The First Four officially kicked off the NCAA tournament—and it was a historic start. Howard University won its first-ever men's NCAA tournament game in school history, beating fellow No. 16 seed UMBC, 86–83, in Dayton. The Bison will face No. 1 seed Michigan on Thursday in a first-round Midwest region matchup. Meanwhile, Texas held off a late North Carolina State charge as Tramon Mark's fadeaway jumper from just inside the three-point line with 1.1 seconds left gave the Longhorns a 68–66 victory. Texas moved into the bracket as the No. 11 seed in the West region and will face sixth-seeded BYU on Thursday night in Portland. In the main draw, Pat Forde reveals his 68-team rankings on the men's side. With another day to strategize your brackets, we reveal which men's and women's teams to avoid and expert opinions on how the tournament will unfold. Make sure you sign up for the SI College Hoops Bracket Challenge before the round of 64 starts Thursday on the men's side and Friday for the women's tourney. |
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Clockwise from bottom left, Arizona's Brayden Burries; Purdue's Braden Smith; Michigan's Morez Johnson Jr.; and Florida's Thomas Haugh. | Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images (Arizona); Matt Pendleton/Imagn Images (Florida); Junfu Han/USA Today Network/Imagn Images (Michigan); Gregory Fisher/Imagn Images (Purdue) |
By Pat Forde The men's NCAA tournament selection committee had its say, now it's our turn. The annual rite of mid-March has returned: rearranging the seeding and ranking for all 68 teams in this year's field. Last year, the NCAA had Auburn as the overall No. 1 and Florida No. 4, while Sports Illustrated correctly identified the Gators as the team to beat and eventual national champion. Stick with us as we Bear Down with Arizona this year. |
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Dylan Buell/Getty Images) |
Stefan Isailovic (1) and Cam Gillus (2) of the Howard Bison celebrate school history after beating the UMBC Retrievers. |
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Tuesday's Men's Games No. 16 Howard 86, No. 16 UMBC 83 No. 11 Texas 68, No. 11 NC State 66 Wednesday's Games No. 16 Prairie View A&M vs. No. 16 Lehigh, 6:40 p.m. ET | truTV No. 11 Miami (Ohio) vs. No. 11 SMU, ~9:15 p.m. ET | truTV |
| Wednesday's Women's Games No. 11 Nebraska vs. No. 11 Richmond, 7 p.m. ET | ESPN2 No. 16 Stephen F. Austin vs. No. 16 Missouri State, 9 p.m. ET | ESPN2 Thursday's Games No. 16 Samford vs. No. 16 Southern, 7 p.m. ET | ESPN2 No. 10 Virginia vs. No. 10 Arizona State, 9 p.m. ET | ESPN2 |
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Jayne Kamin/Oncea-Imagn Images |
By Blake Silverman Although the women's NCAA tournament can be chalky due to the powerhouses that make up the bracket's top seeds, there are plenty of upset candidates within the bottom half of each region. A number of conference champions from the mid-major ranks have put together impressive seasons with few losses heading into the Big Dance. Princeton is one of the strongest teams of the bunch, finishing 26–3 with impressive wins over multiple tournament teams over its non-conference schedule. The Tigers were a mainstay in the Top 25 rankings and secured their bid with a win over Harvard to cut down the nets at Ivy Madness. However, Princeton enters the 68-team field as a No. 9 seed with a daunting matchup against UCLA waiting in the second round. That would only come to fruition if the Tigers can advance out of the round of 64, of course. The school has made the tournament five years in a row and won first-round games in 2022 and '23, hoping to go even further this time around. Even further down the bracket, a number of mid-major standouts jump out as potential Cinderella candidates and nightmare matchups for host schools. It will be difficult to get past the powers that be of UConn, UCLA, Texas and South Carolina, but anything can happen in March. Here's a look at the top five Cinderella candidates out of the lower seeds, ranked from bottom to top. We'll allow Princeton and fellow No. 9 seeds to be a part of this exercise as those teams have the tall task of toppling a top-seed before it can get to the Sweet 16. |
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