Forty Things to Watch in Men’s NCAA Tournament

Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, where “One Shining Moment” plays on an endless loop: 

Before the greatest American sporting event begins, bringing with it heat and light and pressure, let us hear from Ole Miss Rebels coach Chris Beard (1). He has some thoughts on salad.

“The meals in the NCAA tournament are really, really good,” Beard said Friday in Nashville, after his team had been eliminated from the Southeastern Conference tournament. “Nobody even skips the salad portion of the meals because the salad looks like you’re at one of those Brazilian steakhouses.”

He said this as part of a soliloquy on the joy of the tournament, and appreciating being part of it. Sixty-eight teams get to participate. Soon, they will likely screw it up by increasing the field to 76, but for now the number is 68. And it is a privilege to be one of those eating the NCAA salad.

“Man, you work your whole life in coaching and playing to play in the NCAA tournament, so let’s don’t forget that,” Beard said. “Let’s enjoy every practice, shootaround, bus trip, the camaraderie, the hotels, the meals. … We’re going to get some gear and enjoy ourselves. We’re going to smell the roses.”

Of course, the point of dining at a Brazilian steakhouse, with their all-you-can-eat premise, is to gorge yourself until you can’t go any longer. In that way, the restaurants mimic being in NCAA Bracketville. 

Stay as long as you can. Eat as much as you can. Let the feast begin.

The tournament has two leading men. One is Cooper Flagg (2) of the Duke Blue Devils, who could still be a senior in high school if he hadn’t reclassified—and is now coming off an ankle sprain in the ACC tournament. The other is Johni Broome (3) of the Auburn Tigers, a fifth-year senior with a receding hairline who played his first college game when Flagg was 13 years old.

But there is only one leading conference. The theme of this Big Dance is the SEC super flex (4), gobbling up a record 14 bids. That’s a full one-fifth of the field, including two of the top four seeds and four of the top eight. They’ve earned the haul with a dominant season. 

With that bounty comes some pressure to produce. America’s most famous football factor conference hasn’t won a men’s basketball national championship since 2012, and only three of its schools have ever won one. Since Anthony Davis led the Kentucky Wildcats (5) to that title 13 years ago, the SEC has gotten 62 bids and won zero natties. 

Of course, that record looks good compared to the conference that earned the second-most bids this year, the Big Ten (6). It has been a quarter century since that league’s last national championship, which is frankly embarrassing. The Big Ten has had 144 bids since that title by the Michigan State Spartans (7) without winning it all.

In the case of the SEC, there are four major championship contenders. The list, with merits and concerns: 

Florida Gators (8)

This is The Minutes’ pick to win it all. The Gators have everything—depth, size, athleticism, killer guards and a cutting-edge coach. They can shoot an opponent out of the gym on offense or grind them to a pulp with defense. They are red hot after a dominant SEC tournament run. The concern: Coach Todd Golden hasn’t been there before. Of the 24 national champions since 1999, 20 had been to at least one previous Final Four. Experience has mattered.

Auburn (9)

They were a dominant No. 1 earlier this month, but come sliding into the Big Dance having lost three of their last four. That might simply be a byproduct of playing in the meat-grinder SEC, though. In addition to Broome, Auburn has a tough bunch of veterans who are not fazed by anything. They also have a coach, Bruce Pearl, who took Auburn to the 2019 Final Four. The concern: Have the Tigers backslid a bit defensively? They foul a lot, with opponents attempting 35 more free throws than they have over the past five games. 

Alabama Crimson Tide (10)

This is a team that might benefit a lot from getting out of the SEC grind. The Tide plays at the fastest pace in America, which could overwhelm opponents. They are a devastating offensive team when the shots are falling, and they gained valuable Final Four experience last year. The concern: Forward Grant Nelson injured a knee in the SEC tourney. He was probably held out during the semifinals for precautionary reasons, but it’s something to watch. Bama also will forget to play defense for stretches of time. 

Tennessee Volunteers (11)

They will guard and board until the last dog dies, leading the nation in effective field goal percentage defense and hammering the offensive glass with abandon. Six of the eight rotation players are in their fourth or fifth year of college ball. Rick Barnes has been to a Final Four, although it was a long time ago (2003). The concern: One of the reasons the Vols attack the offensive glass so hard is because they miss plenty of shots, especially from three-point range. They are probably the most physical team in the country, which means that a tightly officiated game could be a problem.

The primary challengers to SEC hegemony: 

Duke (12)

This is easily the best team of the post-Krzyzewski era, provided Flagg can play at or near 100% by the second week of the tournament. Duke has lost one game since before Thanksgiving and dominated the ACC (which, truth be told, doesn’t mean what it once did). The Blue Devils are the longest team in the country, shoot extremely well from every area of the floor and are great defensively inside. The concern: Jon Scheyer still has to prove he can do what Coach K did and reach a Final Four. In comparison to the other top contenders, this is a very young team.

