Overview
- First Four entrant Texas, an 11 seed, beat No. 3 Gonzaga 74-68 to become the tournament’s first double-digit seed in the Sweet 16, with Jordan Pope and Matas Vokietaitis scoring 17 each.
- Michigan, Michigan State, Duke and Houston advanced on Saturday, with the Wolverines winning 95-72, the Spartans 77-69 and the Cougars rolling 88-57 over Texas A&M.
- Top seeds have controlled the bracket, with the top four in each region going 16-0 over the first two days and first-round margins averaging 17.4 points, the highest since expansion.
- All four No. 8 seeds went 0-4 in the opening round, underscoring a chalk-heavy start even as isolated upsets and comebacks, including VCU’s rally over North Carolina, punctuated the field.
- Iowa State’s Joshua Jefferson appears unlikely to play against Kentucky on Sunday, a key availability question as the last second-round games decide the remaining Sweet 16 spots.