Saturday March Madness Recap: Kansas is the sixth consecutive men’s defending champion to go out early

It’s tough for the defending champion in the NCAA Men’s Championship.

Arkansas 72-71 win over Kansas He extended an impressive streak of national title winners. The Jayhawks are now the sixth straight national title winner to be shut out in the first weekend of the following year’s NCAA Tournament.

The last defending champion to qualify for the second championship weekend is Duke in 2016. The Blue Devils were in first place. 4 seeds this season and beat no. 13 UNC Wilmington and No. 12 Yale before losing to No. 1 Oregon in the Sweet 16. Since then, tournament bids for the defending champions have gone as follows:

• Villanova 2017: Lost in the second round to no. 8 Wisconsin no. 1 seed.

• 2018 North Carolina: Lost in the second round to no. 7 Texas A&M as No. 7 2 stubs.

• 2019 Villanova: Lost in the second round to no. 3 Bordeaux no. 6 seeds.

• 2021 Virginia: Lost in the first round to no. 13 ohio as a number. 4 seeds.

• 2022 Baylor: Lost in the second round to no. 8 North Carolina as No. 1 seed.

• 2023 Kansas: Lost in the second round to no. 8 Arkansas as No. 1 seed.

Kansas kept Arkansas at arm’s length throughout the first half before the Razorbacks’ chaotic style began giving the Jayhawks real spells. The error-filled game featured 23 fouls with four players fouling and four others ending with four fouls.

The foul fests made it fitting for the game to be decided at the free throw line. Arkansas’ Ricky Council 4 made five free throws in the last 24 seconds and made four in a row after getting a key offensive rebound after a missed free throw.

If Kansas is going to go big in this year’s tournament, it will be with a team that barely resembles the team that cut the net in 2022. Jalen Wilson averaged 20 points per game this season as Kansas’ leading scorer after averaging 11 preseason. with players like Ochai Agbagi And NBA’s Christian Brown, freshman Grady Dick, and Kevin McCullar, who transferred from Texas Tech, have all played big roles and big man KJ Adams has gone from five minutes a game a season ago to 27 games this year.

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This reconfigured team was really good. Kansas won the Big 12 regular season title again but showed some flaws down the stretch that Texas exposed twice in the span of eight days. Talented but underachieving Arkansas was also a poor game for the Jayhawks as the Hogs were able to compete well with Kansas all over the field and put pressure on the Jayhawks in the second half.

Here’s what else you need to know to catch up on everything big that happened on Day 3 of the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments.

Princeton continues to race to no. 15 seeds

became Princeton the third no. 15 seeds in as many years to advance to the Sweet 16 with a 78-63 win over Missouri.

Ivy League champions Missouri completely dominated the glass and beat the Tigers by 15. Princeton also hit 12 three-pointers when slamming a Missouri district defense in the second half. A Missouri State team that relies on turnover and outside shooting has forced Princeton into no catastrophic possessions and has shot poorly from 3.

four no. 15 have made the Sweet 16 in NCAA Men’s Tournament history and they’ve all achieved it in the past decade. Florida Gulf Coast was first in 2013 ahead of Oral Roberts in 2021 and St. Louis in 2021. Peter in 2022.

Peacocks were the first not to. 15 to make the Elite Eight when they dropped Purdue a season ago. And it’s not hard to see how Princeton could do the same if they kept bouncing like they did against both Arizona and Missouri.

Louisville avoids a third upset, 12-5

Louisville narrowly escaped being third. 5 seeds to drop to no. 12th seed in the NCAA Women’s Tournament.

The Cardinals beat Drake 83-81 after a 54-point fourth quarter. Louisville grabbed the game on a great inside play with 20 seconds left when Healy Van Leith converted 2-1 to give the Cardinals a 4-point lead.

Van Leith scored 26 points on 10 of 20 shots from the field as Mikasa Robinson added 14 points.

earlier in the day, Florida Gulf Coast beat Pac-12 Champion Washington State 74-63 as Sha Carter scored 24 points and grabbed six rebounds. The Eagles’ displeasure came a little earlier Toledo fell to Iowa 80-73. The Rockets pulled away from Iowa State in the second quarter and kept the Hurricanes at bay in the second half thanks to some phenomenal free throw shooting.