Houston Cougars (13)

They only know one way—attack mode. There are no easy possessions against the Cougars, no chances to exhale. In addition to the usual long and lively bodies inside, this Houston team has an elite trio of perimeter shooters—L.J. Cryer, Milos Uzan and Emanuel Sharp all shoot better than 42% from three. And coach Kelvin Sampson has seen it all. The concern: J’Wan Roberts, who is the latest heart-and-soul leader at Houston, missed the last two games with an ankle injury.

St. John’s Red Storm (14)

Rick Pitino keeps adding layers to his incomparable résumé, taking a record sixth different school to the NCAA tournament. He’s now seeking to add to his record of taking three different schools to the Final Four. The Red Storm have the best overall defensive analytics in the nation and play with the unstinting effort that is a trademark of all Pitino’s best teams. The concern: They can’t shoot. St. John’s ranks 338th nationally in three-point accuracy, and is not great from the foul line, either (295th).

Michigan State

The Spartans might be the deepest team in the dance, capable of going 10 deep and playing their reserves 41% of the time. Freshman Jase Richardson, son of former Spartans great Jason Richardson, is a rising star—he’s averaged 17.3 points since entering the starting lineup Feb. 8. Tom Izzo (eight Final Fours) is one of the ultimate March coaches. The concern: This is a poor three-point shooting team, and occasionally turnover-prone.

Power-conference teams in the field that have never made a Final Four, ranked in order of their opportunity to end the drought this year:

Tennessee

They’ve had two excruciating near-misses against Big Ten opponents: a one-point loss on a free throw with two seconds left against Michigan State in 2010; and last year’s brawl with the Purdue Boilermakers.

Texas A&M Aggies (15)

They haven’t even made a regional final before. The last Sweet 16 was in 2018. These Aggies are here to change that history, not ranking far behind the elite top four teams from the SEC.

Clemson Tigers (16)

Football U made the Elite Eight last year, and in 1980. That’s it. This team could be the breakthrough.

Creighton Bluejays (17)

The school is credited with two regional finals, but the first (in 1941) came when there were only eight teams in the tourney. The second, in 2023, ended in a heartbreaking, last-second loss to the San Diego State Aztecs. Don’t discount this bunch, which advanced to the Big East tourney final.

BYU Cougars (18)

With 1,916 all-time victories, they are the winningest program to never make a Final Four. This is an elite offensive team that needs to play better at the defensive end.

Missouri Tigers (19)

Five different Elite Eight appearances between 1944 and 2009. Zero Final Fours. Not a good defensive team, but capable of some offensive pyrotechnics—and the Tigers get to the line a lot, ranking second nationally in free throw rate.

Ole Miss Rebels (20)

There isn’t a lot in the Oxford trophy case. Ole Miss has never made a regional final, and has played in just one Sweet 16 (in 2001). The current Rebels are athletic and fearless, and seasoned from the SEC slate.

Vanderbilt Commodores (21)

Their one and only regional final was in 1965, when the tourney had only 30 teams and the Dores had to win only one game to get there. Vandy lost by two to the eventual national runner-up Michigan Wolverines. Vandy struggled to the finish line, losing its last three games, but should benefit from getting out of SEC play.

Xavier Musketeers (22)

They’ve made three Elite Eights under three different coaches. The closest they came to a Final Four was the first one, in 2004, when Xavier pushed Duke to the end before losing by three. The most recent was in ’17. The Musketeers squeaked into the field but can be a dangerous three-point shooting team that could make a run if they get hot.

College basketball officiating isn’t nearly as bad as a lot of cranks will say, but it’s far from perfect. These are the problem areas that will lead to a lot of fan grumbling: 

Replay reviews (23)

There will be too many, and they will take too long. Coaches unanimously are in favor of getting the call right, no matter how long it takes, which is understandable and certainly makes sense at win-or-go-home time. But the pendulum has swung to the point where replay is a crutch for refs who aren’t trusting their eyes and experience. 

Players and coaches know it, and they will ask for an endless succession of reviews. Unfortunately, close and dramatic games will take an eternity to end as officials over-litigate harmless high elbows, manufactured hook-and-hold rebound scrums and clear out-of-bounds calls. So be prepared. Take deep breaths. The games are still going to be great, even if they stagger to the finish.

Screens, both legal and illegal (24)

Screening has become a more fast-paced activity, less methodical than in the Bob Knight motion offense days. Thus it also has become more slipshod, with elbows and knees askew or hands being used to intercept defenders. Accordingly, defensive players are more inclined to act as if they’ve been shot when colliding with a screen in an effort to draw fouls. There are both more illegal screens and more players acting as if they’ve run into an illegal screen. They’re tougher to call now.

