Haven, Connecticut), and Michigan (Ann Arbor) – four schools where you can’t get much further North, unless Canada does become the 51st State and UConn is south of Yukon.

In the Midwest, the bracket claims, UCLA (Los Angeles), Gonzaga (Spokane, Washington), Utah State (Logan, Utah), and then a slew of Southeastern or Southern schools like Wofford (Spartanburg, South Carolina), High Point (North Carolina), Clemson (South Carolina), Kentucky, McNeese (Lake Charles, Louisiana), Tennessee and Georgia.

There are other examples, but you surely get the point.

In recent years, the NCAA made adjustments to the brackets so an Eastern team such as St. John’s (full disclosure as my alma mater) can play in the West Regional but remain in Providence, Rhode Island to do so. But, success in Providence sends teams in that pod to San Francisco while a successful weekend in Seattle for Arizona or Oregon sends a team to Newark New Jersey.

The tournament itself increased from 64 to 68 teams in 2001, so we’ve been bickering about this stuff for decades. Still, there is no resolve and it’s pretty bad when there’s no Big East team in the East.

Admittedly, this is nothing new being reported. The days of a truly East vs West NCAA Tournament went out with the 16 team set-up which gave the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) in New York the golden opportunity of securing a very deep field in the late ‘60s and early ‘70’s. As the times changed and the Big Dance played to a bigger ballroom of dancers, the money kicked in and TV programmers maxed-out the billions being spent.

Suffice it to say, the names of the regionals should no longer be East, West, South and Midwest, and maybe the NCAA should take a page out of the NHL’s book and rename the basketball regionals something like:

  • Lester Patrick
  • Conn Smythe
  • James Norris
  • Charles Francis Adams

Joking aside, it’s time to rid the tournament of its D- grade in Geography, as the Men’s and Women’s basketball committees divvy-up the schools with goals other than to stack them to represent a region of the USA.

May it be suggested:

  • Dave Gavitt Division (East)
  • John Wooden Division (West)
  • Ray Meyer Division (Midwest)
  • Guy Lewis Division (South-Texas-Southwest representation)

Those names, in tribute of Dave Gavitt (founder of the BIG EAST), John Wooden (the great UCLA coach), Ray Meyer (coached Chicago’s DePaul University from 1942 to 1984) and Guy Lewis (coach of University of Houston from 1956 to 1986). To pay proper respect to college basketball in the United States, the Most Outstanding Player from each division would be recognized and awarded with:

  • Gavitt MOP received the Patrick Ewing Trophy
  • Wooden MOP honored with the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Trophy
  • Meyer MOP receives the Oscar Robertson Trophy
  • Lewis MOP honored with the Junior Bridgeman Trophy

Should the tournament choose to expand, we could very easily add:

  • Gonzaga Division (Northwest) – MOP award John Stockton Trophy
  • Coach K Division (Southeast) – MOP gets the Michael Jordan Trophy (apologies to Grant Hill, Ralph Sampson, Artis Gilmore and Len Bias).

Those two divisional mentioned do not need further explanation, I hope.

The bottom line as the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament begins, is that the famed, crack committee did a pretty good job of selecting the right teams and fairly distributing them across the four existing regional pods, sans the Group of Death they sent out West.

The West is so stacked, a hot team like Florida, after its No. 1 vs No. 16 tilt against Norfolk State, will have a rough road to the Final 4, including:

  • Winner of UConn v.Oklahoma
  • Winner of Memphis v. Colo State/or/Maryland v. Grand Canyon
  • A Regional Final against No. 2 St. John’s or others (Kansas/Texas Tech) etc

There’s gotta be a better way.
They were partying at West End Johnnies at an NCAA Regional in Boston

PICKS: Here are a few picks that are going into a combination of my two or three bracket submission with friends and family. (Note: I always bang out one bracket on Selection Sunday night and set it aside). Then with more thought and research I do another bracket for use in pools.

