SBNation.com - Sunday's NCAA tournament schedule and results: Elite Eight continues in March Madnesshttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/46737/sbn-fave.png2017-04-01T23:44:00-04:00http://www.sbnation.com/rss/stream/148306912017-04-01T23:44:00-04:002017-04-01T23:44:00-04:00A printable NCAA tournament bracket, just for you
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<p>Here’s a copy of the field of 68 to fill out by hand. </p> <p id="lbTaFW">We’ve got <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/a/march-madness-bracket-updated-2017">our bracket</a>. The <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/march-madness">NCAA tournament</a> is now officially underway, but it's never too late to fill out a bracket.</p>
<p id="inVoID">Three of the most exciting weeks in sports are upon us again, and that’s pretty cool. So here’s a <a href="https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8266957/Bracket2017.0.pdf">printable tournament bracket, available for your free downloading and use</a>. It's updated through Saturday at the Final Four, with only the championship game left.</p>
<p><img src="https://cdn3.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8266971/Bracket2017__3_.0.jpg"></p>
<p>It’s easy nowadays to join a bracket contest online. Many of us will do that, myself probably included. But personally, I think it’s more <em>fun </em>to print out a bracket, write out all of my picks in black ink, and then post it on my bedroom door for a few weeks. Then I print a blank bracket and mark it up with highlighters as the tournament rolls on. And I’m not old-fashioned at all. It’s just a fun thing I like to do.</p>
<p id="9E40xA">The tournament is always hard to pick. Millions of brackets yield no more than a handful of perfect ones every year. This year feels especially difficult to peg because college basketball hasn’t had a singular dominant team in 2016-17. It’s had some teams get close, though they haven’t been as consistently great as the best teams in certain recent years.</p>
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<p id="xNz8Gf">Gonzaga spent much of the year atop the polls, but the Bulldogs haven’t answered questions in some pickers’ minds about their strength of schedule. Kentucky and Duke, maybe the two most <em>talented </em>teams, haven’t been invincible. Duke’s been downright average at points, and got knocked off in the second round to South Carolina. They weren't the only No. 1 seed to fall in the tournament's first weekend, as top overall seed Villanova succumbed to Wisconsin in Round 2.</p>
<p>There were upsets because there are every year, but it's hard to be all that surprised by most of these outcomes.</p>
<p id="lWzi3R">The Final Four starts April 1 in Glendale, Ariz., at University of Phoenix Stadium. The guesswork involved in figuring out which teams will be there is even more daunting than usual. That’s a shame for those of us filling out brackets, but the payoff will come in the form of a tournament where anything can happen.</p>
https://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2017/3/12/14871616/2017-ncaa-tournament-printable-bracketAlex Kirshner2017-03-27T10:10:52-04:002017-03-27T10:10:52-04:00Kentucky fans go from 100 to zero after Malik Monk’s 3
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<p>The full NCAA tournament package, quickly.</p> <p id="bayKOi">The ending of Sunday’s Elite Eight game between <a href="https://www.tarheelblog.com/">North Carolina</a> and <a href="https://www.aseaofblue.com/">Kentucky</a> was a violent roller coaster that left half the people on it feeling really good about themselves and the other half vomiting everywhere. These Kentucky fans at a bar in Lexington fall into the latter group. (Metaphorically, anyway.) </p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">UK fans at the Tin Roof react in the seconds before the game expires. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Limestone?src=hash">#Limestone</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BBN?src=hash">#BBN</a> <a href="https://t.co/xXwk7YKw15">pic.twitter.com/xXwk7YKw15</a></p>— HLpublicsafety (@HLpublicsafety) <a href="https://twitter.com/HLpublicsafety/status/846142685060743168">March 26, 2017</a>
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<p id="I9zeOd">The person who tweeted that video says it’s a popular place called Tin Roof. However:</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">That’s Two Keys, not Tin Roof, but yeah this is a good summary of every UK fan’s reaction. <a href="https://t.co/mDto8vePiG">https://t.co/mDto8vePiG</a></p>— Cam Newton (@morrisoncrying) <a href="https://twitter.com/morrisoncrying/status/846150371575808000">March 27, 2017</a>
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<p id="v0BpI9">If you want to, go ahead and open up this post in a new window, but keep this page open, and press play on the highlight below.</p>
<p id="P7aqfA">See if you can tell when <span>Malik Monk</span> ties the game for Kentucky with seven seconds left and when <span>Luke Maye</span> wins it for North Carolina shortly thereafter.</p>
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<p lang="und" dir="ltr">!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Elite8?src=hash">#Elite8</a> <a href="https://t.co/GETD7qN2kG">pic.twitter.com/GETD7qN2kG</a></p>— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) <a href="https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/846140606619381760">March 26, 2017</a>
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<p id="lQXqEr">Those soundtracks line up pretty well, yeah. </p>
<p id="3lA6KO">Watching sporting events with other people is a good thing. You get to share the joy when your team hits an improbable shot to tie a game in the final minute, and you get people to be miserable with if that turns out not to be enough. These Kentucky fans got the full <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/march-madness">March Madness</a> experience in a span of seven seconds. </p>
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https://www.sbnation.com/2017/3/26/15068318/kentucky-north-carolina-fans-malik-monk-luke-mayeAlex Kirshner2017-03-26T21:23:09-04:002017-03-26T21:23:09-04:00South Carolina has two victories in MSG for March. The Knicks have 1.
