The clock has officially struck midnight midnight, and Cinderella is outta here.

The lowest remaining seed in the men’s NCAA tournament is 11-seed Texas, those scrappy underdogs from the wealthiest athletic department in college sports. The women’s tournament was even chalkier, with only one double-digit seed making it out of the first round, 10-seed UVA who beat Georgia in overtime.

OK, so the NCAA Tournament didn’t turn out well for the little guy. Thankfully we can turn to everyday life for examples of underdogs thriving against various systematic and financial disadvantages!

– Rodger Sherman

Down and Out

What do we do with an iconic near-miss? Do we put it in a highlight reel? Do we hang a picture of it in the school’s athletic facility? If you see the guy who almost hit the shot 15 years from now at some hoops alumni event, do you say, “Hey, remember that shot you didn’t hit?”

With a shot like Otega Oweh’s buzzer-beater on Friday, it’s easy. That’s the One Shining Moment from the song “One Shining Moment.”

On Saturday, we had a shot that came inches from replicating Oweh’s miracle. Vanderbilt’s Tyler Tanner hoisted a half-court heave that banged off the glass, hit the rim, rattled around, and bounced out. Nebraska won, 74-72.

I’ve never seen a half-court shot hang on the rim for that long. Normally when you throw the ball from 50 feet away, it has so much heat on it that it’s either gonna swish or clang. Not a lot of nuance when you’re praying for a miracle.
Amazingly, this wasn’t even Tyler Tanner’s first on-the-rim near-miss from half-court this season. Against Missouri, Tanner stole a pass with 1.8 seconds left and hoisted a three from basically the same spot where he shot Saturday night … and just missed.
Tanner might be the greatest half-court shooter of our era without even hitting one.
(OK, second-greatest, behind Payton Pritchard.)
Oh yeah! This game was awesome besides the almost-miracle! Tanner had 27 points! The teams traded the lead three times in the last two minutes! The whole ending sequence was bananas!

As called by Kent Pavelka & Jeff Smith on the Nebraska Cornhuskers Radio Network:
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog.xyz) 2026-03-22T03:30:03.320Z

(Tough miss for Vanderbilt’s Chandler Bing, who got stuck with the ball on the Dores’ fraught final possession before Nebraska’s game-winner. Could it BE any more emotionally devastating?)
Nebraska is officially the Feel Good Story of the NCAA Tournament. (Especially with every mid-major school now eliminated after just three days.) The Huskers came into the season with zero NCAA Tournament wins in program history. Now they’re in the Sweet 16….
(BTW, the other day, I tried to link to Homefield’s new line of Nebrasketball gear and heard from multiple disappointed Nebraskans because I accidentally linked to Homefield’s Alabama Crimson Tide merchandise. Here is the correct link. Apologies although I do think the Homefield Alabama shirt with a picture of a Yellowhammer is really sick.)
… and if not for a few millimeters, the Huskers’ run would be over. It would be a different story at the NCAA Division I Men’s Horsehoes Championship or the NCAA Division I Men’s Hand Grenades Championship.
(Probably for the best that the

If I had to see it, so did you

What makes a great sports studio show? Sharp analysis of the games? Interpersonal chemistry between the on-air talent? Entertainment value?

On Saturday CBS asked: How about VISIONS FROM THE NIGHTMARE REALM, HORRORS MADE REAL, and SIGHTS THAT CANNOT BE UNSEEN?

CBS’ afternoon slate of hoops was lowlighted by multiple segments featuring “O.B.,” a hideous wise-cracking animatronic basketball:

Here's some of the CBS segment with the talking basketball
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero.bsky.social) 2026-03-21T18:40:38.034Z

The person voicing the ball got off some good zingers, and O.B. has nearly 500,000 followers on Instagram. But those people opted into wise-cracking animatronic ball content. I did not. I was just sitting in my house trying to watch hoops, when I was swerved into a waking nightmare.

Saturday’s CBS broadcast was gimmick-heavy, although thankfully most of the segments did not feature monsters from the uncanny valley. It had a segment with Oz the Mentalist, and a “Chuck’s Got Games” segment in which the studio crew played ball-throwing games hosted by Charles Barkley, who is a full-time NBA analyst famous for not following the NBA that closely.

Before I get too critical, I just want to acknowledge the monumental task CBS and Turner have in broadcasting the men’s NCAA Tournament. CBS is showing games roughly 12 hours a day for four days in a row during the first two rounds. They have to do pregame, post-game, and recaps for more than a dozen games, with relatively short notice on who’s actually playing in them. NCAA Tournament games also have unusually long halftimes, and the studio crew is also on the air for most of the half-hour break between games. That’s a lot of time to fill!

But when you treat something like a joke … people will understand it to be a joke. And it feels a little disrespectful to all the CBS college hoops people who live and breathe college hoops when the marquee product is treated like a literal carnival.

Men’s Tournament

🐷 (4) Arkansas 94, 👋🫵 (12) High Point 88

High Point fought hard, but Arkansas had Darius Acuff, who had 36 points and six assists, and scored seven straight points to turn a tied game into a 90-83 Arkansas lead.

People are saying this is one of the greatest freshman classes ever for NBA prospects, and Acuff has been far-and-away the most entertaining to watch, especially at the business end of the season. Acuff is averaging 28.8 points and 7.2 assists since the start of the SEC Tournament.

🟠 (3) Illinois 76, 🐏 (11) VCU 55

Dropping this one in solely for Bill Raftery commentating Zvonimir Ivisic slam with TAKE ME TO THE BALKANS, PLEASE!

ZVONOMIR FUCKING IVISIC
— Hoop Informatics (@hoopinformatics.bsky.social) 2026-03-22T01:44:41.792Z

Women’s Tournament

⚔ (9) USC 71, 🐯 (8) Clemson 67 (OT)

Clemson almost won this game on a 30-foot running buzzer-beater by Mia Moore, but she released the shot just a hair too late.

The miss gave Jazzy Davidson, the best freshman in the country, five more minutes to make her mark on the NCAA Tournament. She drilled game-tying and go-ahead threes in overtime and finished with 31 points.

🍊 (9) Syracuse 72, 🌪️ (8) Iowa State 63

ISU’s Audi Crooks was unstoppable in the paint, scoring 37 points on 17-for-25 shooting …

… but the Cyclones went 3-for-22 from three, which makes me wonder why they shot 22 threes when they had Audi Crooks. Crooks is averaging 28 points across four career NCAA Tournament games, but hasn’t been to the Sweet 16 yet. She’s got one college season left to fix that.

🐔 (1) South Carolina 103, 🐆 (16), Southern 34

The Gamecocks win this year’s “how badly can you beat a 16-seed” challenge over UConn. Disappointing showing for UConn, who only won its game by 38. Are the Huskies washed?

Division III: 🔴 Denison 55, 👑 Scranton 41

I spoke too soon about 32-0 Scranton winning the Division III championship after ending NYU’s 91-game win streak! Scranton had a 42-41 lead after three quarters, but Denison went on a 14-0 fourth-quarter run to win the school’s first national title. (Between this and Nebraska, what a day for saying “Go Big Red!”)