Kentucky (7:10 p.m. vs. Saint Peter’s), UCLA (approximately 9:50 p.m. vs. Akron) and Kansas (approximately 9:57 p.m. vs. Texas Southern) are among the blue bloods scheduled to be in action tonight, and three games pitting No. 8 seeds vs. No. 9 seeds (Boise State vs. Memphis at 1:45 p.m., North Carolina vs. Marquette at approximately 4:30 p.m., and San Diego State vs. Creighton at 7:27 p.m.) are also on the schedule.
Follow along for live updates and highlights from March Madness.
Halftime: Memphis 38, Boise State 19
Penny Hardaway and his staff have their team firing on all cylinders through the first twenty minutes. No. 9 Memphis leads 38-19 at the half against No. 8 Boise State, the Mountain West Champions. The Tigers are seeking their first tournament win since 2014.
The Tigers are shooting 16-of-28 (57.1 percent) from the field in the first half of action, led by Jalen Duren and DeAndre Williams who have each scored eight in the first half. On the other end of the floor, Memphis is holding Boise State to 29.2 percent shooting and the Broncos have only made one of their six three-point attempts.
Emoni Bates, one of the top recruits a year ago who has missed the last 12 games with a back injury, has played three minutes of game action so far as the Tigers have cruised early.
2:56 p.m.
Patrick Stevens: No one with the possible exception of Wisconsin is at home in tight games this season as Providence, and it surely helped the fourth-seeded Friars when they found themselves in a predictably tight first round game against Summit League champ South Dakota State.But more than any intangible, Providence has defended far more often than not this season, and it has that end of the floor to thank for its 66-57 victory in Buffalo.The 13th-seeded Jackrabbits (30-4) easily led the country with a 44.9 three-point shooting percentage and had won 21 in a row coming into the day. But Providence held them to 7 of 23 from the outside, a modest-by-nearly-any-standard 30.4 percent day.It was a methodical day for a methodical team. Providence led by as many as 14, saw the advantage trimmed to three a couple times in the closing minutes and then finished off yet another tight victory.Bottom line: Providence is now 16-2 in games decided by single-digit margins. And they’re not done with what is arguably already the program’s most memorable season in a quarter-century — if not since its 1987 Final Four run.The Friars (26-5), the Big East’s regular season champions, are on to the second round for the first time since winning an 8/9 game in 2016 and only the second time since the God Shammgod-fueled Elite Eight team in 1997.
Patrick Stevens
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College sports
Providence beats South Dakota State for first tournament win since 2016
The fourth-seeded Providence Friars are moving on to the second round of the NCAA tournament, defeating South Dakota State, 66-57, in their first tournament appearance since 2018.
In the Friars’ previous seven tournament appearances, Providence only advanced to the second round once. Thursday’s win is the Friars’ first since 2016 and if they win their second-round game on Saturday, they’ll move into the second weekend of the tournament for the first time since 1997. Providence will face the winner of No. 5 Iowa and No. 12 Richmond.
South Dakota State entered Thursday’s first-round matchup with the longest active winning streak in Division I (21) and also ranked as one of the best offenses in the country, second in scoring and field goal percentage and first in three-point percentage. But the Jackrabbits offense didn’t perform nearly at the same level as the regular season — they shot only 38.6 percent from the field and 30.4 percent from deep.
South Dakota State started off the game strong, scoring 17 points in the first nine minutes, but only led Providence by two. The Jackrabbits only scored six points for the rest of the half, allowing the Friars to take an eight-point lead by halftime.
By the early part of the second half, it seemed like Providence was going to pull away, jumping out to a 14-point lead and forcing South Dakota State to call timeout. The Jackrabbits responded out of the timeout and eventually cut the lead to three with under three minutes left. Down by three with 29 seconds left, South Dakota State’s Douglas Wilson fouled Providence’s Jared Bynum on a three-point attempt. Bynum made all three, halting a Jackrabbit comeback.
South Dakota State’s Baylor Scheierman — the Summit League Player of the Year — finished with 18 points. Al Durham and Noah Horchler each scored 13 for Providence and the Friars had seven players who scored at least five points.
2:39 p.m.