Three-point flops (25)

Officials have backslid on calling floppers shooting threes and hitting the deck in search of fouls. They’re not only getting away with the flopping, they’re getting away with drawing fouls that shouldn’t be called. 

Big brands who earned bids but are having bad (for them) seasons: 

UConn Huskies (26)

The two-time reigning national champs, winners of six titles since 1999, are limping in with 10 losses and a middling seed. Don’t count them out from a potential run, but Dan Hurley has had a humbling season after declaring himself “the best coach in the f—ng sport” in January. Karma came home to roost on that boast.

Kansas Jayhawks (27)

Their 12 losses is the most for the program since 1988–89, when a first-year coach named Roy Williams took over a program serving a postseason ban for NCAA violations. Kansas hasn’t won more than two games in a row since a three-game streak from Jan. 5–11, and hasn’t beaten a team in this field outside of Lawrence since Nov. 26.

North Carolina Tar Heels (28) 

The Heels had their big opportunity to salvage a lost season in the ACC tournament semifinals against an injury-depleted Duke team. But a lane violation by Jae’Lyn Withers in the final seconds wiped out a tying free throw. Nevertheless, they were somehow rewarded with an NCAA bid—and a trip to Dayton for the First Four.

They’ve brought their teams to the Big Dance, but could be leaving for points elsewhere as soon as they’re eliminated.

Ryan Odom (29), VCU Rams

Odom, the patron saint of No. 16 seeds, earned renown in 2018 with the first-ever upset of a No. 1 seed. He then took Utah State to the tourney in ’23 and now has VCU in—and dangerous—this year. The Virginia Cavaliers may now look to hire the man who doomed them to historic infamy in that ’18 shocker.

Ben McCollum (30), Drake Bulldogs

He’s coached one season of Division I basketball, and he’s 30–3. Before that he was winning national titles at D-II Northwest Missouri State. The 43-year-old McCollum was born in Iowa City, where the Iowa Hawkeyes currently have a vacancy. But Indiana might also be in the mix.

Richard Pitino (31), New Mexico Lobos

Older and wiser after being fired at Minnesota in 2021, Pitino has taken the Lobos to three straight 20-win seasons and two straight NCAA tournaments. Villanova could use both some charisma and a departure from the Jay Wright family tree; could Pitino The Younger be that guy?

Bennett Stirtz (32), Drake

The nation’s leader in minutes played at 39.2 per game got a richly deserved week off since his team won the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. Stirtz, who came with McCollum from D-II Northwest Missouri, is a highly skilled, completely unflappable point guard who runs Drake’s methodical offense to perfection. The son of a high school coach is averaging 19.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2.2 steals per game.

Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones (33), UC San Diego Tritons

The New Zealander led the Tritons to a 30–4 season and the first D-I tournament appearance in school history. Tait-Jones is averaging 19.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists while leading the nation in free throw attempts with 293.

Kyler Filewich (34), Wofford Terriers

He’s a productive center from Manitoba, averaging 11.9 points and 9.4 rebounds for the champions of the Southern Conference. But it’s his foul shooting that has become something of a national curiosity—Filewich has made an unfortunate 31.8% of his free throws this season. In an attempt to find a working method, Filewich has employed the underhand, granny-toss method. That hasn’t worked too well, either. But he did make three out of seven attempts in the SoCon title game, which is an improvement over the 2-for-13 from the previous three games. 

Hunter Dickinson (35), Kansas

The gigantic fifth-year senior has been a lightning-rod player for years, frequently getting tangled up with opponents under the basket and earning the scorn of opposing fans. If Kansas is going to make a run, Dickinson will be at the center of it in all forms.

Chad Baker-Mazara (36), Auburn

His mouth never stops running, and his elbows rarely stop flying. He’s been ejected from games, earned technical fouls and exasperated Pearl. But the highly emotional 25-year-old from the Dominican Republic is also a valuable part of a national title contender. He can’t repeat his early ejection from last year’s first-round NCAA upset loss to Yale.

Jaxon Kohler (37), Michigan State

He’s the Hustle Guy for Izzo, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But like a golden retriever puppy, he can sometimes wear you out with hyperactivity. 

The tournament has gone to the dogs. The Bulldogs (38), specifically. There are six schools with that mascot in the field—Bryant, Yale, Drake, Mississippi State, Georgia and Gonzaga. Someone throw a bone to Butler, which is undoubtedly feeling left out right now.

We have a run on Red Saints (39). The St. John’s Red Storm is in the field for the first time since 2019, and the St. Francis Red Flash is in for the first time since 1991. 

Who’s missing? The entire college basketball stronghold of Philadelphia (40), which failed to land a bid for any of its six D-I schools. Meanwhile the chinstrap Mecca of Alabama is sending four teams to the dance for the second year in a row: Alabama, Auburn, the Troy Trojans and Alabama State Hornets, this season; the Crimson Tide, Tigers, UAB Blazers and Samford Bulldogs last season.