March Madness, Ncaa Tournament | featured news

Chris Allen led four Cyclones in double figures with 20 points, and Iowa State scored their final 14 at the free throw line Thursday night to beat Connecticut 77-64.

The Cougars rallied despite being dominated in the first half. The Hilltoppers are the only team in the tournament with a losing record.

This is the time of the year when everyone can channel their inner Dick Vitale. Just make sure not to startle your co-workers if you start yelling, "Awesome, baby!" Everyone in the entire country, starting on Selection Sunday when the NCAA Tournament brackets are revealed, becomes a college basketball expert. From President Obama to that annoying woman in accounting who lets her corgie make the picks (and still somehow wins the office pool), we're all about to pretend we know more about Cinderella than the prince himself.

An 11-game postseason run that was equal parts stunning and historic ended with a championship as Connecticut defeated the Butler Bulldogs.

When the options boil down to winning or heading home, nobody's better than Kemba and Connecticut....

With Kemba Walker struggling, the Huskies showed they were far from a one-man team.

Of course Butler erased a late deficit. Of course the Bulldogs hit a clutch 3-pointer late in overtime. Of course they're going back to the Final Four.

The Big East was a bust. The Jimmer lived up to the hype. There are plenty of 10s, 11s and 12s left in the bracket, along with a handful of talented freshmen and a few familiar faces from Tobacco Road. The second week of the NCAA tournament will be sprinkled with the typical blend of favorites and underdogs, the familiar and the obscure, with a notable lack of Big East flavor in that mix.

Bernard James scored 14 points, Michael Snaer added 13 and Florida State showed there's more to its game than defense with a 71-57 upset of second-seeded Notre Dame on Sunday night that put the Seminoles in the regional semifinals for the first time since 1993.

Washington led for much of the game, but North Carolina went ahead with just over four minutes remaining and managed to hang on.