World news – N.C.A.A. Tournament live: Oral Roberts upset the state of Ohio

It was the first bracket among 16 games that were planned for Friday in the first round of the men’s tournament.

After a total of 59 points from Max Abmas and Kevin Obanor, the Golden Eagles were only the ninth number 15 ever toppled a 2 while stunned Ohio (75-72) in the first round of overtime. It was the first N.C.A.A. Tournament victory since 1974.

Some had identified Ohio as a potential Final Four team, but they were eliminated, and Oral Roberts advanced against Florida No. 7 on Sunday.

Oral Roberts was the first No. .15, which pissed a No. 2 since Middle Tennessee state defeated Michigan state in 2016.

Other famous 15/2 issues were the Florida Gulf Coast via Georgetown in 2013, Lehigh via Duke in 2012 and Richmond via Syracuse in 1991.

With Ohio State 73-69 behind, EJ Liddell dumped a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 73-72.

Obanor then made two free throws to push the lead to 75-72, 13 seconds from the end. He finished with 30 points and 11 rebounds.

« I didn’t know if it was going or not. I knew the guys weren’t going to quit the game and this is a great basketball team that we just beat. Am At the end of the day we knew they weren’t going to stop and we could get a win, ”said Abmas, the leading scorer in Division I. He gave 29 points on 10-of-24 for an Oral Roberts and had 18 to Half when Oral Roberts was leading 36-33.

About 24 hours into the tournament, two Big Ten powers were knocked out: Ohio State and Michigan State, who lost to UCLA in a First Four game on Thursday night.

Overtime for Oral Roberts # 15 and Ohio State # 2. The Buckeyes were selected as champions in about 3 percent of the ESPN and Yahoo brackets, and only a handful of teams were more popular.

UConn Point Guard RJ Cole (Concussion Protocol) was officially recognized for the No. 7 Huskies released against No. 10 Maryland on Saturday, announced trainer Dan Hurley.

The English Bulldog was installed last year when Butler’s mascot greeted Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the 101-year-old nun who has been working since the mid-1990s Has been a team chaplain for Loyola-Chicago for years.

Sister Jean traveled to the NCAA to Indianapolis. and the university signed a contract for her this week to take part in the Friday game. The eighth seed ramblers will meet Georgia Tech # 9 in the Midwest in the first round.

If you just want to read about a dog and / or Sister Jean, you’ve come to the right place.

No. 15 seeds are always 8-132 (.057) against No. 2 seeds, but Max Abmas and Oral Roberts are trying to expand the list against No. 2 Ohio State. Abmas, who is the top scorer in Division I with 24.2 points per game, has 18 points at halftime.

Illinois, the top seed in the Midwest, sent Drexel No. 16, 78-49. Kofi Cockburn, the 7-foot sophomore center, scored 18 points for Illinois. The Fighting Illinois didn’t need 3-point shots to get a double-digit win. They tried seven and only made two.

The Arkansas Razorbacks, the third seed in the South Region, overcame a near-disastrous first half, knocking Colgate, the 14th seed, out of the tournament. Although Colgate was only 3 points behind at break, the Razorbacks outdid the Raiders 49-35 in the second round. Bottom line: 85-68, Arkansas.

The seventh seed in south Florida took overtime to finish No. 10 Virginia Tech. Colin Castleton, a junior striker, led the Gators on 19 points to steer Florida past a goal breakout from Virginia Tech’s Nahiem Alleyne that ended in 30 points after his 3-point shot postponed the game in extra minutes.

Texas Tech, the sixth seed in the South, erased the ambitions of No. 11, Utah, with a 65:53 victory at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana. Texas Tech ran a 13-0 run at one point in the second half.

Ohio State, No. 2 in the South Region, fell to No. 15 Oral Roberts at halftime. The score at Mackey Arena: 36-33, Oral Roberts.

In the first game of the 64th round on Friday, there was a small dose of March Madness straight out of the gate.

Virginia Tech’s Nahiem Alleyne hit a 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds remaining to force overtime against Florida. Nevertheless, the Gators prevailed 75:70 by leaving the Hokies 48:37 after they had failed halfway. The Gators came back after a 10-point deficit in victory.

Florida advanced for the eighth consecutive year in the N.C.A.A. into the second round. Men’s tournament and faces the winner between Ohio State No. 2 and Oral Roberts No. 15 in the South Region.