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<p>The irony!</p> <p id="yRUiHE">One of the regions in this year’s <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/march-madness">NCAA tournament</a>, the East Region, to be precise, was played in Madison Square Garden in New York City. The famous arena located in Midtown is home to the New York Knicks. The winner of the East Region was the No. 7 <a href="https://www.garnetandblackattack.com/">South Carolina Gamecocks</a>, who defeated the No. 4 <a href="https://www.alligatorarmy.com/">Florida Gators</a> 77-70, in the Elite Eight round on Sunday. </p>
<p id="Hd4EyP">One of the sadder parts of South Carolina advancing out of the region is how many games the Gamecocks won in MSG during the month of March, compared to the arena’s home team, the Knicks. South Carolina won two, defeating the No. 3 <a href="https://www.ourdailybears.com/">Baylor Bears</a> and Florida, and the Knicks won ... wait for it ... just one game. </p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Wins at Madison Square Garden in March...<br><br>South Carolina: 2<br><br>Knicks: 1</p>— Scott Shapiro (@scottshapiro33) <a href="https://twitter.com/scottshapiro33/status/846151992883867648">March 27, 2017</a>
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<p id="9Wkf6u">The Knicks have played a total of three games in the arena during this month, and they’ve managed to win just one — an 87-81 victory over the Indiana Pacers on March 14.</p>
<p id="BCGn0g">Stay strong, Knicks fans. </p>
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https://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2017/3/26/15068714/new-york-knicks-south-carolina-madison-square-garden-winsMorgan Moriarty2017-03-26T20:19:51-04:002017-03-26T20:19:51-04:00UK’s one-and-done freshmen break down after heartbreaking NCAA tournament loss
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<figcaption>Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>I’m not crying, you’re crying. </p> <p id="NeSu49">The No. 2 Kentucky Wildcats lost 75-73 to UNC on Sunday night, putting an end to both their 2016-17 season and the college careers to some of the true freshmen one-and-dones on John Calipari’s team. Two of those are De’Aaron Fox and <span>Edrice Adebayo</span>, who goes by “Bam.” After the last-second loss, both of them were visibly emotional in the locker room. </p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Very emotional Kentucky locker room as expected. <a href="https://t.co/ksNn4iOGHW">pic.twitter.com/ksNn4iOGHW</a></p>— Joe Mussatto (@joe_mussatto) <a href="https://twitter.com/joe_mussatto/status/846146325859221504">March 26, 2017</a>
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<p id="dhXKpq">You can see both of the players in the video visibly upset, with Fox audibly being heard saying “I love my brothers.” Adebayo and Fox finished with a combined 26 points on the night. </p>
<p id="o05X6I">Some may think Calipari’s farm system of recruiting one-and-dones means these are players who don’t care much for their college careers or teammates, but if this video shows anything, it’s that this is still important to these guys. </p>
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https://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2017/3/26/15068352/kentucky-deaaron-fox-bam-adebayo-emotional-locker-room-unc-lossMorgan Moriarty2017-03-26T19:43:29-04:002017-03-26T19:43:29-04:00Luke Maye went from preferred walk-on to UNC folk hero
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<figcaption>Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>A team loaded with pro talent got the shot of the season from a former walk-on who was setting his career high in points for the second game in a row. You’ve got to love March.</p> <p id="ra4SbT"><span>Luke Maye</span> averaged 5.5 points per game this season for North Carolina. He is the <em>eighth</em>-leading scorer on the Tar Heels. Maye is a sophomore, and before this month’s <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/march-madness">NCAA tournament</a>, he’d never scored more than 13 points in a college basketball game. Now Maye is one of the talks of the tournament and will sit in UNC folklore forever. </p>
<p id="T0Ewar">The biggest thing is this shot: </p>
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<p lang="und" dir="ltr">!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Elite8?src=hash">#Elite8</a> <a href="https://t.co/GETD7qN2kG">pic.twitter.com/GETD7qN2kG</a></p>— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) <a href="https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/846140606619381760">March 26, 2017</a>
