OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Tyler Tanner was inches from March Madness immortality. After Nebraska’s Braden Frager made a driving layup with 2.2 seconds left to give the Cornhuskers a two-point lead over Vanderbilt in a second-round NCAA Tournament thriller on Saturday night, Tanner had no choice but to chuck one toward the basket. His heave from beyond half court was on target. The ball crashed off the center of the backboard and dropped halfway below the rim — and then, somehow, it rattled out, and Nebraska escaped with a 74-72 victory. Players on both sides say they thought Tanner had made the shot.
UNDATED (AP) — March Madness wasn’t for mid-majors this year. For the first time since the women’s NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1994, no programs from mid-major conferences advanced to the second round. The 32 remaining teams all hail from the Power Four conferences and the Big East. In the men’s tournament, five mid-major teams made the second round. There were 23 teams in the first round from smaller conferences, and they went 0-23. Colorado State, a 12 seed, got the closest, losing 65-62 to Michigan State. The rest lost by double digits.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Nebraska has advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the first time. Braden Frager made a driving layup with 2.2 seconds left, and the Cornhuskers outlasted Vanderbilt 74-72 in a scintillating second-round game when the Commodores’ Tyler Tanner rimmed out a heave from beyond half court at the buzzer. Frager finished with 15 points and Pryce Sandfort also scored 15 for the fourth-seeded Cornhuskers. Nebraska advances to the South Region semifinals in Houston, where it will face either top-seeded Florida or ninth-seeded Iowa on Thursday. Tanner scored 27 points for Vanderbilt.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Darius Acuff Jr. had 36 points and six assists to help No. 4-seeded Arkansas survive a scare from 12th-seeded High Point with a 94-88 victory in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night. The Razorbacks (28-8) will face the winner of Sunday’s matchup between top-seeded Arizona and No. 9 seed Utah State on Thursday in the Sweet 16 in San Jose, California. Two of the highest-scoring teams in the nation combined on a back-and-forth affair that featured 15 lead changes and six ties, before Arkansas had just enough late to send coach John Calipari to his 17th Sweet 16.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Texas has become the first team in five years to go from the NCAA Tournament’s First Four to the Sweet 16. Jordan Pope and Matas Vokietaitis each scored 17 points, and Camden Heide hit a game-sealing 3-pointer in the Longhorns' 74-68 win over Gonzaga on Saturday. First-year coach Sean Miller’s 11th-seeded Longhorns will face either No. 2 seed Purdue or No. 7 seed Miami on Thursday in the West Region semifinals in San Jose, California. The last First Four team to reach the Sweet 16 was UCLA, which made it all the way to the Final Four in 2021. Graham Ike scored 25 points for No. 3 seed Gonzaga.
UNDATED (AP) — There hasn't been quite as much madness in March Madness in recent years. The top four seeds in each region have gone unbeaten in the first round in each of the last two NCAA Tournaments. Coaches say the influx of money into the sport now that players can be paid has led to what one coach called a “chasm” in talent between the haves and the have-nots. The ability for players to move freely in the transfer portal has also made it harder for strong mid-major teams to stay together.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Emanuel Sharp scored 18 points, Chris Cenac Jr. had 17 points and nine rebounds, and Houston rolled past Texas A&M 88-57 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to reach the Sweet 16 for the seventh consecutive year. Milos Uzan added 15 points for the Cougars, the No. 2 seed in the South Region. Houston will play in its home city on Thursday against either No. 3 seed Illinois or No. 11 seed VCU. Coach Kelvin Sampson’s squad lost in the national title game to Florida last year and once again looks like an opponent nobody wants to play.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Freshman Jazzy Davidson scored 31 points in her women’s NCAA Tournament debut, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:03 left in overtime to lift ninth-seeded Southern California to a 71-67 victory over No. 8 seed Clemson. The Trojans will face top-seeded South Carolina in the second round on Monday. It looked like Clemson had won when Mia Moore flipped in a running basket at the regulation buzzer and the Tigers ran onto the court in celebration. But officials reviewed the play and found the shot clock had not properly started with 4.4 seconds to play when Clemson inbounded the ball, and they waved off the basket.