Tre Mann’s 3-pointer, 22 seconds ahead in extra time, gave Florida the lead 74-70. He finished with 14 points. Colin Castleton went for 19 points and 14 rebounds and Scottie Lewis scored 15 points and four rebounds.

Alleyne posted a career high of 28 points for the Hokies, including 14 in a row bridging the second half and overtime.

Virginia Tech fouled two key players in extra time. Keve Aluma messed up with 7 points and four rebounds and Justyn Mutts went with 6 points, five rebounds and four assists.

If you follow Summer Beater (like some of us in our NYT Non-Bracket Challenge Challenge), this one should be Nahiem Alleyne’s 3-pointers for Virginia Tech didn’t count to tie him against Florida. The Gators had less than 2 seconds to respond and we’re working overtime.

The first number 1 in the tournament, Illinois, hasn’t broken your brackets yet. The Fighting Illinois led Drexel (39-21) at halftime.

Arkansas, after scoring 17 points in a row in about three minutes, leads 36:33 into the second half after hitting Colgate security guard Jack Ferguson has followed for much of the first round. There are definitely more Razorbacks fans than Raiders fans, judging by their cheers.

N.C.A.A. President Mark Emmert is in Hinkle observing Virginia Tech and Florida. He said he was excited to meet the #NCAAProperty players, but only after the tournament. « I want the focus to be on basketball, » he said.

It may be a little early for the annoyed alarm, but Colgate is ahead of Arkansas in third on the grid. The Raiders rose by 8 in the first half by less than eight minutes.

Colgate had an exceptional season. Fourteen wins. A loss. Victory in the Patriot League tournament.

But the 14th place Raiders have played five teams throughout the season. Friday’s game against Arkansas, a terrifying number 3 in the Southeastern Conference, will add to his résumé.

Even so, the Raiders came out with a prominent spot in the N.C.A.A. in Indiana. Evaluation Tool, known as NET: No. 9, in front of powers like Virginia and Kansas and, yes, Arkansas. NET critics argue that Colgate benefited inappropriately from the algorithm, which even takes into account the results of an opponent’s opponents.

Let’s turn to Matt Langel, Colgate’s trainer, to find out how the Raiders were using Army, a of Colgate’s recurring opponents this season, got there:

It’s a bit of a math outlier because we didn’t have any non-conference games. The Army and Navy had some non-conference games. You did well in those non-conference games – you know, Navy beat Georgetown, Army beat Buffalo, which is a good team and plays Florida very close. Then we beat the army three times out of four and only lost by two and the army beat the navy. When you run the algorithm, you’re spitting out something that doesn’t necessarily identify what everyone else in the country is seeing.

Colgate starred in the last N.C.A.A. Tournament that took place in 2019 and was narrowly lost to another high-profile SEC team, Tennessee.

But now it’s back. And it has a nifty NET ranking for history no matter what happens on Friday in Indiana as the Raiders took an early lead against the Razorbacks in the coming weeks.

« In a crazy year, » said Langel, « It’ll be a bit of an asterisk, a trivia question. »

A handful of Colgate players knelt to begin their game against Arkansas on Friday while the razorbacks bowed their heads during the national anthem. Fans scattered across the arena followed suit – although there are few for either team, they must have heard their cheers early.

If Virginia Ball’s movement, movement and patience sound familiar, Hokies was the coach Mike Young, the longtime coach at Wofford who scared Kentucky two years ago in the second round.

As in previous years, the men’s games will be broadcast on CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV. The official way to stream the tournament is through the March Madness Live app from N.C.A.A., for which you must sign up through a TV provider. (The Paramount app, formerly known as CBS All Access, also broadcasts games that air on CBS.) Given the outrage and allegations that the men’s basketball players were valued more than the students who attended the women’s tournament the next week was the NCAA apologized Friday for the huge differences in training facilities at his marquee championship events.

The Indiana men’s players benefited from a huge, well-stocked complex in downtown Indianapolis. But the stars of the women’s game who will be playing their championship tournament in Texas only had a few pieces of equipment.

Until Friday morning with the public Furor building and the N.C.A.A. The association had been affected by pressure on the rights of athletes for years and regretted it unreservedly – a noticeable, sudden decline for an organization that is often criticized for being insular and defiant. Dan Gavitt, vice president of basketball for N.C.A.A., apologized for « dropping the ball openly ».

