/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73970029/2205124359.0.jpg?w=1000&resize=1000,500 "Mens NCAA tournament 2025: Scores, schedule, bracket for March Madness")
The Madness has arrived. Tuesday night the 2025 men’s NCAA tournament kicks into gear, with two of the First Four games coming from Dayton, Ohio. In the first game No. 16 St. Francis (PA) will square off with No. 16 Alabama State, with a trip to Kentucky to take on the top overall seed Auburn on the line. In the second game, No. 11 North Carolina — a surprising inclusion in the tournament — takes on No. 11 San Diego State with the winner facing No. 6 Mississippi. Wednesday night brings the First Four to a close. In the first game No. 16 American tangles with No. 16 Mount St. Mary’s, with the winners taking on Duke. The second game Wednesday night features No. 11 Xavier against No. 11 Texas
Tag Archives: NCAA
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73967144/2205172788.0.jpg?w=1000&resize=1000,500 "Louisville got royally screwed by NCAA Selection Committee, but theres a silver lining")
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Mar
The Louisville Cardinals were the saddest team in men’s college basketball only one year ago. Kenny Payne’s disastrous head coaching tenure reached rock bottom with consecutive seasons of some of the worst basketball in history for a program with as much tradition as the Cards. In 2022-23, Louisville started 0-9 with losses Bellarmine, Wright St., and Appalachian St. to open the season. They went 2-18 in the ACC, and finished 4-27 overall. Last season wasn’t much better: Louisville went 3-17 in the ACC and finished 8-24. Payne was fired after the season, and eventually replaced by College of Charleston coach Pat Kelsey. Kelsey wasn’t the Cards’ first choice, but his infectious energy, up-tempo offense, and consecutive NCAA tournament appearances gave Cardinals fans hope for the future. If nothing else, it
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Mar
Mar 13, 2025; Kansas City, MO, USA; Brigham Young Cougars forward Richie Saunders (15) drives to the basket around Iowa State Cyclones forward Joshua Jefferson (2) during the first half at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Images Richie Saunders recorded 23 points and five assists and Fousseyni Traore added 15 points to help No. 17 BYU produce a 96-92 victory over No. 12 Iowa State on Thursday to reach the semifinals of the Big 12 championship in Kansas City, Mo. Trevin Knell made all four of his 3-point attempts while scoring 14 points as fourth-seeded BYU (24-8) won its ninth straight game. Mihailo Boskovic added 10 points for the Cougars, who will face either top-seeded Houston or 16th-seeded Colorado in Friday’s semis. Curtis Jones sank a career-best seven treys
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73956824/2199925365.0.jpg?w=1000&resize=1000,500 "7 college basketball freshmen ready to ball in womens March Madness bracket, ranked")
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Mar
Mar
March is when stars are born. It’s when players are asked to step up in crucial moments, when they attempt the improbable and pull off the seemingly impossible. In basketball, the stage doesn’t get any bigger than March Madness. It feels like we see a few freshmen really break out during the NCAA Tournament every season. Last year was no exception. We watched JuJu Watkins scored 30 points in a Sweet 16 win over Baylor, we saw Hannah Hidalgo stuff the stat sheet in a second round victory over Ole Miss, and we were astonished by Audi Crooks’ record-setting performance – 40 points on 18-of-20 shooting to go along with 12 rebounds – in an unlikely triumph over Maryland. This March, we have more stellar rookies to pay attention to.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25893511/Screenshot_2025_03_01_at_6.27.26_PM.png?w=1000&resize=1000,500 "Sun Belt Tournament 2025: Bracket, schedule, scores, teams, and more")
08
Mar
Mar
The Sun Belt Conference tournament is back. And so is the format known as “The Gauntlet.” Four teams tied atop the Sun Belt standings this season with matching 13-5 records in conference play — South Alabama, James Madison, Troy, and Arkansas State — and those four teams have earned byes into deep in the tournament. South Alabama enters as the No. 1 seed in the conference, as they were undefeated against the other three teams this season to secure the tiebreaker advantage. The Jaguars were 2-0 this season against Arkansas State, and notched wins over both Marshall and James Madison. Alabama State, courtesy of the top seed, earned a bye to the Sun Belt semifinals. The Duke entered last weekend with a chance to clinch the conference title and No.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73945773/2203714210.0.jpg?w=1000&resize=1000,500 "Ignore the Big 12 Tournaments incredibly ugly court and appreciate this awesome 41-point performance")
07
Mar
Mar
Let’s get this out of the way first: the court design at the Big 12 women’s basketball tournament is awful, atrocious, distracting and ridiculous. The floor in Kansas City, Missouri, was designed through a partnership with “Undefeated Inc.” which bills itself as an “authentic lifestyle brand and sneaker store inspired by sports, art, music and street culture.” And this is what they came up with, a basketball court that looks like a wildly bad game of tic-tac-toe. It makes Oregon’s court look normal. It’s unclear what the Big 12 and this brand were going for here, but it’s not good. It pales in comparison to the colorful design at the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina. But reader, I’m asking you to ignore this appalling hardwood design for a moment.