Day of the big comeback

The double-digit lead was not as secure as it usually is on Saturday in the NCAA Women’s Tournament.

no. 9 Miami He returned by 17 points In the first half to beat no. 8 Oklahoma State 62-61. The Cowgirls got a shot at the buzzer for the win after Miami violated five seconds but bounced off the rim.

Hours later, at Seattle Regional 3, no. 7 Baylor erased Alabama’s 18-point lead in the second quarter to win 78-74.

Baylor trailed 22-4 at the end of the first quarter before cutting the lead to 11 at halftime. The Bears then took control of the fourth quarter and took the lead with 3:30 to take a three-pointer lead from Sarah Andrews. Alabama scored six straight points to regain the lead before Baylor scored 7 straight points over the last 53 seconds to seal the victory.

Miami’s comeback tied for the fifth-most in NCAA Women’s Championship history before Baylor’s comeback jumped it into a tie for third.

We can’t forget Ohio State either. no. 3 Buckeyes late no. 14 James Madison 35-19 with 4:01 to go in the second quarter before coming back in the second half and holding the Dukes by 30 points the rest of the way. Ohio State beat JMU 80-66 with Coty McMahon scoring 18 points and Jesse Sheldon 17.

UCLA maintains the Northwest

no. 2 UCLA holds Northwestern’s snap in a 68-63 win over the Wildcats.

The Bruins shot 50% from the field as Northwestern never took a lead after taking a 3-0 lead to start the game. Tiger Campbell It was 12-of-12 from the free throw line and Jaime Jaquez scored 24 points for the Bruins.

However, there is some concern about UCLA. The Bruins’ Adam Bona was restored to the starting lineup on Saturday, but guard David Singleton appeared to badly sprain his right ankle in the last minute while on the field. Singleton was helped from the court after writhing in pain, though he was able to place weight on his leg.

“He didn’t break his ankle, which I was worried he would,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said of the injury.

Singleton’s absence in the Sweet 16 and potential Elite Eight game would be huge for an UCLA team without Jaylen Clark due to a lower leg injury.

Madi Siegrist Dominates

Maddie Siegrist of Villanova entered Saturday’s first-round game against Cleveland State as the nation’s leading scorer with 29 points per game. She easily surpassed that average with 35 points in a 76-59 Villanova win.

Siegrist leads the nation in goals scored and ranks second in field goal attempts per game. She was 15-of-28 from the field as the Wildcat never had more than 10 shots.

Villanova made sure to make a statement early and outscored Cleveland State 42-21 at halftime. The margin was 29 at the end of the third quarter, however Siegrist ended up playing all but four minutes.

The win puts Florida into a matchup with Gulf Coast in the second round on Monday.

Rick Barnes is looking for his first Elite Eight since 2008

Rick Barnes is in his 36th season as a head coach at the top level of college basketball. His teams have won 778 games over those 36 seasons, and he’s coached 20 teams in 23 of those 36 seasons.

However, Barnes did not find much success in the NCAA Tournament. His teams are always pretty bad against the spread in the postseason and have only made one Final Four. It came about in 2003, when Texas reached the national semifinals.

Barnes’ last appearance in the Elite Eight came five years later with the Longhorns in 2008. Since then, Barnes’ Texas and Tennessee teams have been to nine NCAA Tournaments. But none of these teams won three games in any of those matches.

Tennessee has a great chance to win three games in 2023 with a 65-52 win over Duke. The Vols got 27 points from Olivier Nkamhoua and simply outplayed the Blue Devils on the glass. Thanks to Purdue’s upset loss to Fairleigh Dickinson on Friday, Tennessee will have to beat the Knights or Florida Atlantic next Thursday to have a chance at Barnes’ Final Four.

Foreman cannot advance to the Sweet 16

Furman’s NCAA tournament ended in the first weekend.

no. The 13 Paladins surprised Virginia on Thursday but were dominated by No. 5 San Diego State in the first game of the day, Saturday. The Aztecs won 75-52 because their stifling defense had Foreman shooting only 32% from the field.

JB Biggies hit the game-winning shot against Virginia and was only 3 of 15 from the field against San Diego State. The Aztecs had four players in double figures and shot 23 of 38 from inside the arc.

San Diego State broke the Mountain West’s losing streak in the NCAA Tournament with a win Thursday and is now in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2014.