Similarly, Lynn Holzman, who played in the state of Kansas and was vice president of women’s basketball for N.C.A.A. rise, on Friday that the organizers « came up short ». Her voice was sometimes caught during videoconferencing with reporters and she admitted the episode was a « flaw. » « My experience has been that you don’t have the same thing, » she said, adding that Future discussions about what had happened in Texas would have an « accountability aspect. » « If it’s personal, it’s as real as it gets, » she said. « It hurts. And when people are passionate about something – in this case women’s basketball – our fans, our student-athletes who play this game, it’s our responsibility to give them a great championship experience that they can be proud of . It’s disappointing. It is. I don’t even have the words to describe how painful it is in person. « 

The frustrations in Texas came during a week when student-athletes were already taking to the big stage of tournaments to resolve their complaints with the NCAA and its limits to how players can benefit from their fame. Earlier this week, players began tweeting with the hashtag #NotNCAAProperty to protest the association’s rules. Although much of this disagreement has publicly focused on the men’s tournament, it also surfaced in the women’s competition.

The first game of the first round has two major storylines related to health and medicine.

Let’s start with Florida No. 7, performing in a tournament for the fourth year in a row. But the Gators will do without the playful presence of someone they believed would be a wire-to-wire star this season.

Keyontae Johnson, a junior striker who became a pre-season player for the Southeastern Conference of the year has not played since December when he collapsed during a game in Florida state. A whirlwind of speculation about his health ensued, but the Johnson family said in a statement last month that the « medical emergency is not related to or attributed to a previous or current diagnosis of Covid. »

But until Johnsons Family spoke, his collapse in the college sports world had sparked conversation and speculation about how the virus might endanger athletes.

Johnson hopes to start basketball activities this summer but has been with the team as a scout this summer worked together.

« In the past we have had some people, some cases where players have been injured and mentally gone, they have been decoupled, » Johnson told the Gators website. “I wanted to learn from it and stay engaged. This was the best way I could learn even if I wasn’t playing and still learning guys, study teams, and educational games. I like that. « 

Then there is Virginia Tech No. 10, which comes into the tournament after only three games since a win in Miami on February 6th. After that win, those in charge of the Atlantic Coast Conference have five games of the Virginia Tech canceled due to viral problems leaving the Hokies with few chances of showing off their top scorer Keve Aluma or a restful defense that was among the best in the league this season.

Former President Barack Obama predicts some surprises in the first round, but limited chaos late in the men’s and women’s tournaments.

In the brackets posted on Thursday, the former president voted Gonzaga to win the men’s title and the Final Four went through the other No. 1 seeds rounded: Baylor, Illinois and Michigan At the women’s tournament, Obama predicted that Baylor No. 2 would win the national championship after a Final Four, to which the top seeds Stanford and North Carolina State and Maryland No. 2.

Obama expects eight surprises in the first round of the men’s tournament, including No. 12 U.C. Santa Barbara via Creighton # 5 and Ohio # 13 via Virginia with the fourth seed.

And while it wasn’t a disgruntled choice, he predicted that Tennessee No. 5 would beat Oregon No. 12, where his brother-in-law was the men’s basketball coach for six seasons.

Like many of you I am thrilled that #MarchMadness is finally back. You can check out my picks here: https://t.co/S5mlQofvAp pic.twitter.com/xyePa9ux2y

In a bracket where Gonzaga battled Illinois for the men’s title, there was at least one sign of one second thought. In the South Region, Obama crossed out Wisconsin No. 9 in the first round and instead opted for North Carolina No. 8, which won a title during his presidency.

The former president’s crystal ball was apparently a little clearer for the women’s tournament , which will start in Texas on Sunday: No scratched picks. But he saw eight more surprises in the first round, including Michigan State # 10 over Iowa State # 7 and South Dakota # 11 over Oregon # 6.

« Of course we have to beat everyone we face « said Arella Guirantes, a guard for Rutgers, on Thursday. « But it’s cool to see how he picked us in the first round. »

Do you fill out your bracket for many pools before the eastern lunchtime deadline? Here’s a lightning bolt of last minute advice:

Read the rules of your specific competition. As our Victor Mather points out, a contribution to the prize can vary greatly depending on the point system, and your chances of winning vary depending on the number of participants.

That’s what the experts say. And some surprises to consider. And see some players.

The all-important tiebreaker doesn’t have to be just a random guess. Jonathan Ellis recently analyzed N.C.A.A. Men’s Tournament Finals and also looked at the top favorites.

