Saturday features a packed slate with some of the biggest brands in college sports on a huge stage, but the schedule also features two of the year’s big upset darlings with No. 13 seed Furman and 15 seed Princeton looking to establish themselves as true Cinderellas of punching a ticket to the tournament’s second weekend.
No. 1 seeds from the West Region (Kansas), Midwest Region (Houston) and South Region (Alabama) all face tough tests with their seasons on the line, and each has their own concerns about performing to their peak potential. Throw in the expansive reach that comes with programs like Duke, UCLA, Texas and Penn State, AND Saturday’s second round will demand the attention of sports fans everywhere no matter how broken someone’s bracket might be.
LIVE updates: Stay tuned for live scores and highlights from the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.
Here are some of the biggest stories to keep in mind for Saturday’s second-round action.
Princeton, Furman seems to live in magical seasons
For the third straight season, a 15 seed upset a No. 2 seed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The last two — Oral Roberts in 2021 and Saint Peter’s in 2022 — won their next game and advanced to the Sweet 16. That’s the challenge now for 15-seed Princeton, which broke the bracket open with its upset win against No. 2 seed Arizona on Thursday. Princeton has not reached the Sweet 16 since the tournament expanded, with its best finish coming from a Final Four appearance in 1965. The Tigers made Round of 32 appearances in 1983, 1996 and 1998, but lost in each of those games. Head coach Mitch Henderson was a Princeton player on the 1996 and 1998 teams, and now he’s looking to lead his alma mater to new tournament heights when the Tigers face 7-seed Missouri.
Furman may have delivered one of the best shots and most exciting moments we’ll get in the entire tournament with his game-winning steal and 3-pointer in the final seconds against 4-seed Virginia. The Paladins, the 13 seed in the South Region, hadn’t won an NCAA tournament game since 1974, and before Thursday it was the only tournament win in program history. Furman’s effort to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time since the tournament expanded will begin Saturday’s action when the Paladins face 5-seed San Diego State.
Availability questions for Alabama, Houston and Kansas
All three No. 1 seeds in action Saturday carry a significant amount of intrigue, at best, and unease, at worst, surrounding their teams heading into second-round games. First is No. 1 overall seed Alabama, which saw freshman All-American Brandon Miller go scoreless in the tournament opener in part because of a hamstring injury that kept Nate Oats from using him much in the Crimson Tide’s 96-75 win against Texas A&M- Corpus Christi. It was the first time Miller was held scoreless all season, even though he played just 18 minutes. While he is expected to play in Alabama’s second-round game against Maryland, he was again limited during the Crimson Tide’s practice on Friday. Houston began the tournament with injury concerns surrounding star guard Marcus Sasser, and those concerns were brought back to the fore when he re-aggravated his groin injury in the Cougars’ opening-round win against Northern Kentucky. Making matters worse was a knee injury suffered by fellow guard Jamal Shead, although both players indicated after the game that their plan is to play Saturday against Auburn.
Then we have Kansas, which isn’t dealing with player availability issues, but instead questions about whether two-time national championship coach Bill Self has returned to the sidelines. Self, who underwent a heart procedure and missed the entire Big 12 Tournament as well as the Jayhawks’ first-round win against Howard, has been considered “day-to-day” to return as the team’s in-game coach. . He has been with the team for training and some meetings, but whether he will practice against Arkansas has not yet been decided.
Game of the Day: (1) Kansas vs. (8) Arkansas
What an absolutely delightful second-round matchup between the reigning national champions and an Arkansas program that has reached back-to-back Elite Eights under Eric Musselman. This will test Kansas’ ability to mix and match lineups, making Self’s availability especially notable as Norm Roberts could be tasked with orchestrating the substitution patterns against a long and athletic Arkansas rotation. Nick Smith, the Razorbacks’ first-year superstar, didn’t even have a particularly strong game in the win against Illinois, and the team still went almost wire-to-wire thanks to tenacious defense and strong showings from Ricky Council, Davonte Davis and Anthony Black. Kansas was exquisite in its tournament opener against Howard with freshman star Gradey Dick flying all over the floor, totaling 19 points and 11 rebounds to lead the way. The 96 points scored are the most by Kansas in a tournament game since 2017 and the most by a reigning champion in the next tournament game since Florida in 2007 – the first win in the Gators’ back-to-back title runs.
Ultimately, Kansas’ ability to advance to the Sweet 16 may hinge not on Bill Self’s availability, but the play of key veterans: point guard Dajuan Harris and Big 12 Player of the Year Jalen Wilson. The oddsmakers have this point spread one of the tightest lines a 1 seed has faced in the second round in years, and if those expectations pan out, it will come down to a stop and shoot in the final minutes.
Check out the full TV and streaming schedule for Saturday’s second round of the NCAA Tournament below.