Patrick Stevens: The 11-over-6 spot on the Bingo card got crossed off in a hurry, and Michigan offered up a microcosm of its up-and-down, traction-free season as it took down Colorado State, 75-63. The 11th-seeded Wolverines (18-14) didn’t play well in the slightest in the first half, understandably sloppy with starting point guard DeVante’ Jones sidelined after getting concussed in practice. Michigan fumbled away nine turnovers in 32 possessions in the first half, and it is little wonder it trailed by 15 at one point.But by taking better care of the ball (six second-half turnovers), finally making a few timely three-pointers (4 of 7 from three in the second half) and forcing the Rams into more outside shots than they’d like, the Wolverines made it through to the second round.Credit the balance of four double-figure scorers for some of the success, but Colorado State (25-6) never found an answer Michigan sophomore Hunter Dickinson (21 points on 8 of 10 shooting) in the post. The Rams had interior problems at the other end, too. They began the day 10th in the country in two-point percentage according to KenPom.com, but were just 36.7 percent from two and a ghastly 5 of 14 (35.7 percent) on layups.Michigan has alternated wins and losses for its last 11 games, which is hardly a vote of confidence for Saturday, but the Wolverines did ensure a No. 11 seed made it into the round of 32 for the sixth consecutive tournament. No. 11s are now 12-9 against No. 6 seeds in that span.
Patrick Stevens
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College sports
What to know about Thursday’s late-afternoon games
Thursday’s afternoon games continue with the tournament debuts of three powerful conference champions: SEC champion Tennessee, Big Ten champion Iowa and West Coast champion and last year’s national runner-up Gonzaga. Here’s what to know for the late afternoon:
South Region: No. 14 Longwood vs. No. 3 Tennessee (approximately 2:45 p.m., CBS): Tennessee is one of the top defensive teams in the country, ranking 24th in scoring defense (62.8 points per game), and that helped it win the SEC title on Sunday. Rick Barnes’s team has won 12 of its past 13 and will face Longwood, which is making its first tournament appearance.
Midwest Region: No. 12 Richmond vs. No. 5 Iowa (approximately 3:10 p.m., TruTV): Iowa beat three NCAA tournament teams (Rutgers, Indiana, Purdue) en route to a Big Ten title and has won nine of its past 10 games. The Hawkeyes face a Richmond team that, as a No. 6 seed, knocked off top-seeded Davidson in the Atlantic 10 championship game.
West Region: No. 16 Georgia State vs. No. 1 Gonzaga (approximately 4:15 p.m., TNT): Gonzaga has been one of the most consistent programs in the NCAA tournament since 2015. The Bulldogs’ résumé since that time includes two Sweet 16s (2016, 2018), two Elite Eights (2015, 2019) and two national championship game appearances (2017, 2021). Now, the only question left to answer is whether the Bulldogs finally win the sixth game. Their roster is loaded, including veterans Drew Timme and Andrew Nembhard and freshman phenom Chet Holmgren.
East Region: No. 9 Marquette vs. No. 8 North Carolina (approximately 4:30 p.m., TBS): North Carolina is dancing under first-year coach Hubert Davis. The team was seen by many as a bubble team for most of the season before it beat Virginia Tech and Duke late in the season to bolster their résumé. A year after leaving Texas, Coach Shaka Smart has Marquette back in the tournament. The Golden Eagles are the third team Smart has led to the tournament in his career after the Longhorns and VCU.
Michigan bounces back in second half, runs away from Colorado State
Michigan barely made the NCAA tournament, receiving one of the final at-large bids after an up-and-down regular season that was scarred by the late-season suspension of Coach Juwan Howard. And the 11th-seeded Wolverines looked ready to bow out meekly in the first half of Thursday’s South Region first-round game against No. 6 Colorado State, missing all seven of their three-point attempts and falling into a seven-point halftime hole.
But Michigan came out firing to start the second. Seldom-used freshman point guard Frankie Collins, filling in for injured starter DeVante’ Jones, and Caleb Houstan both connected from long range early in the second half to cut into the Wolverines’ deficit, and a jumper by Eli Brooks gave Michigan its first lead of the game, 45-44, with 12 minutes 52 seconds remaining. Houstan then hit consecutive three-pointers to give Michigan a 53-49 advantage with 9:49 left, and the Wolverines (18-14) never trailed again in a 75-63 victory.
Michigan will play either Tennessee or Longwood in the second round on Saturday.
“Our guys really rallied together,” Howard told CBS after the game.
Collins came in averaging only 2.5 points per game but scored a career-high 14 points. Star big man Hunter Dickinson was too much for the much shorter Rams and finished with 21 points, six rebounds and four blocks. Houstan (13 points) and Brooks (16 points) rounded out the scoring.
Colorado State (25-6) entered as one of the tournament’s top three-point shooting teams and hit 8 of 20 attempts in the first half. But the Rams were at a decided height disadvantage and could get nothing done down low: At one point late in the second half, Colorado State had missed eight of its 12 layup attempts, the shots often directed awry by Michigan’s taller post players (the Rams also finished with 11 turnovers, one more than their season average).