In ESPN and Yahoo bracket games, Gonzaga is an extremely popular choice as a national champion – nearly 45 percent of Yahoo brackets and more than a third of ESPN Brackets picked the Zags as champions.

If you’re fed up with braces, you can try our Bracket Challenge Questionnaire instead (and see what our reporters might think, too).

Virginia, the title winner from 2019, is technically the reigning champion as the tournament was canceled last year. But the Cavaliers were forced to withdraw from a semifinal game at the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament last week following a positive test, subsequent quarantines and contact tracing as part of the program.

Trainer Tony Bennett said most of the team who were in 4th in the West Region that spent the week in quarantine in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Cavaliers are expected to arrive in Indianapolis in 13th place on the Friday before Saturday night’s game against Ohio. They have to jam a lot during practice on Friday to prepare for their first game in nine days.

« I’m just very confident that we can play this weekend, » said Redshirt striker Sam Hauser. « Quarantine isn’t that much fun, but at least we’re allowed to walk around and get some fresh air, so just try to get hold of a basketball as best we can. »

In Ohio, Jason Preston, a 6 -Foot-4 junior point guard who averaged 16.6 points, 7.2 assists and 6.8 rebounds and was named the LaMelo Ball of College Hoops by ESPN’s Jay Bilas. Both Bilas and former President Barack Obama choose Ohio to anger Virginia.

Kansas, number 3 in the West region, will play its first game in nine days against number 14 in east Washington on Saturday, after retiring from the Big 12 tournament. Great junior David McCormack is set to train in Indianapolis on Friday after looking into virus logs. Coach Bill Self said second security guard Tristan Enaruna would miss at least the first two games « after numerous negative tests in a row » after a positive coronavirus test on Sunday. Newbie Jalen Wilson, averaging 12.1 points and 8.2 rebounds, will miss at least the first game after testing positive last Friday.

Wilson’s former high school teammate De’Vion Harmon of Oklahoma will also be on Saturday missed his team’s first game against Missouri after testing positive. Harmon is the Sooners’ second top scorer with 12.9 points per game. Kansas beat Oklahoma in the Big 12 tournament last Thursday before Kansas knocked out on Wilson’s test. « I think it’s going to be an adjustment, but not as much as many people think, » said Self. « We may not play well, but it won’t be because I don’t think we got a curveball that we couldn’t hit. »

Georgia Tech, the A.C.C. The tournament winner and number 9 in the Midwest was dealt a heavy blow. Moses Wright, who holds the A.C.C. The Player of the Year award will, according to multiple reports, miss at least the first game against Loyola Chicago No. 8 on Friday due to virus problems.

Wright, a 6-foot-9 striker, averages 17.4 points, 8 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.6 blocks per game. Coach Josh Pastner now has to use a smaller line-up against Loyola, in which 6-foot-9 player Cameron Krutwig, the Missouri Valley Conference player of the year, plays with an average of 15 points and 6.7 rebounds.

That this year’s NCAA Men’s basketball tournament is a metaphorical color wheel. Green for the hundreds of millions of dollars it will reap even without fans. Red for the anger some players express at being cut out of the winnings they make. And blue for the isolation that others feel when stuck in a hotel at the start of a three-week survival game with 68 teams.

Chromatically, however, these are pale compared to the bracket in the Midwest, where it’s – in very vivid colors – gives a pigment that is not often primary in the world of sports: orange.

On Friday you will see Illinois Orange and Oklahoma State Orange. There is Clemson Orange, which is very orange. And there are the Syracuse Orange, which is also orange. And when Tennessee plays Oregon State, there will be a veritable swarm of oranges, a spectacle only muted by limiting the number of fans (in this case, orange clad) who can enter the tournament.

Here a closer look at statement color, which was used much more frequently in college sports than the pros in the US:

Five of the seven active Division I basketball coaches in the Naismith Hall of Fame are attending this NCAA involved. Tournament.

Tom Izzo from the US state Michigan started against U.C.L.A. Losing 86-80 in overtime on Thursday night.

Jim Boeheim from Syracuse and Roy Williams from North Carolina will play on Friday. And Bill Self from Kansas and Rick Pitino from Iona will start their tournament runs on Saturday.

Neither Dukes Mike Krzyzewski nor John Calipari from Kentucky received an offer, the first time since 1976 that both programs were eliminated from the tournament. </ Villanova's Jay Wright, a finalist for the Hall of Fame this year, is back in the tournament after serving two of the last four NCAA's and the winner is. Villanova will play Winthrop on Friday evening.