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<p id="Bu8uDG">Kentucky guard <span>Malik Monk</span> hit a brilliant three-pointer to tie Sunday’s Elite Eight game between the Wildcats and Tar Heels with a shade more than seven seconds to play. The Heels inbounded quickly. Kentucky hadn’t collected itself on defense, and Maye slipped free while <span>Theo Pinson</span> drove toward the basket. Maye’s spot-up jumper won the South regional for the Heels and the game, 75-73. </p>
<h4 id="ntwHud">This shot was surprising. His whole tournament’s been surprising.</h4>
<p id="RDohJ8">North Carolina’s roster is loaded with four- and five-star recruits. That’s not Maye, a former preferred walk-on from in-state Huntersville. That Roy Williams would even have Maye on the court in such a situation is surprising on the surface. He plays about 14 minutes per game for the season, which is a ton for a former walk-on. But still, Maye is a former walk-on, and this is North Carolina. </p>
<p id="odboPK">Maye’s developed a lot this year, though. His minutes almost tripled from an average about five per game as a freshman — again, lots for a walk-on — and his points per game went from about one to about five. He went from shooting just better than 40 percent to shooting just better than 50 percent. He’s gotten loads better. </p>
<p id="wTH2Ix">Still, what he’s done this March is wild. Maye had 16 points just the other night in a Sweet 16 win against Butler. That was a career high. He followed it with 17 on 6-of-9 in his <em>very next game</em>. It was his sixth double-figure scoring game in 66 career games at North Carolina, and the last two points were the ones that a killed a John Calipari team loaded with star power. (Not that UNC isn’t.) </p>
<h4 id="3EI8Ip">Maye is now a North Carolina hero forever.</h4>
<p id="nQ1rvx">A lot goes into a game and a season, but Maye’s shot is now responsible for Roy Williams’ ninth Final Four in 29 years as a head coach and North Carolina’s second in two years. </p>
<p id="tL4VpM">His shot felt like a bit of karmic justice, in that it followed a game-tying three-pointer by sticking a dagger into the other team’s heart. Villanova did the same thing to North Carolina in last year’s national title game, while Maye sat on the bench and watched. </p>
<p id="wiroPy">This year, Maye was on the floor, and because he was, UNC’s off to the Final Four for a shot at redemption. </p>
https://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2017/3/26/15067830/luke-maye-kentucky-north-carolina-ncaa-tournament-game-winnerAlex Kirshner2017-03-26T19:32:26-04:002017-03-26T19:32:26-04:00UNC's Luke Maye is the unlikeliest March hero
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<p>Meet Luke Maye, America. He just put UNC in the Final Four.</p> <figure class="e-image">
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<p id="SHk8o4">Welcome to the Heroes of March Club, Luke Maye. The mostly anonymous North Carolina forward hit the game-winner against Kentucky with 0.3 seconds left to put the Tar Heels into the Final Four. </p>
<p id="SZJZPq">Maye played the biggest game of his life when UNC needed it most: he went for 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting and just hit one of the biggest shots in program history. </p>
<p id="yhEm3n">This game only became dramatic in the final moments because of two huge three-pointers by <span>Malik Monk</span> in the final seconds. You can see the second one above: an absolutely absurd shot to tie the game. Monk went more than 15 minutes without scoring in the second half, but it’s hard to blame him after two clutch triples.</p>
<p id="zzkze1">North Carolina now faces Oregon in the Final Four. Maye’s career night carried them there. We’ll see you in Phoenix, Tar Heels. That was a hell of an Elite Eight game.</p>
https://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2017/3/26/15068100/north-carolina-luke-maye-game-winner-kentucky-ncaa-tournamentRicky O'Donnell2017-03-26T19:30:34-04:002017-03-26T19:30:34-04:00NCAA tournament 2017: North Carolina beats Kentucky, 75-73, in a last-second thriller
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<figcaption>Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>The Tar Heels are headed to the Final Four.</p> <p id="korLXH">The Final Four of the 2017 <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/march-madness">NCAA tournament</a> was officially set on Sunday evening, with the No. 1 <a href="https://www.tarheelblog.com/">North Carolina Tar Heels</a> topping the No. 4 <a href="https://www.aseaofblue.com/">Kentucky Wildcats.</a> This one was a rematch of these two powerhouse programs from last December, with the Wildcats winning, 103-100, in that one. UNC won this second round of the matchup in a 75-73 thriller of a game. </p>