Dischon Thomas more than doubled his season average to lead Colorado State with 15 points, and leading scorer David Roddy added 13. Second-leading scorer Isaiah Stevens scored only eight points before fouling out with 3:27 left.
Penny Hardaway ‘is Memphis.’ Can he bring NCAA glory back to his hometown?
The weight of lifting up a school is heavier when you’re seen as a symbol of success for your community. The stakes are higher, the pain sharper, when you’re home. Penny Hardaway has referred to coaching at his alma mater as his “dream job.” But this isn’t just a job. And Hardaway didn’t just attend Memphis.
“He is Memphis,” said Phoenix Suns guard Cameron Payne, Hardaway’s friend and former AAU player.
He showed up at the Truth Table that day at the request of Stein’s regular Leonard Draper — not that he needed permission. “He don’t have to be invited,” Draper said. “He’s a member.”
The gray-haired men didn’t offer coaching advice, only an honest assessment. Before Hardaway directed blame toward anyone else, Draper recalled them saying, “Do a self-check first.”
“We just told him some things he needed to hear,” Draper, 82, said one recent day at Stein’s (pronounced Steens) while wearing a black “Team Penny” cap.
Halftime: Providence 31, South Dakota State 23
No. 4 Providence, the Big East regular season champs, used a late run to build a 31-23 lead over 13th-seeded South Dakota State at halftime of the teams’ first-round Midwest Region game at KeyBank Center in Buffalo.
The two teams traded baskets early in a seesaw affair that didn’t have a stoppage of play in the first nine minutes with the teams combining to score 32 points and zero fouls during that stretch. But with South Dakota State ahead 17-15, the Jackrabbits entered a scoring drought and the Friars went on a 16-6 run to end the half.
South Dakota State was the second-highest-scoring team in Division I this season at 86.7 points per game, but has struggled to score after starting off hot early. The Jackrabbits started 7-for-10 from the field, but have only made 3 of 17 shots since and are 37 shooting percent overall at the break.
Halftime: Colorado State 36, Michigan 29
Making its first NCAA tournament appearance in nine years, sixth-seeded Colorado State took a 36-29 lead over 11th-seeded Michigan into halftime of their first-round South Region game.
The Rams have the third-shortest team height in the NCAA tournament, per Ken Pomeroy, so they attacked the Wolverines as they usually have done this season: from outside. Colorado State, one of the nation’s better three-point shooting teams this season, made four of its first five shots from long range to pad its advantage early, with Dischon Thomas making both his attempts.
Thomas more than doubled his season scoring average with 12 first-half points, while Isaiah Stevens had eight and David Roddy scored seven. The Rams hit 8 of 20 three-pointers overall in the first 20 minutes.
With starting point guard DeVante’ Jones (10.7 points per game) unavailable because of a concussion suffered in practice and a sizable height advantage, the Wolverines turned to star big man Hunter Dickinson to stay within range. Dickinson had 12 points, 4 rebounds and 3 blocks in the first half but the Wolverines were frigid from outside, missing all seven of their three-point attempts. They also had nine turnovers and scored only two points over a nearly seven-minute span at one point, failing to take advantage when the Rams went through a similar cold spell midway through the half.
Why is Providence the luckiest team in the country?
It’s St. Patrick’s Day, so naturally, the so-called “luckiest team in the country” will be taking the court in its NCAA tournament opener.
That would be Providence, the No. 4 seed in the Midwest Region, which squares off against 13th-seeded South Dakota State at 12:40 p.m. Eastern on truTV. The Friars are a popular pick to suffer a first-round upset loss in part because they rank No. 1 in the luck metric developed by stats guru Ken Pomeroy (a 27-point loss to Creighton in the Big East tournament also contributed to their rep).
But what does that mean?
Pomeroy says a team’s luck rating derives from “the deviation in winning percentage between a team’s actual record and their expected record using the correlated gaussian method.” In other words, a team is considered lucky when its winning percentage is a lot better than its underlying statistics say it should be.
The Friars (25-5) have a .833 winning percentage, but their stats suggest a team that should be about .194 worse, or around 19-11, per Pomeroy’s calculations. Providence ranks only 32nd nationally in Pomeroy’s offensive efficiency metric and 80th in defensive efficiency, and they’ve gone 15-2 in single-digit games and 11-2 in game decided by five points or less.
In other words, they’ve won more than a few games that could have easily been losses, had a few bounces gone against them.
Providence Coach Ed Cooley says the team is using all of this luck talk as motivation.
“I don’t think there’s a person in America that has given us a chance in this game we’re about to play — not one person,” he told reporters this week. “Some of you are in this audience, and I can tell you — thank you.”
