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Let’s be honest, heading into Sunday, this year’s Tournament had been pretty short on fun. A good game here or there, but too much chalk to be memorable.
Even with some of the results on Sunday, the divide between the big-money schools and everyone else continues to increase. The first round had 14 games decided by 20 or more points — the most ever. And, for the second straight year, only four teams seeded outside the top four in their region made the Sweet 16.
But, in the biggest result, a No. 1 failed to reach the final 16 since 2023. Two top seeds went home in the opening weekend that year: Kansas got bounced in the second round by Arkansas, and Purdue went out in the first round against No. 16 seed FDU, which is still a much worse loss than Virginia getting beat by UMBC five years prior, but if I start arguing why we’ll diverge into a whole different column. We also now know that there will not be a repeat champion, but we knew that anyway because, as I thoroughly explained last week, your favorite team is going to lose eventually.
It’s also the first trip to the Sweet 16 for both Iowa and St. John’s since 1999. That’s a gap of 27 years! Rick Pitino was a spry 42-year-old! People used ICQ for pete’s sake! Duke coach Jon Scheyer was 11! None of the players in this Tourmament were even dirty thoughts … not even the guys who are in their late 20s and their sixth or seventh year of eligibility!
The opening weekend was a good one for teams in the farm belt. Iowa and Nebraska meeting in the Sweet 16 is one of the more unlikely matchups in that round in recent memory, and also gives me an excuse to make a “Son-In-Law” reference…
- Don’t forget that Greeneville native Trey Thompson is getting to be part of this run by Iowa. Thompson was in uniform for the Hawkeyes this weekend.
You can see Trey in some of the locker room videos posted to the Iowa team’s official Instagram.
- There’s an awesome cut on social media of the three different radio calls (Iowa, Florida, and the national Westwood One broadcast) of the final seconds of Iowa’s win over the Gators.
As called by:
Gary Dolphin on Iowa Hawkeyes radio
Sean Kelley on Florida Gators radio
John Sadak on Westwood One— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog.xyz) March 22, 2026 at 10:18 PM
The Dad joke that came to mind for me?
“We switched the normal coffee of the Florida basketball team to Folgueiras crystals!”
Yeah, probably a good thing I write and don’t do radio…
- The seeds are what they are, but is it really an upset that Texas beat Gonzaga? I don’t think so … not when you consider the massive resources and sizable NIL budget available to the Longhorns. It will be interesting to see how Gonzaga fares in the new Pac-12, both from a competitive standpoint and a revenue standpoint.
- That drive for the winning basket by Dylan Darling to lift St. John’s over Kansas elicited all sorts of memories from this reporter.
First, fun fact: Darling is the first person to ever hit a game-winning shot as time expired in the NCAA Tournament while simultaneously making his first basket of the game, according to CBS Sports research.
Now back to Darling, who I’m already somewhat familiar with because, before he transferred to St. John’s, he had an outstanding season at Idaho State where he was named player of the year and newcomer of the year in he Big Sky Conference, which I preview each year and have for more than a decade for Blue Ribbon Basketball Yearbook. Last offseason, Darling originally announced he was going to run it back at Idaho State, then changed his mind and went into the portal. Fans and media in Idaho — Pocatello, to be precise — were enraged. That hatred didn’t extend within the program, though, not when Darling had the chance to make seven figures with the switch. Dare I say, guys like Darling getting the chance to show their skills on a bigger stage might actually be a good thing?
- The opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament is one of the best times of the year to be a sports fan, as we explained back in January. These 48 games in four days actually kick off a sublime stretch of sports watching that carries over into next week, with the start of the Major League Baseball season. Then, once this tournament is over and the nets get cut down, it’s time for The Masters.
Speaking of MLB, we’re going to be providing coverage of that here that you definitely won’t find from any other competitor. We’ll be announcing that, and what to expect for the rest of the college baseball season, here tomorrow.