TEAMS CONSIDERED HOT: These teams were playing the best over the past few weeks and into their conference tournaments:

  1. Florida
  2. Duke
  3. Houston
  4. Auburn
  5. Tennessee
  6. Michigan State
  7. St John’s
  8. Alabama
  9. Texas Tech
  10. Iowa State

FACTS: In the Round of 64, the higher seed wins 71.5% and that includes No. 8 v. No. 9 which are really equal … In the Second Round, the better seeds win at a 73.1% clip. After that, the advantage for the higher seeds declines gradually:

  • Sweet 16 – 63.8% victory pace for higher seed
  • Elite 8 – 55%

In terms of vulnerable seeds since 2009, the No. 6 seeds are (29-31) against the No. 11s. In just the last 10 years, No. 11 seeds are 22-18 vs. No. 6

Applying the 6 vs 11 raw data to this particular year’s bracket set-up surfaces a few interesting upset possibilities:

  • In the East bracket, can No. 11 VCU upset No. 6 BYU in Denver where you have to figure in the travel and altitude?
  • In the South, No. 6 Ole Miss has to play the hot play-in winner of North Carolina.
  • In the West, No. 6 Missouri (22-11) has a tough draw vs. No. 11 Drake (30-3).
  • And, in the Midwest bracket, No. 6 Illinois will face play-in winner Xavier, a team that finished the Big East regular season quite strong with seven straight victories to close out the season before meeting and losing to Marquette at the Garden.

The teams entering the tournament that have executed the best in terms of both Offensive and Defensive efficiency:

  • Auburn
  • Duke
  • Florida
  • Houston
  • Arizona
  • Tennessee
  • Louisville

Not to bore anyone with a full Round-by-Round, Pick-by-Pick selection show, (see Jay Bilas’ column on ESPN.com as he does a much better job than everyone else put together), I’ll simply list my Regional Finalist predictions. Yes, they are rather high seeds.

  • East: Duke vs. Wisconsin
  • Midwest: Houston vs. Tennessee
  • South: Auburn vs. Michigan State
  • West: Florida vs St. John’s

No matter what – whether your bracket is torn up tomorrow or your favorite team survives and advances – it’s time for March Madness. Enjoy the ride. Enjoy the spectacle of the best of College Basketball (Men’s and Women’s) with a love of the game and not the X and O marks on a piece of paper, otherwise known in American culture as “your bracket.”

TL

TL’s Sunday Sports Notebook | Special

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Bracketology: NCAA Fails Geography 101

By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

PROVIDENCE – Highly respected sports industry guru Tony Ponturo, he of multi-time nominee and winner for both the Most Powerful Man in Sports and in the theatre industry, wrote a thought-leadership book entitled, “Revenge of the C+ Student.”Ponturo, a two time TONY Award winner for his efforts on Broadway, reviving “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” and producing 2010 Best Musical “Memphis,” helped make the brands “Bud” and “Bud Light” household names on a worldwide basis. Just ask The Budweiser Clydesdales.

Ponturo spent 26 years selling Bud, the exact same amount of time this columnist spent working for David Stern at the National Basketball Association. Looking at those two parallel lines, and enlightened by Ponturo’s book and his transcript, I’d love to author a similar sports business practice book and I’d call it, “At Least I Was Good at Geography.”

To wit, I give you this year’s brackets for NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball.

In the East, we have:

  • No. 2 Alabama
  • No. 3 Wisconsin
  • No. 4 Arizona
  • No. 5 Oregon
  • No. 6 BYU (Utah)
  • No. 7 St. Mary’s Moraga (California)
  • No. 14 Montana

In the West, we have:

  • No. 1 Florida
  • No. 2 St. John’s (New York)
  • No. 3 Texas Tech (Lubbock, Texas)
  • No. 4 Maryland
  • No. 5 Memphis (Tennessee)
  • No. 6 Missouri
  • No. 8 UConn (Hartford, Connecticut area)
  • No. 9 Oklahoma
  • No. 14 UNC Wilmington (North Carolina)
  • No. 16 Norfolk State (Norfolk, Virginia)

There’s a few more.

In the South, there’s Michigan State (Lansing), Marquette (Wisconsin), Yale (New Haven, Connecticut), and Michigan (Ann Arbor) – four schools where you can’t get much further North, unless Canada does become the 51st State and UConn is south of Yukon.

In the Midwest, the bracket claims, UCLA (Los Angeles), Gonzaga (Spokane, Washington), Utah State (Logan, Utah), and then a slew of Southeastern or Southern schools like Wofford (Spartanburg, South Carolina), High Point (North Carolina), Clemson (South Carolina), Kentucky, McNeese (Lake Charles, Louisiana), Tennessee and Georgia.

