Men’s March Madness 2024: second-round tournament takeaways

When Creighton walked off the court at the end of double-overtime with a hard-earned victory over Oregon, it capped the end of a strangely predictable day.

Every higher seed won on Saturday except one. Even the exception wasn’t exactly what you’d call a plucky underdog.

No. 5 seed Gonzaga reached its ninth straight Sweet 16 by brushing aside No. 4 seed Kansas. The Bulldogs were actually favored in a game where the Jayhawks were playing without Kevin McCullar Jr.

Of course, “higher seed” includes the No. 11 seed NC State, who survived overtime and got past No. 14 seed Oakland. We’re not saying this bracket looks completely normal. Still, Saturday did go pretty much according to form.

Your big names are all still here: North Carolina, Arizona, Iowa State, Tennessee, Creighton and Illinois.

Will Sunday follow the same pattern? There are 24 teams remaining, and anything can happen.

Scroll to read our breakdown of every game of the first day of the men’s round of 32 — and what the results mean for the rest of the tournament. Check your bracket here.

Can anyone stop DJ Burns Jr.? The short answer: No. Burns scored 24 points and grabbed 11 boards in the overtime win, fighting through double and triple teams. When he couldn’t muscle his way to the rim, he passed it out to the shooters freed up by the defensive crush around him and recorded four assists. Burns’ double-double was just his second this season, his first since Dec. 12 against UT Martin. After the game, Burns nodded as NC State coach Kevin Keatts described the game as a “boxing match.” He said he made a choice not to get in his feelings when he could’ve gotten frustrated about a lack of foul calls, and that made all the difference.

What the win means for NC State: Two weeks ago, the Wolfpack weren’t anywhere near the NCAA tournament. But this team, which finished 10th in the ACC’s regular season standings, is Sweet 16-bound. The Wolfpack were sloppy at times in the overtime win, but they showed grit in getting past an upset-minded Oakland team that eliminated Kentucky two days earlier. Along with Burns, four other Wolfpack players finished in double figures, and Mohamed Diarra snagged 11 rebounds. That newfound balanced offense and cohesion, Keatts said, is the difference in his team winning eight games between Jan. 1 and the end of the regular season, and seven games in 12 days in the postseason.

What the loss means for Oakland: Coach Greg Kampe said it best before Oakland’s first-round game: winning a game in the NCAA tournament would change his life, his players’ lives, the collective life of the university. Jack Gohlke, a Division II-graduate transfer and an unknown name outside of Rochester, Michigan before Thursday night, is March’s newest folk hero and NCAA tournament record holder for most 3-pointers in his first two tournament games. Even though Oakland’s dance is over, the shine from its first-round win will last forever. –…