March Madness: What to watch on Day 2

The first full day of the NCAA Tournament is in the books, and the madness is going on. Now the action switches to 16 new highly anticipated matches.

Eight games will take place across four cities Friday afternoon, starting with a meeting between no.

Other eight competitions in the four cities – Pittsburgh; Greenville, SC; Milwaukee; and San Diego – airs Friday night on four television networks: CBS, TNT, TBS, and truTV.

With so many games going on at the same time, it can be hard to keep track of everything – so here are some ideas for what to look for on a Friday.

Are the Ramblers ready for another deep run in March? They certainly have a few factors in their favor.

Ohio State enters Friday after losing two straight games and four of its last five. Two key players, Zed Key (ankle) and Kyle Young (sibling protocol), were evaluated on Thursday and were listed as playing time decisions. Together they combined for 16.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. Regardless, the Buckeyes still have EJ Liddell, the 6-foot-7 junior forward averaging 19.6 points and 7.9 rebounds, who is a projected first-round NBA draft pick, and freshman forward Malaki Branham, a projected second-round pick averaging 13.3 points and 3.6 rebounds. Ohio State has not reached the round of 16 since 2013.

The Ramblers, meanwhile, have reached the round of 16 in their last three NCAA tournament appearances and marched all the way to the Final Four in 2018. They are led by battle-tested senior guard Lucas Williamson, who averages 14 points, 5 points. Rebounds and 3 assists. Under first-year coach Drew Valentine, who was elevated to the role as Porter Moser left for Oklahoma last spring, Loyola excelled as a defensive-minded team, allowing just 5.8 passing points per game and 17th (allowing 61.7). Points per game). Ohio State averages 73.8 points per game.

The big question is how Louisiana State players will react after their former head coach, Will Wade, was fired on Saturday after the school filed a note on NCAA allegations in connection with his involvement in the FBI investigation into bribery in college basketball received. Kevin Nickelberry, a former head coach at Hampton and Howard, is the interim coach.

“Of course, they were heartbroken, but these guys are resilient, they know the task at hand and we will love them and make sure they know that at the end of the day the difficulty brings us together, brings us closer.” , Nickelberry said Sunday.

He added: “We will play together, we will play for LSU, we will play for their families, and more importantly, we will play with integrity and with character.”

The Tigers are led by second striker Tari Eason (16.9 points per game, 6.7 rebounds per game) and senior striker Darius Days (13.7 points per game, 7.7 rebounds per game). is to provide the guidance after a tumultuous. few days for the program.

After winning just two games under Steve Prohm a year ago, Iowa State withdrew first-year coach TJ Otzelberger this season to win 20 games. The Cyclones ran out of the gates to a 12-0 start, just to end the season 8-12. The Cyclones are led by senior guard Izaiah Brockington, who averages 17.2 points and 7.1 rebounds.

Long journey, fast turn.

As Paul Atkinson’s backlog lay in to seal Notre Dame’s 89-87 double overtime victory over Rutgers in the play-in round, it was 12:02 early Thursday morning. The game was played at 9:36 a.m. Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio.

“You notice that Paul’s shot came in at 12:02 on St. Patrick’s Day, so maybe there was a bit of karma there,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey joked. “If there’s going to be a better game in the NCAA tournament, I need to see it.”

Notre Dame’s reward was a 2,165-mile trip to San Diego – on a date with No. 6 Alabama at 4:15 p.m. Friday.

“Let’s move that game back!” Brey said before adding, “We’ll get our legs under us by Friday afternoon, but we need time to do that.”

The Fighting Irish come into Friday’s matchup as 4-point underdogs, but they have a story on their side. Since 2011, and every year except one – 2019 – a team that started the tournament in the play-in round has progressed not only to round 32, but to round 16.

On Thursday, three other teams advanced from the play-offs were still alive: No. 12 Indiana, No. 16 Texas Southern and No. 16 Wright State.

Indiana lost, 82-53, to St. Louis. Wright State plays Arizona, a No. 1 seed, Friday night.

Programs that started in play-in games reached the Final Four twice (UCLA in 2021 and Virginia Commonwealth in 2011).

Halen and Aa on the Big Ten.

A year ago, the Big Ten Conference placed nine teams in the NCAA Tournament, including five top-four seeders: Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio State and Purdue. Of the nine teams on the conference, only Michigan advanced to the 8th round.

Nine Big Ten teams were part of the 68-team field again this year, the most of any conference. The league also placed three players on the five-man Associated Press All-America team: Kofi Cockburn of Illinois, Johnny Davis of Wisconsin and Keegan Murray of Iowa, while Purdue’s Jaden Ivey made the second team at Ohio State Liddell who made the third team.

But the question this year will be whether the Big Ten, which has not won an NCAA Championship since Michigan State’s victory over Florida in 2000, will be able to advance several teams deep into the tournament. Or even just one.

Notre Dame had already eliminated the Rutgers before Iowa, a No. 5 seed, lost its first round on Thursday to 12 Richmond (Richmond is 9-0 at No. 12 or less).

Several of the league’s showcase teams play Friday, including No. 3 Purdue, No. 3 Wisconsin, No. 4 Illinois, No. 7 Ohio State and No. 7 Michigan State. Wisconsin, which faces No. 14 Colgate, and Michigan State, who have drawn No. 10 Davidson, could face surprisingly tough tests.

Wright State, who faced top-seed Arizona in San Diego on Friday night, have lost seven of their first nine games this season. That was far easier than the other losses the team faced.

Coach Scott Nagy’s father, Dick, died last fall. Then, just after the season started, one of the brothers in a family Scott Nagy lived with in high school also died.

“I lost my father and, really, one of my brothers in about a month period,” Nagy said. “And we made a terrible start. And I was not in a very good place emotionally, mentally, spiritually. And so I was not helped much when we started that bad start.

Dick Nagy has coached for 33 years, including 17 as an assistant to Illinois coach Lou Henson. His grandson TJ Nagy, Scott Nagy’s son, is a junior guard at Wright State near Dayton, Ohio.

There was more sad news. At the end of January, the center AJ Braun’s father died unexpectedly. Start guard Tanner Holden lost a grandfather during the season, and redshirt senior James Manns lost a grandmother. The father of one of the Raiders recruits from Ohio died around Thanksgiving, Nagy said.

The Raiders adopted the motto “Brotherhood Over Basketball”, and the still-rough emotions erupted as they snatched an automatic NCAA tournament spot by defeating Northern Kentucky, 72-71, in the Horizon League Tournament championship game.

“You walk around some of the parents and you just see the cry,” Scott Nagy said.

The Raiders beat Bryant, 93-82, in a play-in game Wednesday in Dayton to earn the right to face Arizona as the No. 16 seed.

Maximize your monitoring strategy.

The first two games of the day on CBS should be thrilling, with Loyola Chicago vs. Ohio State, followed by No. 2 Villanova, the Big East Conference tournament champion, and No. 15 Delaware. Keep an eye out for fifth-year Villanova point guard Collin Gillespie, who is one of the most experienced ground generals in college basketball.

At 16:15, flip over to TNT to see how Brey and Notre Dame are against Alabama – and remember the game at 16:30 on TBS between no. Tournament Finale, an Nr.

Stay up late Friday to see if Colgate or Davidson can pull off the awards, and then end your day of madness with the nightcap, No. 8 Seton Hall vs. No. 9 Texas Christian, from San Diego at 9:57 p.m. Eastern.

Scott Miller Report contributed.