There are other examples, but you surely get the point.

In recent years, the NCAA made adjustments to the brackets so an Eastern team such as St. John’s (full disclosure: it’s  my alma mater) can play in the West Regional but remain in Providence, Rhode Island to do so. But, success in Providence sends teams in that pod to San Francisco while a successful weekend in Seattle for Arizona or Oregon sends a team to Newark, New Jersey.

The tournament itself increased from 64 to 68 teams in 2001, so we’ve been bickering about this stuff for decades. Still, there is no resolve and it’s pretty bad when there’s no Big East team in the East.

Admittedly, this is nothing new being reported. The days of a truly East vs West NCAA Tournament went out with the 16 team set-up which gave the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) in New York the golden opportunity of securing a very deep field in the late ‘60s and early ‘70’s. As the times changed and the Big Dance played to a bigger ballroom of dancers, the money kicked in and TV programmers maxed-out the billions being spent.

Suffice it to say, the names of the regionals should no longer be East, West, South and Midwest, and maybe the NCAA should take a page out of the NHL’s book and rename the basketball regionals something like:

  • Lester Patrick
  • Conn Smythe
  • James Norris
  • Charles Francis Adams

Joking aside, it’s time to rid the tournament of its D- grade in Geography, as the Men’s and Women’s basketball committees divvy-up the schools with goals other than to stack them to represent a region of the USA.

May it be suggested:

  • Dave Gavitt Division (East)
  • John Wooden Division (West)
  • Ray Meyer Division (Midwest)
  • Guy Lewis Division (South-Texas-Southwest representation)

Those names, in tribute of Dave Gavitt (founder of the BIG EAST), John Wooden (the great UCLA coach), Ray Meyer (coached Chicago’s DePaul University from 1942 to 1984) and Guy Lewis (coach of University of Houston from 1956 to 1986). To pay proper respect to college basketball in the United States, the Most Outstanding Player from each division would be recognized and awarded with:

  • Gavitt MOP received the Patrick Ewing Trophy
  • Wooden MOP honored with the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Trophy
  • Meyer MOP receives the Oscar Robertson Trophy
  • Lewis MOP honored with the Junior Bridgeman Trophy

Should the tournament choose to expand, we could very easily add:

  • Gonzaga Division (Northwest) – MOP award John Stockton Trophy
  • Coach K Division (Southeast) – MOP gets the Michael Jordan Trophy (apologies to Grant Hill, Ralph Sampson, Artis Gilmore and Len Bias).

Those two divisional mentioned do not need further explanation, I hope.

The bottom line as the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament begins, is that the famed, crack committee did a pretty good job of selecting the right teams and fairly distributing them across the four existing regional pods, sans the Group of Death they sent out West.

The West is so stacked, a hot team like Florida, after its No. 1 vs No. 16 tilt against Norfolk State, will have a rough road to the Final 4, including:

  • Winner of UConn v.Oklahoma
  • Winner of Memphis v. Colo State/or/Maryland v. Grand Canyon
  • A Regional Final against No. 2 St. John’s or others (Kansas/Texas Tech) etc

There’s gotta be a better way.

They were partying at West End Johnnies at an NCAA Regional in Boston

PICKS: Here are a few picks that are going into a combination of my two or three bracket submission with friends and family. (Note: I always bang out one bracket on Selection Sunday night and set it aside). Then with more thought and research I do another bracket for use in pools.

TEAMS CONSIDERED HOT: These teams were playing the best over the past few weeks and into their conference tournaments:

  1. Florida
  2. Duke
  3. Houston
  4. Auburn
  5. Tennessee
  6. Michigan State
  7. St John’s
  8. Alabama
  9. Texas Tech
  10. Iowa State

FACTS: In the Round of 64, the higher seed wins 71.5% and that includes No. 8 v. No. 9 which are really equal … In the Second Round, the better seeds win at a 73.1% clip. After that, the advantage for the higher seeds declines gradually:

  • Sweet 16 – 63.8% victory pace for higher seed
  • Elite 8 – 55%

In terms of vulnerable seeds since 2009, the No. 6 seeds are (29-31) against the No. 11s. In just the last 10 years, No. 11 seeds are 22-18 vs. No. 6

Applying the 6 vs 11 raw data to this particular year’s bracket set-up surfaces a few interesting upset possibilities:

  • In the East bracket, can No. 11 VCU upset No. 6 BYU in Denver where you have to figure in the travel and altitude?
  • In the South, No. 6 Ole Miss has to play the hot play-in winner of North Carolina.
  • In the West, No. 6 Missouri (22-11) has a tough draw vs. No. 11 Drake (30-3).
  • And, in the Midwest bracket, No. 6 Illinois will face play-in winner Xavier, a team that finished the Big East regular season quite strong with seven straight victories to close out the regular season before meeting and losing to Marquette at the Garden.

