What happened in Thursday and Friday's first round

No. 16 seed, Midwest Region

Opponent, time, TV: Purdue, 7:25 p.m., TBS

Team in 16 words: The SWAC has won seven NCAA Tournament games; the Tigers are unlikely to increase that number.

Record: 21-14 (14-4 SWAC)

Coach: Donte Jackson (First NCAA Tournament)

Player to watch: Kintavious Dozier (first-team All-SWAC)

Numbers:

BetMGM title odds: +200000

Sweet 16 projected chance: 0.5 percent

Final Four projected chance: 0.02 percent

Outlook: With blowout non-conference losses to quality opposition in Iowa State, Florida, Washington State, Drake and Colorado, the Tigers didn’t exactly apply the needle to the record outside of league play. The daunting schedule did propel Donte Jackson’s club to in-conference heights, but the reality of November/December is about to rear its unfortunate head.

For a team that ranks No. 319 nationally in 3-point scoring and is highly reliant on free-throw conversions, squaring off against a formidable high-major school is a daunting task. Apologies, Tigers, but another shellacking is on the immediate horizon.

— Brad Evans

The conference remains undefeated in this year's tournament.

MEMPHIS — The Nebraska sharpshooter is picking up where he left off in the Big Ten tournament with a 3-3 start from three-point range and Nebraska leads Texas A&M by a 17-13 score at the 15:07 mark in the first half. The Nebraska fan base has waited a decade for an NCAA Tournament berth and showed it by nearly packing FedEx Arena. It's an electric atmosphere early on.

Auburn is the latest team to go down to an upset in the NCAA Tournament as it dropped a 78-76 decision to Yale in the first round Friday.

The Bulldogs, who are seeded 13th in the East Region, were led by John Poulakidas, who finished with 28 points.

No. 4 seed, South Region

Opponent, time, TV: Vermont, 7:10 p.m., CBS

Team in 16 words: Jon Scheyer has enough talent and experience in year two to make a Final Four run.

Record: 24-8 (15-5 ACC)

Coach: Jon Scheyer (1-1 in NCAA Tournament)

Player to watch: Kyle Filipowski (first-team All-ACC)

Numbers:

BetMGM title odds: +3000

Sweet 16 projected chance: 47.4 percent

Final Four projected chance: 10.2 percent

Strengths: Duke has weapons. Kyle Filipowski is one of the best frontcourt players in the country and is versatile in how he can score. Freshman Jared McCain can take over a game, Jeremy Roach is an experienced guard capable of going for 20 and even Tyrese Proctor — who has been disappointing — is more than capable. Then add Mark Mitchell as a glue guy who defends, rebounds and can score when necessary. There aren’t too many teams capable of matching this starting group, especially talent-wise.

Weaknesses: The Blue Devils just don’t have a big-time defensive presence in the middle, as was the case a year ago with Dereck Lively II, and it makes them suspect when it comes to rim protection. Teams will go at Filipowski — who can be exposed on that end of the court. Proctor has also been ordinary for much of the season when the hope was he would turn into an All-American candidate.

Outlook: There aren’t many teams in the country that can match Duke’s overall talent and experience. Scheyer has a couple of likely first-round picks in Filipowski and Proctor, and McCain has shown he can carry the team if necessary from a scoring standpoint. Roach is a veteran capable of making big shots, and Mitchell has had his moments.

— Jeff Goodman

INDIANAPOLIS — Whoa! No. 10 seed Colorado hangs on in a track meet against No. 7 seed Florida, taking down the Gators 102-100 on KJ Simpson’s jumper from the right baseline with 1.7 seconds remaining in regulation. Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr.’s half-court heave at the buzzer smacked off the backboard.

It was one heck of an entertaining performance from both teams. Colorado has now advanced from the First Four to a second-round NCAA Tournament matchup against second-seeded Marquette. The Buffaloes did so after blowing a 13-point lead with 4:49 remaining. Colorado’s Cody Williams made one of two free throws to give the Buffaloes a 100-97 lead with 14.7 seconds remaining before Clayton buried a pull-up 3 with 9.5 seconds remaining to tie the score.

This marks the 10th time this season the Buffaloes have scored at least 90 points and the second time they’ve eclipsed 100. Simpson, a first-team all-Pac-12 pick, scored a team-high 23 points, while Eddie Lampkin was a force down low (21 points). Colorado’s players stayed on the court for several minutes after the game celebrating and dancing.

No. 13 seed, South Region

Opponent, time, TV: Duke, 7:10 p.m., CBS

Team in 16 words: An America East juggernaut with a stout defense, Vermont has lost just one game in 2024.

Record: 28-6 (15-1 America East)

Coach: John Becker (1-5 in NCAA Tournament)

Player to watch: Shamir Bogues (first-team All-America East)

Numbers:

BetMGM title odds: +100000

Sweet 16 projected chance: 7.1 percent

Final Four projected chance: 0.5 percent

Outlook: The Catamounts have won eight straight America East regular-season titles. This is the 10th time in the last 20 NCAA Tournaments that they’ve gotten a bid — but they haven’t won a game in the tourney since T.J. Sorrentine hit that one from the parking lot.

This Vermont team is built on defense. Vermont ranks near the top 60 in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency metric, and the Catamounts were to the America East what Houston is to everyone else. They are incredible at controlling tempo. They’ll make you play at their pace. They’ll make it tough for you to run offense. They’ll get on the defensive glass and end possessions. They’ve done it all year, but the question is whether or not that will work against teams that are significantly bigger and more athletic.

