Why every tourney rips, plus a miracle with a dash of controversy

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Good morning! Don’t chip a tooth today. Inside:

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A Chalky Mix: It’s either bracket busters or blockbusters

Having fun now vs. having fun later. Not a bad option either way, I suppose.

In some years, the NCAA Tournament is heavy on early mayhem, but starts running out of star power before the end. Other years, it’s the opposite, a bit of a slog to get to the main events.

So far in this men’s tourney, we’ve gotten a sample of each flavor. After Thursday was loaded with seasonally appropriate thrills (and No. 16 Siena nearly finishing off No. 1 Duke, which I’m still not over), yesterday was heavy on chalk.

• Overall, for just the sixth time ever, all four No. 9 seeds advanced. Yesterday, that included Iowa’s 67-61 win over Clemson and Utah State’s 86-76 upset of Villanova. (Anybody have the Aggies, rather than NIL-heavy BYU, being Utah’s only team in the second round?)
• Four double-digit seeds are also still alive, with No. 12 High Point the ranking Cinderella at the moment.

Nuggets on all of Saturday’s men’s games here, including Purdue’s Braden Smith breaking the NCAA’s career assists record and a 31-point, 27-rebound night from UConn’s Tarris Reed Jr.

Meanwhile, the women’s bracket has historically been light on opening-weekend upsets. Yesterday’s first day of Round 1 followed that trend, though No. 12 Colorado State nearly took down No. 5 Michigan State, 65-62. No. 7 Texas Tech trailed heading into the fourth but edged ahead of No. 10 Villanova, 57-52.

• The highlight, in my opinion: College of Charleston’s Taryn Barbot putting up 36 points on No. 3 Duke in the Cougars’ first tournament game ever. Comfy 81-64 win for the Blue Devils, but that’s the most any player’s scored on them all year. (And her twin sister, Taylor Barbot, had 13.)

Full women’s takeaways here, with business picking up soon.

Side note! Since last year’s chalky men’s tourney produced so many worries about whether college sports’ financial inequalities have ruined March Madness forever, let’s take a look back at some of the most Madness-free moments since the bracket expanded to 64 in 1985:

• 1989: A nearly entirely basic Sweet 16, other than No. 11 Minnesota.
• 1991: Zero seeding upsets in the entire second round.
• 2000: Round 1 had a record-low three upsets, and the wildest was merely a No. 11 (Pepperdine) over a No. 6 (Indiana).
• 2007: The lowest-seeded Elite Eight team was No. 3 Oregon.
• 2008: The first time all four No. 1 seeds reached the Final Four.
• 2009: No. 12 Arizona was the only Sweet 16 team lower than No. 5.
• 2025: Matched the preordained Final Four of 2008 and Elite Eight of 2007.

Life’s certainly as hard as ever on mid-majors, but predictable tourneys were happening long before the Supreme Court told the NCAA in 2021 to stop barring players from making money. For now, March Madness still works. (And if nothing else, we still get to have fun later in the Final Four.) Notes below on today’s games. Now for some news.

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News to Know

Whittingham wanted to stay at Utah

This is an odd story: New Michigan football head coach Kyle Whittingham told Utah he wanted to stay on for the 2026 season, according to records obtained by The Athletic — but received a counter-offer from Utah that said he’d have to cede some oversight over players and staff to defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley (his eventual successor). After Whittingham walked with an agreed buyout and then brought several Utah coaches with him to Ann Arbor, Utah’s AD said the school felt that Whittingham violated the buyout terms, but would let it slide. Hm. Not the parting you’d expect for a school legend coming off a 10-2 season. More here.

More news:

• The worst team in the Eastern Conference two years ago, the Pistons became the first East team to clinch a playoff spot. What a turnaround.
• Aaron Judge discussed the perception that Team USA played without joy in the World Baseball Classic. Read his comments.
• The Thunder won’t be visiting the White House to celebrate their NBA championship because of a “timing issue.” Full story here.
• President Donald Trump issued an executive order to — in theory, at least — protect the Army-Navy game’s exclusive December window from College Football Playoff expansion.
• The longest active winning streak in women’s college basketball came to an end Thursday night, at 91. Take a bow, NYU.
• The Nationals sent former No. 2 pick Dylan Crews to Triple A after a rough spring. More here.
• A rehabbing Cristiano Ronaldo was left out of Portugal’s squad for an upcoming friendly against the U.S., continuing his almost 12-year streak of not playing on American soil.

📰 Find more news here 24/7.

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Watch Guide

📺 NCAAW: First round
11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.
ESPN networks
It’s hard to overstate how much of a favorite No. 1 UConn is in this tournament … and yet we managed to do it. The Huskies begin their repeat bid with -275 title odds per BetMGM — not -5000, as we wrote yesterday. Our apologies! We promise it’s true that they’re 55.5-point favorites against No. 16 UTSA today (3 p.m. ET on ABC). Tune in an hour earlier to channel-surf the day’s three best upset candidates, per our model.

📺 NCAAM: Second round

12:10 p.m.-9:45 p.m. ET
CBS, TNT, TBS and truTV
After barely avoiding a historic upset against Siena, a worryingly thin Duke will be desperate for the return of injured center Patrick Ngongba against TCU (5:15 p.m. ET, CBS). The most intriguing game is probably the nightcap between High Point and Arkansas (9:45 p.m., truTV/TBS): a Cinderella, a freshman scoring machine, and two teams that average 90-plus.

Get tickets to games like this here.

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Pulse Picks

Roman Anthony for MVP? A Cy Young for Jacob Misiorowski? Eno Sarris is back with his 10 bold predictions for the upcoming MLB season.

Young children’s YouTube is mostly a soulless hell, but my 4-year-old has been at least 2% raised by this guy’s zany animated songs. Somehow they’re all at once educational, unpretentious, calming and legit funny. Just don’t tell our pediatrician. — Matt Piper

Is Las Vegas still the right choice for NBA expansion? Our experts weighed in.

I’m back with a verdict on the easy ricotta-cake mix cookies, and DANG — these things are neat!! They come out like single-serve, handheld cakes. They’re spongy and moist on the inside and firm on the outside. I topped mine with chocolate icing and cinnamon. — Lauren Merola

U.S. cross-country star Jessie Diggins will retire after this weekend’s races in Lake Placid, N.Y. Remarkably, as Matthew Futterman writes, she’s going out on top.

I’m far from the first person to share this on the sports internet, but the seemingly impromptu emotional deep dive between Thierry Henry and Micah Richards on “UCL Today” really impacted. I really recommend a watch. — Chris Branch

🎥 Ken Rosenthal shares what’ll be his lasting memory from the World Baseball Classic in his latest “Week in Baseball” video.

Last year, Wirecutter’s experts rigorously tested and recommended nearly 3,000 picks. Of those, 71 useful, delightful products stood out so much, we’ve crowned them the first-ever winners of our Best New Picks Awards. — Samantha Schoech

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: NCAA men’s Day 1 takeaways.

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