It was a Mad, Mad, Mad finish

Good morning! The Big Ten has six teams in the Sweet 16. Did you have that many in your bracket?

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Sunday packed in plenty of late Madness

The NCAA Tournament might’ve lacked for lots upsets thus far, but it’s made up for it in drama — especially on Sunday night.

First it was St. John’s blowing a big lead against Kansas, then getting a buzzer-beating game-winner. Tennessee’s win over 3-seed Virginia came down to the final minute, then Iowa took out the first 1 seed of the tournament by beating reigning champion Florida.

This was all in about 150 minutes of actual time.

After all that, it wasn’t a huge surprise that Utah State pushed Arizona in the second half or that UCLA hung with UConn for 35 minutes. It was that kind of night.

Also? We’re headed for some classic Sweet 16 games.

1. South Region: No back-to-back titles this season

The South’s lone game of the day was not only the biggest upset of the weekend, but the first real bracket buster of 2026. Iowa’s 73-72 win over Florida will be the one everybody discusses on Teams/Zoom today. It’s the ninth time a 9 seed has beaten a 1 seed, and the first since 2018 when FSU topped Xavier.

And it was quite the physical, demanding game. This was just 11 minutes in! Alex Condon and Alvaro Folgueiras both received technical fouls.

Give credit to Iowa (23-12), which had to navigate Florida hounding star guard Bennett Stirtz. He finished with 13 points on 5-of-16 shooting — including 0-of-9 from deep — and had five assists and zero turnovers in 40 minutes. He said afterward that he was looking for Folgueiras on the game-winner.

Star turn: I’m picking two. Folgueiras hit the game-winning 3 and finished with 14 points, while freshman Cooper Koch was just as big. He only averages 7.7 ppg, but hit 4-of-6 3-pointers, finished with 12 points and was essential to pulling the Florida defense away from the basket. Maybe it’s in his blood.

Scores:

• (9) Iowa 73, (1) Florida 72 — The Gators (27-8) had a lead with 5:12 left, but only made two field goals the rest of the game. Iowa did well protecting the glass (Florida only had nine offensive rebounds) and got enough production elsewhere (Tavion Banks scored a team-high 20 points) to make up for it. Iowa became the first team to shoot over 70% from inside the arc in 144 games against Todd Golden-coached Gators teams. And remember, this was 48 hours after Florida had the second-largest win in NCAA Tournament history when it beat Prairie View A&M 114-55.

Final note: Eight of the last nine reigning champs have lost in the Round of 32.

What’s next: Iowa’s headed to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999 where it’ll face first-time Sweet 16 visitor Nebraska. The two split their games this season. It’ll also be the first Big Ten vs. Big Ten second week or later matchup since 2000.

2. East Region: Big East prevails

No other place to start than Dylan Darling and St. John’s.

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