The other key is going to be their backcourt trio of TJ Long, Shamir Bogues and Aaron Deloney. Those three are UVM’s three leading scorers, but most of the offense that Vermont creates comes out of sets. If those sets get blown up, that trio is going to be tasked with creating against a power-conference defense. If they can win those matchups often enough, they can pull off an upset.

— Rob Dauster

LINCOLN, Neb. — Consider that 38 years ago in the first NCAA Tournament basketball game to involve Nebraska, its head coach quit immediately after the loss to Western Kentucky.

Before Moe Iba left the court, he handed an envelope to a school official that contained his letter of resignation. The beginning of Iba’s end came in the weeks ahead of that 1985-86 season when he was exposed for holding unauthorized practice sessions on campus.

From there, things trended only more negatively for the Nebraska men in the NCAA Tournament.

The Huskers, set to tip off Friday as the No. 8 seed in the South Region against No. 9 Texas A&M, enter this first NCAA appearance for the school since 2014 at 0-7 in the postseason event. When Northwestern beat Vanderbilt in its first tourney appearance seven years ago, the Wildcats left Nebraska as the only major-conference program without an NCAA Tournament victory.

How is this possible?

Well, Nebraska rarely appears in the tournament. The bid this year marks its second in 25 years. And when the Huskers have made it to the Big Dance, just about anything that could go wrong has gone wrong.

They’ve been beaten by an eclectic group of teams in the first round coached by the likes of Clem Haskins, Pete Gillen, Jim Calhoun and Nolan Richardson. The average margin of defeat: 11.6 points. Nebraska has led at halftime just once. Only one team has earned a victory beyond its elimination-game win against the Huskers.

The conversation casts a shadow over coach Fred Hoiberg’s program.

“It’s not embarrassing,” said Andy Markowski, a two-year starter who played on the 1997-98 tournament team, “because we’ve had some really good teams and a lot of things to be proud about. But that seems to be the dark cloud that hangs over us. It would be nice to be out of that.”

When ex-Huskers gathered on Alumni Weekend in January, Hoiberg encouraged his players to meet them and hear their stories.

“We talk about it,” Hoiberg said of the lack of postseason success. “We’re not going to run from it. Pressure’s a privilege.”

Continue reading.

John Poulakidas — greatest NCAA Tournament shooter since Jack Gohlke? — hits his sixth 3-pointer of the day to give Yale a 73-72 lead over Auburn. The 13th-seeded Bulldogs have the ball with 1:12 left and are threatening to knock out the fourth-seeded Tigers — the SEC tournament champions — in the first round.

No. 8 seed, South Region

Opponent, time, TV: Texas A&M, 6:50, TNT

Team in 16 words: Thanks to a steady dose of defense and 3-pointers, the perennial doormats have second weekend appeal.

Record: 23-10 (12-8 Big Ten)

Coach: Fred Hoiberg (4-4 in NCAA Tournament)

Player to watch: Keisei Tominaga (second-team All-Big Ten)

Numbers:

BetMGM title odds: +15000

Sweet 16 projected chance: 12.4 percent

Final Four projected chance: 2.6 percent

Strengths: The Cornhuskers have placed opponents in a sleeper hold over the past several weeks. Over their final 10 regular-season games, they ranked top five nationally in effective field-goal percentage defense, conceding only 44.8 percent from two and 29 percent from three. Stifling. On the scoring side, Fred Hoiberg’s squad is often prolific from the perimeter. Keisei Tominaga, Brice Williams, C.J. Wilcher, Jamarques Lawrence and Rienk Mast each shoot at least 34 percent from distance. Overall, nearly 45 percent of their shots come from outside.

Weaknesses: Cupcake city best sums up Nebraska’s non-conference strength of schedule (No. 322 in the country). Outside of a win against lackluster Kansas State in December and a loss to Creighton, the Cornhuskers weren’t often challenged beyond the Big Ten. As a below-average rebounding team, the Huskers are also vulnerable if matched against a formidable interior. Most unsettling, they were just 5-9 in road and neutral games.

Outlook: Doing its best Michigan State impression, the Huskers are peaking at the most opportune time. Yes, their suspect play away from Lincoln is well documented, but Tominaga, when on, is an absolute flamethrower. Just ask Purdue. Nebraska’s outside execution combined with its oxygen-depriving defense labels it a sleeper. Top seeds beware.

— Brad Evans

MEMPHIS — New Mexico head coach Richard Pitino, when asked after the loss to Clemson if he anticipates losing any players to the transfer portal this offseason: "How could you not? They're all free agents. We'll have conversations with them next week. I'm sure their people are reaching out to them. They've got all the freedom in the world right now. And if we do lose somebody, the beauty of it is you can go get somebody.

"And it's just part of the ever-changing landscape. I don't think anyone likes it. But it is what it is. We'll go home tonight, visit with some guys throughout the week next week and give a little time off, get back to work. But if somebody leaves, it's not going to be an indication of what's wrong with them. It's happening everywhere. We had an amazing year, and they've got the choice to go look elsewhere, fine, we'll support them, and we'll go find a way to replace them."

The NCAA Tournament is off to a good start ratings-wise. Yesterday was the most-watched first-round Thursday in the NCAA Tournament since 2015.