College Basketball Weekly: The stage is set for an EPIC second weekend

With many of college hoops’ top teams advancing throughout the weekend, the stage is set for a Sweet 16 and remainder of the NCAA tournament full of elite matchups.

Just in the next round, we get Florida vs. Maryland, Kentucky vs. Tennessee, Houston vs. Purdue, and several other awesome contests. Sure, there’s no mid-major poison pill like FAU or Loyola Chicago breaking up brackets, but that means we have a whole lot of high-end basketball on the way after a solid round two set up a star-studded round three.

For our College Basketball Weekly post, we’ll touch on the biggest storylines from each region, starting with the No. 1 overall seed over in the South:

South

Mark Titus really put it best about this Michigan group when he pointed out their knack for luck on his podcast following their narrow victory over Texas A&M to advance to the second weekend in Dusty May’s first season with UM.

“Being lucky this many times means this is just who you are; you find a way to win these games,” Titus explained.

“Having said all that, you watch Tre Donaldson with the shot clock winding down going one-on-one for 20 straight seconds not being able to beat his defender, getting walled up left and right, finally just throwing it up from his hip at the buzzer and it going in… Only for Texas A&M’s ensuing possession, to get their best player a wide-open 3, a guy whose jersey they put in the rafters when his career isn’t even over, and 99% of that ball is down and then it pops out… I don’t know how you don’t believe it’s luck!”

Somehow, Coach May found the magic again in March and is on to the Sweet 16 just two years to the month after leading FAU on an unthinkable Final Four run.

They’ll meet Auburn, who sailed past their first and second-round games with the expected ease. But on the heels of three losses in four games for the No. 1 overall seed entering the tourney, you wanted to see the Tigers completely enforce their will against the lesser competition. Yet, they were hardly more than “fine” by their lofty season-long standards.

Meanwhile, Michigan State continued taking care of business vs. Bryant and New Mexico as Tom Izzo returns to the Sweet 16, where he’ll get a hot Ole Miss club that ran 3-seeded Iowa State out of the building.

East

Duke, man. Just personally, I’d say the East’s top seed is on a warpath toward the national championship trophy. Cooper Flagg is easily the most complete freshman basketball player since Anthony Davis and he’s a constant playmaker on both ends of the court, surrounded by the UConn formula: a triad of beefy 6’5 guards that can shoot and defend + an NBA lottery pick 7-footer to protect the rim.

Facing them, Arizona emerged victorious in a vintage Pac-12 shootout over Oregon to set up a rematch of a game the Blue Devils won handily in Tucson. But after a rocky start in non-conference play, the Wildcats rounded into better form late in the year and have the requisite size to compete with Duke’s horses in another go-around.

The bottom half here holds plenty of intrigue as well. BYU is about as hot as any team below the top two seed lines and just advanced past a high-powered Wisconsin team to set up a popcorn matchup vs. Alabama. Expect points, 3-point attempts at high volume, athleticism, some horrible turnovers, and plenty of possessions. What’s more: BOTH of these squads have the physical makeup to at least contend with Duke, especially the Tide.

West

Groans of a boring first weekend rang out online after Thursday and Friday failed to produce a truly electrifying end-of-game play, but Sunday evening finally delivered the buzzer-beater fans thirsted for. You could argue Colorado State and Maryland provided two for one: first the great game, but then a late 3-pointer by Jalen Lake off a beautiful out-of-bounds play gave the Rams a one-point edge with just under four seconds to play.

Then, on Maryland’s final go, Derik Queen slithered past a screen and received the inbounds pass, drawing perfect defense from former Purdue stalwart Ethan Morton, who followed the 6-foot-11 Queen as he rumbled down the lane and rose to take a runner from the left side of the hoop, barely escaping Morton’s wingspan with the final fling of the ball, which kissed the glass and slid into the hoop as the backboard’s red ring lit up to end Colorado State’s season and extend Maryland’s.

DERIK QUEEN AT THE BUZZER TO SEND MARYLAND TO THE SWEET 16 🤯@JonRothstein | #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/oh4okfDc3X

— FanDuel Sportsbook (@FDSportsbook) March 24, 2025

The Crab Five clawed their way to MD’s first second weekend since 2016. They’ll face a Florida team that smashed through No. 16 seed Norfolk State and then withstood a worthy title defense from UConn, who gave the 1-seeded Gators all they could handle in the matinee loss Sunday.

At the bottom of the bracket, wouldn’t you believe it, John Calipari and Arkansas are back to the second weekend. Calipari’s rotten run of 2020s results in March finally snapped, and perhaps none other than Rick Pitino is the perfect antidote. The first-year Razorback coach owned Pitino when they two headed up respective sides in the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry and disaster struck for the Johnnies on Saturday thanks to 28% shooting from the field.

The Hogs now get a Texas Tech team featuring the sort of offensive firepower that’s given Arkansas issues against the elites of the SEC. They beat St. John’s at their own game and only knocked down two 3-pointers in the victory, but will need much more production in what’s sure to be a higher-scoring third-round matchup.

Midwest

Houston ended Gonzaga’s ridiculous nine-season Sweet 16 streak and basically stole the honor for themselves, advancing to a sixth straight Sweet 16 of their own. Remember that Jordan Poole buzzer-beater that sent Michigan over Houston in the Round of 32 back in 2018 when the Wolverines ended as runner-ups to Villanova? That was the Cougars’ last loss before the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

Houston rode backseat to Purdue in passenger and UConn behind the wheel in last year’s national title picture, and injuries ended the Cougs early last March as they fell to Duke. This time around, they’re healthy getting a weaker Purdue group in a game they figure to be strongly favored in.

Once again, the bottom of this bracket has the real fun: Kentucky vs. Tennessee, part III. Oddly, the Volunteers come in the higher-seeded team but couldn’t figure out the Cats in the regular season, dropping the game in Knoxville to a UK team that didn’t have Lamont Butler or Andrew Carr, and then the one in Rupp Arena without Jaxson Robinson or without Butler down the stretch in that loss as well.

Are Las Vegas the fools favoring Tennessee to finally get the win? Or is there something to the saying that it’s hard to beat a team three times?