Blogging the Bracket

Hall of Fame Classic

FYI, a few weeks ago, Kansas City's tournament announced its field:

Friend mentioned in a group chat that Florida was playing Duke again, which I hadn't heard about. But sure enough, Jon Rothstein has the matchups.

The ACC/SEC Challenge Matchups are out

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T.J. Rives and Jason Powers went live right after the UConn-Duke ending to recap one of the wildest endings in NCAA Tournament history and preview what's to come in Indy on Saturday.

College Basketball Coast to Coast Elite Eight Recap

16 games down, 16 more today will conclude the first round of the 2026 men's
NCAA tournament. The 2026 women's tournament begins its first round of games
today as well.

Some big upsets from yesterday included No. 12 High Point defeating No. 5
Wisconsin and No. 11 VCU sneaking out a win in overtime against No. 6 North
Carolina. Our college basketball writer Mike Rutherford...

Friday First Round Games Open Thread | SB Nation

I'll be hanging out over at SB Nation again this afternoon. Join us!

Your Friday First Round Games Open Thread

Get ready for 12 straight hours of college hoops today, as first round games of
the 2026 men's NCAA Tournament begin at 12 p.m. ET.

You can see a complete TV schedule here
[https://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/1106119/march-madness-schedule-mens-2026-ncaa-tournament].
No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 9 TCU is the first game of the day, with No. 2 Houston
taking on No. 15 Idaho to at 10:10 p.m. ET to conclude...

Thursday First Round Games Open Thread | SB Nation

We've got an open thread going for the 16 First Round games set for this Thursday!

Come Talk Tourney With Us At SB Nation

The Feed | SB Nation

We have a special March Madness feed on SB Nation, and I'll be around Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings between 5 and 8 Eastern and Thursday morning before brackets lock to answer questions and help you with your picks. Plus, a bunch of other writers, including stalwarts Ricky O'Donnell and Mike Rutherford, will be posting too. Come hang out and talk college hoops with us!

Come And Talk Brackets on SB Nation!

The Florida Gators had me dozing off this afternoon during the course of their 91-74 loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC semifinals in Nashville. The loss dropped the 2025 National Champs to 26-7 and could very well result in the end of the advantage in metrics they held over Houston (depending on what the Cougars do in the Big 12 final). UF's loss to UConn in the Jimmy V Classic also gives the Huskies an edge should they win the Big East Tournament.For now, I have moved the Huskies up to the 1 line with Florida the top No. 2.At the other end of the at-large pool, Dayton edged Saint Louis 70-69 to advance to the Atlantic 10 final on Sunday afternoon. VCU moves out of the at-large pool for now as the highest remaining seed. The Rams would be well advised to just win the auto bid now because they could only feel something close to comfort with a loss to the Billikens tomorrow. A three-bid A 10 is possible, but unlikely.The updated Cut Line picture with VCU as an auto bid looks like this:Last Four Byes: NC State, Miami (Ohio), Santa Clara, UCF Last Four IN: Texas A&amp;M, Missouri, Texas, San Diego State First Four OUT: Oklahoma, SMU, Auburn, Indiana Next Four Out: New Mexico, Seton Hall, Virginia Tech, Stanford

The Final No. 1 Seed Is Back Up For Grabs & A Three-Bid A 10?

I will look at the Seminoles' profile in full again before my next full release in the morning, but I suspect they needed to have that three fall at the buzzer. Instead, FSU fell to Duke by a single point, 80-79. Our Cut Line picture is unchanged in membership, but I made some adjustments on the good side of the bubble.Last Four Byes: Santa Clara (finished), NC State (lost), Miami (Ohio) (lost), Missouri (lost) Last Four IN: UCF (lost), SMU (finished), Texas (finished), VCU (idle)First Four OUT: New Mexico (plays San Jose State tonight), San Diego State (playing Colorado State now), Oklahoma (playing Texas A&amp;M shortly), Auburn (lost)Next Four Out: Seton Hall (won), Florida State (lost), Indiana (finished), Virginia Tech (finished)Ole Miss is becoming a real worry for every team on this list. The Rebels (14-19) held on to beat Georgia 76-72, setting up an SEC quarterfinal against Alabama tomorrow night.

Florida State Comes Close, And A Potential Bid Thief Lurks in Nashville

A 17-16 record isn't going to do it. While the Tigers were the late afternoon's biggest loser, Seton Hall was the biggest winner. The Pirates will get another shot at St. John's a week after losing 72-65 in Newark, and keep in mind that the Hall played the Red Storm closer at MSG, losing by only 5 on January 20th.Your updated Cut Line picture heading into the evening games:Last Four Byes: Santa Clara (finished), NC State (lost), Missouri (lost), UCF (lost)Last Four IN: Miami (Ohio) (lost), SMU (finished), Texas (finished), VCU (idle)First Four OUT: New Mexico (plays San Jose State tonight), San Diego State (plays Colorado State tonight), Oklahoma (plays Texas A&amp;M tonight), Auburn (lost)Next Four Out: Seton Hall (won), Florida State (plays Duke tonight), Indiana (finished), Virginia Tech (finished)

Farewell, Auburn

While the Tigers lost to Kentucky 78-72, I have not dropped them from the Last Four Byes group. While Missouri falls below the Cut Line when simply averaging their metrics out, the same goes for Miami. But both teams are comfortably ahead of the WAB Cut Line, and the Tigers have five Quad 1 wins.Last Four Byes: NC State (lost to Virginia), UCF (playing Arizona soon), Santa Clara (finished), Missouri (lost to Kentucky)Last Four IN: Miami (Ohio) (lost to UMass), SMU (finished), Texas (finished), VCU (plays Friday)First Four OUT: New Mexico (plays San José State tonight), Auburn (plays Tennessee soon), San Diego State (plays Colorado State tonight), Oklahoma (plays Texas A&amp;M tonight)Next Four OUT: Indiana (finished), Seton Hall (playing Creighton), Florida State (plays Duke tonight), Virginia Tech (finished)

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