Sunday, December 10

March Madness 2022 – Best of the upsets, action and moments from NCAA tournament Friday games


Is March Madness 2022 wild enough yet? How’s your bracket doing? The first-round NCAA tournament games Thursday saw No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s knock of No. 2 Kentucky. Two No. 12 seeds, Richmond and New Mexico State, downed No. 5 seeds Iowa and UConn, respectively.

Two No. 1 seeds — Gonzaga and Baylor — cruised through their first games while Tennessee and North Carolina put up big scores.

So shall we do it again Friday?

Jabari Smith, a top NBA draft prospect, and No. 2 seed Auburn advanced easily against Jacksonville State. Later, Mike Krzyzewski begins his final NCAA tournament as Duke’s head coach. The No. 2-seeded Blue Devils play Cal State Fullerton.

“I’m just going to go for it, and that’s what I’ve tried to do all season long,” Krzyzewski said Thursday. “I just want to be in the moment. I’m excited.”

NCAA tournament schedule (all times ET)

4:15 p.m.: 11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. 6 Alabama Crimson Tide

4:30 p.m.: 11 Virginia Tech Hokies vs. 6 Texas Longhorns

6:50 p.m.: 13 Chattanooga Mocs vs. 4 Illinois Fighting Illinois

7:10 p.m.: 15 CSU Fullerton Titans vs. 2 Duke Blue Devils

7:20 p.m.: 11 Iowa State Cyclones vs. 6 LSU Tigers

7:27 p.m.: 16 Wright State Raiders vs. 1Arizona Wildcats

9:20 p.m.: 12 UAB Blazers vs. 5 Houston Cougars

9:40 p.m.: 10 Davidson Wildcats vs. 7 Michigan State Spartans

9:50 p.m.: 14 Colgate Raiders vs. 3Wisconsin Badgers

9:57 p.m.: 9 TCU Horned Frogs vs. 8 Seton Hall Pirates

Jermaine Samuels: unstoppable

Villanova is engaged in a close 15-2 matchup against Delaware, and forward Jermaine Samuels is stepping up, denying a layup on defense and then throwing down a monstrous jam on the other end.

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Jabari Smith throws it down

GREENVILLE, SC — Bruce Pearl made the all-too-familiar sound of the SportsCenter theme. About a half-hour earlier, in Auburn’s close-out of Jacksonville State in the first round of the NCAA tournament, his star forward, Jabari Smith, had a dunk he was sure would make the highlight reel.

“It’s going to be on SportsCenter tonight,” Pearl said. “And isn’t that every kid’s dream? But he has postered him. He really did. And those kids love it. They obviously loved it.”

Sophomore guard KD Johnson raved about the dunk after the game..

“Did y’all see that? It’s crazy,” Johnson said. “I didn’t know he was going to do that. He never did that in practice. First time he ever showed he could ever get that high, so that was crazy.”

Center Walker Kessler joked he didn’t think his teammate would be able to pull that dunk off, eliciting an “oooh” from the media, before quickly correcting himself: “But, I mean, probably. It was a pretty nasty dunk.”

Smith didn’t know if he would be able to pull that off either. And as he went up, it was not going to be his plan. It just sort of happened.

“I was going to attack the rim,” Smith said. “I knew he was going to foul me but I didn’t know I was going to make it until I jumped and am like, ‘I can really dunk on that.’ I just finished it.” –Michael Rothstein

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Deuce Tatum’s rooting for Duke

Coach K begins his final NCAA tournament run Friday, and former Blue Devil and current Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum had his son pay tribute.

Sister Jean in the house

What would a Loyola Ramblers game be without their beloved chaplain Sister Jean? The 102-year-old nun is in Pittsburgh on Friday for her team’s game against Ohio State.

POTUS on their side

Sometimes you have to make bracket picks with your heart. President Joe Biden put aside seeds, odds and opponents and picked his alma mater, the Delaware Blue Hens, to win both the men’s and women’s tournaments.

Texas AD’s wild ride

Everyone’s been on a long road trip. People take too many bathroom breaks. They try to take photos from moving cars. Souvenirs are bought. According to Chris Del Conte, the Longhorns’ athletics director, he had travel issues with his flight from Austin, Texas, to Milwaukee for Texas’ first-round game Friday.

So Del Conte got a car with some Texas fans and headed north. According to the feed, Del Conte got pulled over in a traffic stop — in Oklahoma, of course.

Pregame fun and intense prep




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