For what it’s worth, South Dakota State ranks 14th out of 68 NCAA tournament teams in luck. The Jackrabbits are 30-4 (. 882), but their statistics suggest a team that’s more like 28-6 (. 824)
The NBA fan’s guide to the NCAA tournament
The NBA draft landscape was splintered in 2020 and 2021, with LaMelo Ball playing overseas professionally, with Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga signing up for the G League Ignite and with international prospects such as Josh Giddey and Killian Hayes emerging as lottery selections.
By comparison, the 2022 class is shaping up in more traditional fashion. When the draft is held June 23, it’s possible that the top 10 picks all will have come through the NCAA ranks, something that has happened just once since 2014. This consolidation of talent will turn the NCAA tournament into a singular showcase. Even better, the top three projected picks — Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren and Jabari Smith Jr. — all play for title hopefuls.
With March Madness set to open this week, here’s a look at five leading prospects for NBA fans to track.
What to know about Thursday’s early afternoon games
The first full day of the NCAA men’s tournament tips off with a group of games that includes the defending champion and teams entering on hot streaks. Here’s what to know for the early afternoon:
South Region: No. 11 Michigan vs. No. 6 Colorado State (12:15 p.m., CBS): After an Elite Eight appearance a year ago, Michigan snuck into this year’s tournament after a rocky season that included Coach Juwan Howard getting suspended for the final five regular season games. Colorado State is 21st in the country in offensive efficiency, and Mountain West player of the year David Roddy averaged 19.4 points per game.
Midwest Region: No. 13 South Dakota State vs. No. 4 Providence (12:40 p.m., truTV): Providence won its first Big East regular season title this season, but the Friars will have their hands full against South Dakota State. The Jackrabbits are the second-highest-scoring team in Division I at 86.7 points per game, and they own the longest active winning streak at 21 games.
West Region: No. 9 Memphis vs. No. 8 Boise State (1:45 p.m., TNT): This 8 vs. 9 matchup pits two of the hottest teams in college basketball against each other. Memphis has won 12 of its past 14 games, including two wins against Houston before falling to them in the AAC championship game. Boise State, the Mountain West champs, has won 24 of 27 after starting the season 3-4.
East Region: No. 16 Norfolk State vs. No. 1 Baylor (2 p.m., TBS): Coach Scott Drew and his revamped Baylor roster begin their title defense against Norfolk State. The Bears will have to bounce back for another deep tournament run after losing to Oklahoma in the Big 12 quarterfinals last week, but they return key pieces from their championship team (Adam Flagler, Matthew Mayer) and added some youth (Kendall Brown, Jeremy Sochan) into the mix.
NCAA men’s tournament best bets: Gonzaga is an obvious choice, but who else can win it all?
Picking first-round upsets in your NCAA men’s tournament bracket pool is one thing, but you won’t have much chance of winning if you don’t pick the eventual national champion as well. We’re here to help with a few teams that statistically measure up to past champions.
Celebrated stats guru Ken Pomeroy ranks teams by Adjusted Efficiency Margin, which he lists in the “AdjEM” column on his website. Each team’s AdjEM “represents the number of points the team would be expected to outscore the average D-I team over 100 possessions,” Pomeroy wrote in 2016. Calculating it involves the simple matter of subtracting a team’s defensive efficiency number, adjusted for strength of schedule, from its adjusted offensive efficiency number.
Pomeroy has been publishing his ratings since the 2001-02 season, so we can go back and look at each national champion’s AdjEM entering the NCAA tournament. Through this method, you have one clean number to see how teams in this year’s field compare to past champions to better gauge their odds of winning it all.
The best betting picks for the first round of the men’s NCAA tournament
Playing in a bracket pool isn’t the only way to be financially invested in the outcome of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. With the proliferation of sports betting, there is action to be had on every game’s point spread, over-under total and money line. As always, it is best to shop around for the best price if possible. Even a half-point difference can affect your bankroll over the long term.
To determine which first-round games offer the best value, I adjusted each team’s average margin of victory for strength of schedule while also factoring in how lucky a team got in a particular matchup. For example, while a team can control how many three-pointers it attempts, its three-point success rate is often less predictable, which is why we see high fluctuations from game to game. Three-point defense is also subject to big swings and not under team control as much as you might assume.
At that point, it is just a matter of comparing the two ratings to find a projected margin of victory on a neutral court, and making further tweaks as needed for injuries, lineup changes, etc., before arriving at a final point spread. Weighing those numbers against the actual point spreads highlights the best potential values. With that in mind, here are the best bets for the first round.