As the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament approaches, there is still much uncertainty on who will separate themselves from the rest of the field. The No. 1 Duke Blue Devils put on an impressive display on Saturday night, defeating their longtime rival, the No. 17 North Carolina Tar Heels, by 15 points. Duke’s star player Cameron Boozer had an impressive game, scoring 26 points and snagging 15 rebounds. This win brought their regular season to an end with a record of 29-2, an impressive feat sure to push them into the tournament. The Blue Devils will continue playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday, March 12, against the winner of Wednesday’s game between the Florida State Seminoles and the California Golden Bears.
The No. 2 Arizona Wildcats finished off their regular season with a 89-79 victory over the Colorado Buffaloes. Arizona’s Koa Peat scored 25 points against the Buffaloes, shooting 12-15 from the field. On Thursday, the Wildcats will play in the Big 12 Tournament Quarterfinal against the UCF Knights.
The No. 3 Michigan Wolverines ended their season on Sunday night with a 90-80 win over the No. 8 Michigan State Spartans. Not only was it an impressive win, but this will push the Wolverines into the number one seed in the Big 10 Conference Tournament with a record of 29-2. On March 13, the Wolverines will face off against the winner between the Ohio State Buckeyes and Iowa Hawkeyes.
An unexpected upset came on Sunday night when the No. 10 Texas Tech Red Raiders lost to the BYU Cougars. A close game til the end, the Cougars managed to gain a small lead in the last two minutes to walk away with the win. The final score was BYU, 82, Texas Tech, 76.
Some other notable games from this month include the shocking upset of No. 8 Purdue Boilermakers by the unranked Ohio State Buckeyes. Purdue was favored by 6.5 points going into Columbus, but the Buckeyes picked up the win 82-74. On March 2, the No. 2 Arizona Wildcats hosted the No. 6 Iowa State Cyclones. At halftime, Arizona had secured a large enough lead to keep the Cyclones behind the rest of the game for a final score of: Arizona, 73, Iowa State, 57.
On March 3, the unranked UCLA Bruins stunned the No. 9 Nebraska Cornhuskers with a 72-52 victory. This brought UCLA’s record to 20-10 and made a strong bid for the upcoming NCAA tournament. That same night, the No. 14 Kansas Jayhawks were upset by the Arizona State Sun Devils 70-60. With three Kansas players putting up double-doubles throughout the game, they were still unable to beat the 16-14 Sun Devils.
In Lubbock Texas, the No. 10 Texas Tech Red Raiders hosted the TCU Horned Frogs for an exciting Big 12 Conference showdown. Both teams were competing well into the second half, but TCU pulled away in the final eight minutes to win 73-65. In the SEC, the No. 16 Alabama Crimson Tide went to Athens to play the Georgia Bulldogs. Coming back after halftime, the Bulldogs led by 7 points, and they outscored the Tide 48-45 in the second half, ending the game 98-88 with a strong Georgia win.
On March 6, the No. 19 Miami Redhawks ended their season by defeating their rival, the Ohio Bobcats. Not only was this their 1500th win in program history, this brought their record to a perfect 31-0. They are the 24th men’s college basketball team to ever go undefeated in the regular season, and they look to continue their winning streak in the Mid-American Conference Tournament against the UMass Minutemen on March 12.
As we get further into March, there are many exciting matchups to look forward to. On March 15, teams will be selected for the NCAA tournament, and round one will begin on March 19. Make sure to fill out your brackets and get ready to witness what is surely to be an unforgettable March Madness!