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Mar 2, 2025; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish guard Hannah Hidalgo (3) reacts in the first half against the Louisville Cardinals at the Purcell Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-Imagn Images Hannah Hidalgo posted 20 points, nine rebounds and six assists as No. 3 Notre Dame halted a two-game skid, defeating No. 25 Louisville 72-59 to gain a piece of the Atlantic Coast Conference championship on Sunday at South Bend, Ind. Notre Dame (25-4, 16-2 ACC) shares the regular-season title with NC State, which will hold the No. 1 seed for the ACC tournament based on defeating the Irish in double overtime last Sunday in Raleigh, N.C. Notre Dame will be the No. 2 seed. Olivia Miles scored 15 points and Sonia Citron and Maddy Westbeld both had
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73935764/2201191581.0.jpg?w=1000&resize=1000,500 "JuJu Watkins cements her case for the best player in womens college basketball as USC beats UCLA again")
02
Mar
Mar
On the road, in a rival’s sold-out arena, with the conference title and NCAA Tournament seeding implications on the line, the USC Trojans oozed confidence. Even as they endured several players dealing with foul trouble, even as the UCLA Bruins cut the deficit to two possessions in the third quarter, Lindsay Gottlieb’s team never flinched. The reason why, it seemed to be, was because they had JuJu Watkins and their opponent did not. On national television Saturday night and in front of a crowd that included basketball royalty and celebrities – from Trojans’ legend Cheryl Miller to singer John Legend – USC captured the Big Ten regular season title in its first season in the league, defeating UCLA for the second time this year, 80-67. Powered by Watkins’ eye-popping stat
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73931780/2195901818.0.jpg?w=1000&resize=1000,500 "We arent talking enough about how good LSUs Aneesah Morrow is")
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Feb
Feb
When this women’s college basketball season began, most folks figured that the race for the national player of the year would come down to three returning guards: UConn’s Paige Bueckers, USC’s JuJu Watkins and Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo. And indeed, all three players have been mightily impressive this season and likely secured spots on the All-American First Team. A fourth player quickly rose to the top to join them in that debate and conversation in UCLA center Lauren Betts, who is averaging about 20 points and 10 rebounds per game and is the nucleus of a Bruins’ squad that started the year 23-0 and looks like a legit contender for the national title. But it feels like there’s a fifth player we should be talking about for a spot on
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73926504/usa_today_25486273.0.jpg?w=1000&resize=1000,500 "John Reed-Imagn Images")
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The Auburn Tigers have been arguably the best team in college basketball this season, holding the No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25 for the last seven weeks as they’ve gone 25-2 in the loaded SEC. Auburn’s year started off with a marquee 74-69 victory over the Houston Cougars back in game No. 2 of the season and they haven’t looked back since, going an impressive 13-1 in conference play with the lone loss being a single-digit game against the No. 3 Florida Gators. Looking at the Tigers roster, they have an All-American-caliber player in forward Johni Broome, who has averaged 18.6 points, 11.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.6 blocks per game, making a strong case for the Wooden Award this season. But, Auburn’s entire rotation is loaded, as