March Madness holds some very real heartbreak for some teams.
If you want to know the thin margin for error in March Madness, look no further than the First Four game between Howard and Wagner on Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio.
The two programs duked it out for one of the 16 seeds in this year’s NCAA tournament on the men’s side, with Wagner eventually coming out victorious at the very last second with a 71-68 victory.
What made it such a devastating moment for Howard is that the team had three 3-point attempts right before the buzzer to get the walk-off victory.
Sadly for Howard, none of the three attempts connected with the basket, and the team had to end its March Madness appearance early.
This is exactly why losing in March can be such a tough thing for a college basketball team, and why it’s often so, so close between who advances and who gets sent home when it’s tournament time.
Wagner escaped to make it past the First Four, while Howard had to soak in one of the most difficult feelings of disappointment for any sports team this time of year: so close, yet just not quite enough.
Caleb Love, Hunter Dickinson and Harrison Ingram are familiar names in fresh places.
Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments, and concerns in this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Bryan Kalbrosky.
Now that we’ve reached March Madness, it’s a great time to look at the impact of the transfer portal in NCAA men’s college basketball.
Although it’s undeniable that roster continuity matters when it comes to constructing a championship contender, it’s also imperative for a modern team to successfully manage the portal as well.
Before the season began, we knew that many big names were transferring to new programs. With postseason play right around the corner, though, we can finally see which players have settled in as the best fits in their new homes.
Here are some notable names who made the tournament last season, changed schools and have made the tournament again:
Shahada Wells (TCU → McNeese State)
Walter Clayton Jr. (Iona → Florida)
Max Abmas (Oral Roberts → Texas)
Keshad Johnson (San Diego State → Arizona)
Steven Ashworth (Utah State → Creighton)
A few other names that fit this category include Great Osobor (Utah State), Darrion Williams (Texas Tech), Kadin Shedrick (Texas) and DJ Horne (NC State).
Additionally, there are some fascinating players who did not make the tournament last season. These are some transfers who will have a chance to carve their place in history on their new teams in this tournament:
Dalton Knecht (Northern Colorado → Tennessee)
Cam Spencer (Rutgers → UConn)
Caleb Love (North Carolina → Arizona)
Hunter Dickinson (Michigan → Kansas)
Harrison Ingram (Stanford → North Carolina)
Other players like this include Tyrese Samuel (Florida), Keshon Gilbert (Iowa State), Isaac Jones (Washington State) and Grant Nelson (Alabama).
It’s an exciting time for these players who can show the world who they’ve become at their new
Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
March Madness gives college basketball players an opportunity to turn themselves into legends.
One way that many of these athletes are able to do that is with 3-point shooting and in the modern game, those around the NCAA are continuing to shoot the ball from farther and farther. Both men’s and women’s college basketball players shoot from the international 3-point line, which is 22 feet and 1.75 inches.
We were given access to the database at CBB Analytics, which tracks how many field goals players have made from at least 25 feet away from the basket. For comparison, it is also beyond the NBA distance, which is 23 feet and 9 inches at the top of the key.
The Final Four is the pinnacle of sports. It’s the climax of arguably the greatest tournament in sports. This is what March Madness boils down to —these games matter most.
Since these are the games that matter most, hosting them matters a lot, too. Like the Super Bowl, it’s a big deal when a city books the Final Four of the NCAA tournament. It brings so many people into town. It generates so much business. It also gives your city an unforgettable moment.
Phoenix has hosted the Final Four before. The last time it happened was in 2017, when North Carolina, Gonzaga, Oregon, and South Carolina advanced to the final.
UNC beat Gonzaga 71-65 in the championship game to win its sixth NCAA championship and its last one under Roy Williams.
Might that be a good omen for Hubert Davis and UNC this year? We’ll just have to find out.
“Give your players and coaches a chance to keep coaching and playing.”
In an era of college sports defined by movement in the pursuit of money — whether that’s players and coaches changing teams, teams changing conferences or conferences changing tv partners — it’s always nice to have a reminder that some people are still in it for the love of the sport.
It was hard to feel that way Sunday after seeing teams snubbed from the NCAA men’s basketball tournament decide to also opt out of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), thus ending their seasons. Whatever their reasons, it was just another example of the sport itself not being enough reason to play, an idea that’s sadly been normalized so much that I never considered the potential benefits of a tournament that didn’t crown a national champion.
As far as I had always been concerned, the NIT was nothing more than an acronym for “Not In Tournament,” and the teams involved were playing games that didn’t matter. Then, I heard ESPN analyst and former coach Tom Crean’s impassioned rant against the declined invitations, and he convinced me on one point.
Tom Crean goes off about college basketball teams declining invitations to the NIT. 🏀🔥
“Give your players and coaches a chance to keep coaching and playing, and don’t short change,” Crean said. “If a guy doesn’t want to play, go sit down. If a coach doesn’t want to coach, go recruit. But there’s gotta be enough people to put five, six, seven people on the floor and go play. Makes absolutely zero sense to me.”
Give your players and coaches a chance to keep coaching and playing. That’s a powerful line, because there will come a time when those players and coaches won’t be able to play and coach again, and all they’ll have is the memories of when they could. That’s especially the case for seniors who maybe went into Selection Sunday hoping for one last game, only for their teams to never show up on the big bracket.
Of course, these declined invitations don’t all happen in a vacuum. Every team’s situation is different, and some may have had valid reasons for opting out. The transfer portal opening Monday complicates things too. And I’m not going to sit here and act like I’ll miss a bunch of teams I wasn’t going to watch anyway. But that shouldn’t be the impetus for teams wanting to play.
