March Madness reaches second round for men; women finish first

The first eight bids for the Sweet 16 in the men’s NCAA Tournament will be locked up Saturday, while the women’s tournament finishes up the first round.

Furman and Princeton took the sports world by storm Thursday with upsets of No. 4 Virginia and No. 2 Arizona, respectively. Both are in action again with the 13-seeded Paladins starting the men’s action against No. 5 San Diego State at 12:10 p.m. ET (CBS). The 15-seeded Tigers will face tigers of a different stripe in No. 7 Missouri at 6:10 p.m. ET (TNT).

On the women’s side, No. 1 seed Indiana is in action after top seeds South Carolina, Virginia Tech and Stanford took care of business on Friday. The Hoosiers kick off Day 2 of the women’s first round at 11:30 a.m. ET (ESPN2) with a game against No. 16 seed Tennessee Tech, which beat Monmouth in a First Four game on Thursday.

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MEN’S TOURNAMENT: Complete scores and schedule

WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT: Complete scores and schedule

Did that really happen?!?!

In case you missed it Friday night (though we can’t imagine how), Purdue became just the second men’s No. 1 seed to fall to a 16 since the bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1985, when Fairleigh Dickinson shocked the nation with a 63-58 upset.

If there’s a winner besides current Fairleigh Dickinson players and first-year head coach Tobin Anderson — not to mention every single FDU graduate and fan — it’s probably Virginia coach Tony Bennett, who is now not the only coach to lose to a No. 16 seed. Yikes. Talk about a club you don’t want to join.

But perhaps the biggest winners are fans of college hoops. That we’ve now seen two 16-seeds beat 1-seeds in the last five years is proof that parity continues to grow in men’s college basketball, which makes the NCAA Tournament more unpredictable and ultimately, more fun.

Story continues

— Lindsay Schnell and Paul Myerberg

Sisters could face off in second round with Saturday wins

Lior Garzon’s initial excitement during Sunday’s selection show was over Oklahoma State receiving No. 8 seed in the NCAA women’s tournament opposite No. 9 Miami (Fla.). It took the junior forward less than a minute to realize not only were the Cowgirls dancing, they were heading to Bloomington, Indiana, where her younger sister, Yarden Garzon, is a freshman guard for No. 1-seed Indiana.

At their respective schools by way of Ra’anana, Israel, the Garzon sisters never discussed the possibility of ending up together in the bracket prior to Sunday, but they knew it could at least be in play. Indiana tip-off against Tennessee Tech at 11:30 a.m. ET, followed by Oklahoma State-Miami at 2 p.m.

Thursday’s reunion at the team hotel marked the first time the sisters have seen each other since Yarden visited Stillwater, Oklahoma over winter break.

“I’m really excited to watch her play,” said Lior, who averages 11 points and shoots 43% off the bench.

As for the possibility of an Indiana-Oklahoma State second-round matchup — and Lior was quick to point out they still have to win their first-round games — it would mark the first time the sisters have gone head-to-head since they played in a club game shortly before Lior left for the United States.

— Brian Haenchen, Indianapolis Star

Princeton partying like it’s 1996

No. 15 seeded Princeton dominated inside and threw the South Region into chaos with an upset of Arizona.

Maybe this wasn’t exactly like when the Tigers pulled off a memorable upset of UCLA in 1996, when they were seeded 14th and beat the third-seeded and defending champion Bruins 43-41. There was more offense and given how common upsets are now, it probably didn’t shock as many people. But it’s still a big deal. And it’s the just the second tournament win for Princeton since that game. The Tigers beat UNLV in the first round in 1998.

— Lindsay Schnell

Alabama’s biggest opponent may be exhaustion from unending chaos

The athletics director issued a statement at halftime. The most scrutinized 20-year-old in basketball couldn’t make a shot before eventually going to the bench to rest a sore groin. The walk-on nobody had heard of before Wednesday night threatened to sue the New York Times. And the coach is losing his mind on every dribble for two straight hours of a game he didn’t come close to losing.

In other words, it was just another day in Alabama basketball.

— Dan Wolken

Houston ruins title hopes by playing Marcus Sasser before he was ready

That backfired in spectacular fashion.

Just five days after Marcus Sasser strained his groin in the American Athletic Conference tournament semifinals, he was back in the Cougars’ starting lineup Thursday night. For a first-round game against a No. 16 team.

In a surprise to pretty much no one, Sasser didn’t even make it to halftime. Now top-seeded Houston might not make it to the second weekend, let alone to the Final Four in its hometown.

— Nancy Armour

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: March Madness live bracket updates: Sweet 16 berths on the line

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