The teams entering the tournament that have executed the best in terms of both Offensive and Defensive efficiency:

  • Auburn
  • Duke
  • Florida
  • Houston
  • Arizona
  • Tennessee
  • Louisville

Not to bore anyone with a full Round-by-Round, Pick-by-Pick selection show, (see Jay Bilas’ column on ESPN.com as he does a much better job than everyone else put together), I’ll simply list my Regional Finalist predictions. Yes, they are rather high seeds.

  • East: Duke vs. Wisconsin
  • Midwest: Houston vs. Tennessee
  • South: Auburn vs. Michigan State
  • West: Florida vs St. John’s

No matter what – whether your bracket is torn up tomorrow or your favorite team survives and advances – it’s time for March Madness. Enjoy the ride. Enjoy the spectacle of the best of College Basketball (Men’s and Women’s) with a love of the game and not the X and O marks on a piece of paper, otherwise known in American culture as “your bracket.”

TL

St. John’s Wins Big East Title

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – It was 25 years in the making and it came in the same year legendary St. John’s coach Lou Carnesecca passed away just before his 100th birthday.

Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis Jr scored 27 of his 29 points in the second half, and the top-seeded St. John’s Red Storm pulled away to secure an 82-66 victory over second-seeded Creighton. With the victory, which surely had the late Coach Carnesecca smiling down with blessings upon his team on Saturday night, the Red Storm secured its first Big East conference tournament championship since 2000. With it comes an automatic bid to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and a likely No. 2 seed.

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The Red Storm (30-4), ranked No. 6 in the nation, won their ninth straight game by overcoming an early eight-point deficit a day after rallying from a 15-point deficit to beat Marquette Friday night in the semifinals.

The tournament’s most valuable player, Luis was 1 of 5 in the first half before making 10 of 13 shots as St. John’s dominated the second half. The Red Storm made 14 straight shots to turn a 41-38 deficit with 12:53 left into a 70-55 bulge with 5:16 remaining.

Luis scored 12 points during the decisive barrage, which started when Zuby Ejiofor hit a jumper and completed a 3-point play to forge a 41-41 tie. The Red Storm never trailed after Deivon Smith’s tough jumper in the lane countered a Steven Ashworth 3 and put the Red Storm up 45-44 with 11:07 left.

Luis took over from there, hitting two 3s and three layups in the Red Storm’s dominating 25-11 blitz.

Ejiofor followed up his career-high 33-point showing against Marquette by contributing 13 of his 20 in the second half. Kadary Richmond contributed 12 points and 12 rebounds as the Red Storm shot 71.9 percent in a 57-point second half and 52.3 percent overall.

Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 15 on 7-of-10 shooting for the Bluejays (24-10), who lost their fifth title game in five tries since joining the Big East from the Missouri Valley in the 2013-14 season. Jackson McAndrew added 14 while Ashworth and Jamiya Neal contributed 13 apiece as Creighton shot 43.3 percent and misfired on 20 of 26 3-point attempts.

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The Blue Jays made seven of their first eight shots and opened a 17-9 lead on a basket by McAndrew with 13:22 remaining. Creighton made four of its final 22 shots and St. John’s sliced the deficit to 28-25 by halftime.

Luis hit a corner 3 to forge a 38-38 tie with 14:26 left, and Ejiofor completed a 3-point play nearly two minutes later for a 41-41 deadlock. After St. John’s took its first lead, Ashworth hit a 3 over Vincent Iwuchukwu with 11 1/2 minutes left. St. John’s Smith hit a jumper in the lane, and Richmond made a strong move to the rim for a 47-44 lead a little over a minute later.

After Neal dunked to get Creighton within 49-48, Luis converted a crafty layup off a bounce pass from Smith for a 58-50 lead with about 7 1/2 minutes left.

– Field Level Media