What happened during championship week: 27 teams earn automatic berths entering Selection Sunday

Blake Hinson hasn't scored, but Pittsburgh has a 35-33 lead over North Carolina in the ACC tournament semifinals. Carlton Carrington has stepped up for the Panthers, scoring 16 points. Armando Bacot leads North Carolina with seven points.

Several snippets of basketball awfulness work to tell the story of the worst the Tennessee Volunteers have played the game all season, but let’s go with this from Friday’s 73-56 loss to Mississippi State in the SEC tournament quarterfinals:

Star scorer Dalton Knecht makes a nice move to get into the lane, giving himself a clear path to a layup. But he blows it, the ball grazing the rim before hitting the glass, so he has to try to tip it back in — offensive goaltending. Five seconds later, Mississippi State freshman Josh Hubbard has dribbled past Vols pressure but is a bit out of control and puts a shot off the backboard that has no chance. Rather than rebound it, Tennessee big man Tobe Awaka blocks it as it comes off the glass — defensive goaltending.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — At the under-eight media timeout, no UNC player has scored more than one basket or three points. Seven makes, by seven Tar Heels. That, coupled with an early 13-0 run by Pitt, has Hubert Davis’ Tar Heels in an early 22-18 hole. But that may change, and quickly; both of Pitt’s primary big men, Federiko Federiko and Guillermo Diaz Graham, have two personal fouls already.

NEW YORK - St. John’s has answered the bell, and is back in it, as is the crowd. Got a little quiet in here when it looked like the UConn rout was on, but as the Johnnies have powered back, people are back on their feet.

Jordan Dingle has picked up the scoring for St. John’s. The Penn transfer was among the players Pitino questioned in his now infamous rant, unsure if he was tough enough to compete for his team. Dingle now has 17 points and eight of the Johnnies’ last 10.

Streaking Pittsburgh, which has won 12 of its past 15 games, is off to a strong start in the semifinals of the ACC tournament. The Panthers lead top-seeded UNC 17-10 at the second media break, hitting 7-of-15 shots from the floor.

NEW YORK - St. John’s just defended its tails off for the entirety of the shot clock. Got two deflections, but the ball bounced back to UConn, and eventually swung around to Alex Karaban who nailed a back-breaking 3-pointer. It feels like this is sort of the moment for the Johnnies. Rick Pitino called a timeout but this 13-point hole can grow to gaping very quickly if St John’s isn’t careful

Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats signed a new contract with the program, Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne announced Friday. Oats’ contract will go before the Board of Trustees for approval next week.

The long-term extension will make him one of the five highest-paid coaches in the country, according to ESPN.

“We are excited about the success of our men’s basketball program and Nate’s continued commitment to the university,” Byrne said in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “We look forward to him leading our men’s basketball program for many years to come.”

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NEW YORK -- So there’s a basketball game back in action. A. Lot. To. Unpack. Here. But on the basketball court, UConn’s Tristen Newton has been sensational. He might end up with a triple double if he keeps it up -- 23 points, seven assists and four rebounds. Fair to wonder if he’s feeling a bit inspired after not being chosen as the Big East Player of the Year (the nod went to Providence’s Devin Carter).

Ohio State is hanging tight with Illinois early in their Big Ten quarterfinal game as the Illini lead 16-15 at the first media break. Both teams have been efficient offensively so far: Ohio State has made 6-of-10 shots while Illinois has made 8-of-14.

Here comes the Friday night doubleheader of quarterfinals at the Big Ten tournament. First up: the increasingly interesting Ohio State Buckeyes, who have a chance to make the NCAA Tournament after firing their coach. The chance is not great. The outcome is not probable. It is nevertheless possible, which is ridiculous to fathom.

But interim coach Jake Diebler has won six of his seven games at the helm, and here we are. A win over second-seeded Illinois at the Target Center is, of course, a must. And the Illini should be motivated to win two or three games here and maybe climb a seed line, which would help them avoid possible shipment to an NCAA site like Spokane or Salt Lake City in favor of a more geographically friendly destination.

6-2 freshman guard, Kentucky

One of the interesting subplots of the past few months has been seeing evaluators try to avoid the conclusion that Reed Sheppard is the best NCAA prospect despite having the evidence punch them in the face every day. Of late, however, Sheppard’s play seems to have won over even his biggest skeptics. He was dominant — again — in Kentucky’s 85-81 win over No. 4 Tennessee on Saturday, finishing with a 27-6-5 line on just 14 shots.

Inexplicably coming off the bench (along with Kentucky’s other likely lottery-bound freshman guard Rob Dillingham) and thus limited to 29 minutes per game, Sheppard has defensive stats that jump off the page. He’s averaging 4.7 steals per 100 possessions, second only to Iowa State’s Tamin Lipsey among major college players, and despite standing 6-2 with a 6-3 wingspan, has blocked 23 shots this season. The eye test backs this up; Kentucky isn’t good on defense, but Sheppard has been a terror.

Meanwhile, his outside shot has been cash. Sheppard is shooting 52.6 percent from 3 and 84.1 percent from the line, with hair-trigger speed on his 3-point launch. While you’d like to see him get more up than his 8.1 attempts per 100, he’s also been effective in the paint (55.7 percent on 2s); the biggest issue in his statistical record is a relatively low usage rate, which can be explained partly by how often he’s shared the court with Dillingham and partly by John Calipari’s multi-decade track record of being the best defense against talented guards.

Nitpickers can have some fun around the edges, perhaps. Sheppard hasn’t had the keys to the offense at Kentucky and would likely need to be a full-time point guard as a pro; he’s been a bit more turnover-prone than you’d hope as well. And his shooting probably isn’t as good as his percentages indicate, because nobody is that good.

Finally, teams will surely fixate on Sheppard’s stature. But “I wish you were 2 inches taller” isn’t an actual weakness unless you can connect it to some other basketball deficiency; Sheppard’s tape and stat lines don’t betray any shortcomings that you can link back to his size.

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NEW YORK - Big East freshman of the year Steph Castle is on the bench with his second foul. On some teams that would be a big problem. UConn just plugs in Hassan Diarra and carries on. The Huskies work-of-art offense continues with five assists on eight made buckets. Really wish they kept hockey assists. UConn is just so good at making the extra pass to find the open man.

Auburn versus South Carolina is, apparently, the definition of a bad matchup. The Gamecocks have enjoyed a record-tying, 26-win season and yet could not muster even a moment of competitive basketball in two meetings with the Tigers. First, it was a 40-point loss on Feb. 14. Then, an 86-55 defeat in the rematch Friday in the SEC quarterfinals.

And don’t look now, but Auburn (25-7) is rolling again at precisely the right time. Bruce Pearl’s team started the season 15-2 before stumbling in the middle of its SEC schedule — a 5-5 record during a brutal month facing all the top teams in the league — and now it has won four straight to reach the conference semifinals.

Incredibly, all 25 of the Tigers’ wins this season have come by double digits. Their depth can be overwhelming for opponents. On Friday, 10 players scored for Auburn, and nine of them scored at least five points. All-SEC center Johni Broome, who had 18 points and 10 rebounds against the Gamecocks, is the star of the show, but that endless parade of fresh legs has been the secret to the Tigers’ success this season.

Auburn will face Mississippi State in the SEC semifinals on Saturday — the Bulldogs upset No. 1 seed Tennessee — looking for a fourth league title under Pearl. The Tigers won the regular-season crown in 2018 and 2022 and the conference tournament in 2019, when they also reached the program’s only Final Four.