The NIT may not carry the same prestige as it once did, but it does provide graduates a final chance to play. It gives underclassmen another development opportunity. It gives players and coaches more exposure. It’s not completely useless. It only seems that way when teams like St. John’s, Pittsburgh and Indiana decide it’s not worth their time. And that’s unfortunate, because for a lot of the student-athletes and coaches, it may be their last time.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on March 13, 2023, but the math remains the same. It’s pretty much impossible to fill out a perfect bracket.
I don’t mean that figuratively. I mean it’s ALMOST literally impossible.
The odds of getting your bracket completely perfect are astronomical. Those who have done the math have figured out that to get every single game from first round to the final, you’d need to hit on one in 9 QUINTILLION (that’s 18 zeroes, friends) odds.
But that’s if you choose randomly, which we know some people do. If you use your knowledge to do it? It’s “only” one in 120 BILLION WITH A B:
What are the odds of picking a totally perfect March Madness bracket?
“I think we should all never mention that word again because I think it’s fraudulent.”
Rick Pitino’s highly underwhelming season with the St. John’s men’s basketball team unraveled even more on Sunday when the team was not selected to participate in the 2024 NCAA tournament. Afterward, Pitino ripped the NCAA’s NET rankings system, which evaluates a team’s resume throughout the season.
St. John’s men’s basketball head coach Rick Pitino is still not having fun. Just weeks ago, he went on an unhinged rant about his team after a disappointing loss. He left no stone unturned when finding words to express his displeasure. Pitino eventually apologized for his behavior, but old habits die hard.
After St. John’s failed to qualify for the 2024 NCAA tournament, Pitino panned the NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) ranking system that the selection committee utilizes to help determine who should be eligible.
Rick Pitino calls NCAA's NET rankings system "fraudulent" in explaining why St. John's wasn't selected to the 2024 NCAA Tournament pic.twitter.com/JtFiALEjZc
Following Selection Sunday, he shared his thoughts on the NET system:
“I think we should all never mention that word again because I think it’s fraudulent…We tried to play a tough schedule. We tried to do things the right way, and we didn’t get in.
I never make excuses. I respect the committee for what they do. They give their time. They give their energy to it. They didn’t think that we measured up to their standards, and we’ll take it very positively like men and move forward. We’re not gonna gripe [or] say we got screwed. None of that helps. Bitterness does not help. I’ve had enough bitterness in my life to last a lifetime.”
Per Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic, St. John’s has declined to play in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), a postseason tournament for teams that did not qualify for the NCAA tournament.
St. John's has told the NIT not to invite them to the tournament, per the school.
The post-Jay Wright era at Villanova has gotten off to a rocky start under head coach Kyle Neptune and things did not get much better on Selection Sunday.
For the second consecutive season, the Wildcats will not participate in the NCAA men’s tournament.
Wright’s tenure started in 2001-02 with three consecutive trips to the NIT before he got his program back to the NCAA tournament, so Neptune isn’t completely off track yet, however this is the first time the Wildcats have missed out on an opportunity to play for a championship in back-to-back seasons since then.
Five of the Kenpom top 40 were left out.
St. John’s – 25 Wake Forest – 31 Villanova – 35 Cincinnati – 37 Pitt – 40
The three-time NCAA champions were among the most notable names on a particularly strong bubble this year, which kept the Wildcats’ tournament dreams on edge over the last two months. While early season victories over No. 14 North Carolina, Texas Tech, Maryland and No. 12 Creighton bolstered the Wildcats’ resume, the team really struggled against ranked opponents, going 2-5 with two losses each to Marquette, UConn and St. John’s.
One year after going 17-17 (10-10 Big East) with a first round exit in the 2023 NIT, Neptune’s second year on the job didn’t yield much better results as the program went 18-15 (10-10 Big East).
Greg Gumbel’s colleagues made sure to remind him during Selection Sunday.
Greg Gumbel was not part of this year’s Selection Sunday, but his colleagues made sure that viewers understood his impact on the broadcast. They sent him well wishes while he steps away to deal with some family health challenges.
Seeing Greg Gumbel on Selection Sunday is a nostalgic tradition for many college basketball fans. Yet, when 68 teams were revealed on Sunday for the 2024 NCAA tournament, Gumbel was not present with his CBS colleagues. Per The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch, Gumbel stepped away to tackle some family health issues. Ernie Johnson is expected to get more screen time with Gumbel out.
Still, Gumbel’s counterparts made sure to let him know that they were thinking about him with some heartfelt well wishes about how much he means to them and how they look forward to seeing him in 2025.
CBS begins the NCAA Tournament Selection Show with the crew sending their best wishes to Greg Gumbel.
Here are the first four in and last four out in the 2024 NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
It happens every year in men’s March Madness bracket reveals: The selection committee unveils which teams were the last four in. You know, the ones who can breathe a sigh of relief.
But there are also the first four out, and they’re the teams that were *this close* to making it before falling just short.
It’s also a peek inside what the committee was thinking.
After the 2024 men’s March Madness bracket was revealed Sunday, we learned which teams were the last four in and the first four out.
The last four teams in the men’s 2024 tournament: Boise State, Colorado, Virginia and Colorado State.
The first four teams out of the men’s 2024 tournament: Oklahoma, Seton Hall, Indiana State and Pitt.
Get your bracket for the 2024 NCAA men’s tournament!
Happy March Madness season, everyone!
Selection Sunday has officially come and gone, which means March Madness is set to begin in full in just a few days. We now know all of the 68 teams set to take the field ahead of the first round on March 21 and 22 so now it’s time to fill out those ever-important March Madness brackets!
If you’re looking to fill out one of your own, here’s a printable blank bracket — courtesy of USA TODAY — for you to use as you see fit! You can download the blank PDF file here.