<p id="NL5u0m">The first half of this one looked to be just as exciting as the first game between these two, but less high-scoring, with the Tar Heels heading to the locker room with a 37-33 lead. In the second half, things remained close throughout. One of the biggest storylines of the night was how the Tar Heels’ defense did a masterful job containing true freshmen De’Aaron Fox and <span>Malik Monk</span>. The two combined for just 25 points on the night.</p>
<p id="XpQQWu">But with the Wildcats’ two stars being limited by UNC’s defense, the offense got some quality production from <span>Edrice Adebayo</span>, who finished with 13 points, seven rebounds, and two assists on the night. <span>Isaac Humphries</span> also came off the bench and scored 12 points.</p>
<p id="B0CJpm">The second half of this game did not disappoint.</p>
<p id="nxuhQA">Kentucky’s largest lead of the game came with just under six minutes left, at 64-59 off a Humphries jumper. UNC was able to regain a one-point 65-64 lead inside the three-minute mark, and free throws put it up by three with less than two to go.</p>
<p id="qYk2wJ">UNC capitalized on a missed UK possession, and was able to go up 69-64 with two minutes left on a nice shot from <span>Joel Berry II</span>, who was playing with a sprained ankle he sustained earlier in the game. He finished with 11 points. </p>
<p id="KhBW1q">Kentucky got the ball back with 1:12 left, but Monk missed a three-pointer, forcing the Wildcats to start sending UNC to the line. Fox made a three-pointer to pull the Wildcats within four with 47 seconds to go, and UNC was unable to inbound the ball within five seconds to give UK another shot. Monk drained a three to pull within one, but a miscue on defense allowed Jackson to make an easy bucket on a long pass to get the Tar Heels back to a three-point lead.</p>
<p id="tFWn5E">Miraculously, Kentucky was able to drain a three-pointer with 10 seconds left, but <span>Luke Maye</span> made a quick jumper with two seconds left to give the Tar Heels the 75-73 victory.</p>
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<p id="dN8il3">Jackson finished with 19 points for the Tar Heels.</p>
<p id="NDf9QF">For the UNC, this will be its second straight Final Four appearance, having advanced last year to the national title. The Tar Heels will face the No. 3 Oregon Ducks next Saturday.</p>
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<h3 id="JqZrAJ">Let's bid farewell to Malik Monk and Kentucky</h3>
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https://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2017/3/26/15067838/ncaa-tournament-2017-kentucky-north-carolina-elite-eightMorgan Moriarty2017-03-26T18:26:52-04:002017-03-26T18:26:52-04:00South Carolina doused Frank Martin to celebrate its Final Four berth
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<p>Make a Cinderella run to the Final Four, and you’re going to get wet.</p> <p id="tg9T4k"><a href="https://www.garnetandblackattack.com/">South Carolina</a> is in the Final Four. This came out of nowhere and has never, ever happened before. The Gamecocks, on one of the coolest Cinderella runs in recent March Madness history, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2017/3/26/15067102/south-carolina-basketball-2017-final-four-frank-martin">are the talk</a> of the NCAA tournament. </p>
<p id="EVKs3O">This calls for a celebration, so the Gamecocks celebrated. Here’s what it looked like when Martin’s players doused him with drinks after a win against Florida on Sunday punched their tickets to Glendale:</p>
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<p id="BH2F1K">Pretty great! Life’s too short not to have a ball when you pull off incredible, unexpected achievements. That’s what the Cocks have done here. </p>
<p id="sVydy8">South Carolina looks like it’s taking the time to enjoy itself, and that probably starts with Martin. The Gamecocks’ fifth-year head coach has been deeply introspective in his public comments this month, and he was emotional on the court after his team clinched its Final Four spot. An interview with CBS:</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">"It's all these guys." - Frank Martin <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FinalFour?src=hash">#FinalFour</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ForeverToThee?src=hash">#ForeverToThee</a> <a href="https://t.co/GIGWxOVGXT">pic.twitter.com/GIGWxOVGXT</a></p>— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) <a href="https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/846101853720883200">March 26, 2017</a>
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<p id="LVkAAi">That’s a pretty nice garnet suit Martin’s got on. Here’s to hoping it dries out in time for him to wear it for the Cocks’ national semifinal against Gonzaga.</p>
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https://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2017/3/26/15066888/frank-martin-doused-south-carolina-coach-final-fourAlex Kirshner