Overview
- After a First Four win over UMBC, Howard earned its first NCAA tournament victory and will meet top-seeded Michigan on Thursday night (7:10 p.m. ET, CBS).
- Thursday opens with 16 men’s first-round games, including Ohio State–TCU, Nebraska–Troy and Duke–Siena in the afternoon, followed by North Carolina–VCU, BYU–Texas and Illinois–Penn in the evening.
- Wednesday’s First Four slate featured Lehigh vs. Prairie View A&M for a date with No. 1 Florida and SMU vs. Miami (Ohio) for a matchup with No. 6 Tennessee; Texas edged NC State to set up a first-round game with BYU.
- Upset watch features widely discussed picks such as No. 11 South Florida over No. 6 Louisville with Mikel Brown Jr. sidelined, and No. 11 VCU over No. 6 North Carolina, with additional buzz around High Point vs. Wisconsin and Akron vs. Texas Tech.
- Projection work and polling are shaping expectations, with SportsLine simulating the bracket 10,000 times and a 25-coach/scout survey naming Arizona the most popular champion, while the Michigan women host Holy Cross in Ann Arbor on Friday as a No. 2 seed.