The men's tournament began the second round as the women's tournament concluded the first round on Saturday.
While the day lacked in upsets, it delivered with starpower. On the women's side, Caitlin Clark made her tourney debut and nearly recorded a triple-double. On the other side of the bracket, UConn's Paige Bueckers made her triumphant return to the tournament after two years away due to injury. Freshmen phenoms JuJu Watkins and Hannah Hidalgo also made their tourney debuts with monster performances.
Takeaways from the first round of the women's tourney
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Final: Creighton 86, Oregon 73
The No. 3 Bluejays needed two overtimes to survive a valiant upset bid by No. 11 Oregon, but they will move on to the Sweet 16 to face No. 2 Tennessee!
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Creighton is winning the 2nd OT 15-2. Bluejays lead 86-73 with 35 seconds left.
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Bluejays have come out of the 2nd OT on 🔥🔥🔥 to take a 79-71 lead.
It's an 8-0 run to start the OT period. 1:44 to go.
The nightcap in the men's tournament has remained close throughout. Creighton responded to this run and has re-taken the lead, 47-46 at the under-12 timeout.
The Vols hang on after a furious second-half comeback by the Longhorns had things up in the air in the final seconds. As is usually the case, Dalton Knecht leads the way for Tennessee with 18 points and 9 rebounds.
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Texas' Hunter hits a 3 with 4.2 seconds left! The Longhorns still trail by 2.
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Texas' Max Abmas had a tough look from 3 but it hits off the rim and Tennessee secures the rebound.
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Aidoo hits both free throws. Vols up 3.
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Texas is sending Tennessee to the line. The Longhorns are down 1 with 24.3 left.
This isn't good news for UCLA, which is a favorite non-No. 1 seed to make a run to the Final Four. The Bruins went 2-2 in early February when Betts missed four games for personal reasons. Should she miss more time, it could be good news for No. 1 seed Iowa in the Albany 2 regional. Betts, a 6-7 sophomore center, gave UCLA the advantage with a serious mismatch in the post.
Lauren Betts is OUT for UCLA today against Cal Baptist after tweaking something earlier in practice this week, according to a team spokesman. She's day to day.
The Illini are in complete control as that one heads to halftime. They're up 50-26 and three different Illinois players have 10+ points at the break.
Cassandra Negley
Feels like a redemptive first-round win for Gonzaga. The Zags came into the tournament off that single-possession loss in the WCC championship game to Portland, a squad they crushed weeks earlier by 50. Maybe that will end up being a wake-up call.
Gonzaga shot near 50%, but most impressive is the 12 steals in this win against UC Irvine. That's tied for the second-most of their season. They had 14 against Santa Clara.
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Final: Gonzaga 75, UC Irvine 56
The Zags struggled early in this one but there was no doubt in the end as they blew out the Anteaters. Yvonne Ejim led Gonzaga with 25 points and 14 rebounds.
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Final: No. 11 NC State 79, No. 14 Oakland 73
No. 14 seed Oakland and folk hero Jack Gohlke put up a heck of a fight, but 11 seed NC State dominated overtime to move onto the Sweet 16! DJ Burns led the Wolfpack with 24 points, 11 rebounds.
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Wolfpack headed to the FT line up 77-70 with 17 seconds to go. It's about done here.
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Jayden Taylor's 3 puts NC State up 75-70. Wolfpack can taste the Sweet 16. 31 seconds to play.
The Bluejays won this one with ease, taking a seven-point lead in the first quarter and never looking back. Lauren Jensen and Emma Ronsiek led Creighton with 25 and 23 points, respectively.
Heading into Conference Championship Weekend, Dan Wetzel, Ross Dellenger and SI's Pat Forde react to the latest College Football Playoff Rankings. They discuss the surprising move of Alabama landing in the bracket and how the conference championship games could dramatically impact the final rankings.
"I'm living it up in the truck right now," Prescott told Yahoo Sports. He also watched the Cowboys' most recent game from the coaches booth for an interesting reason.
"[I’m] almost feeling helpless like I can’t help him in this situation, especially a guy you believe in so much and you believe in being your head coach,” Prescott told Yahoo Sports.