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March gladness
High Point, North Dakota State, Northern Iowa and Queens all clinched NCAA tourney berths on Sunday. Plus: Michigan tops Spartans again (with a Fears kick?), another wild day of tournament action, two ACC coaches ousted, previewing the SWAC tournament, and much more.
Mike Miller
March 09, 2026
Good morning! One week from today, we’ll have a bracket. Love this month.
In partnership with D1.relocation
1. Four more bids clinched, including a first-timer
Queens really earned that crown.
The Royals beat top-seeded Central Arkansas, 98-93, in overtime during Sunday’s ASUN championship game — despite 49 (!) points from Central Arkansas senior Camren Hunter.
It’s the first-ever NCAA Tournament berth for Queens, which only became a D-I program four years ago.
“It’s surreal for the entire university and the Charlotte community,” coach Grant Leonard said. “First year eligible and we’re dancing. It’s amazing.”
Queens (21-13) got a big game from Chris Ashby (34 points), though it nearly missed this chance. It led by 11 points with 3:25 remaining, but turned the ball over five times while Hunter dropped 20 points in that final span. Ashby responded by scoring the first five points of OT and Queens hit free throws to seal it.
Meanwhile, a pair of Panthers also claimed automatic berths.
Northern Iowa shot 63% from the field in an 84-69 win in the Missouri Valley title game over UIC for its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2016. Trey Campbell hit six 3-pointers and finished with 23 points for the Panthers (23-12). They won four games in four days for the fifth NCAA tourney appearance of coach Ben Jacobson’s career.
High Point (30-4) had no trouble with Winthrop in the Big South championship. Rob Martin scored 24 points, Cam’Ron Fletcher added 17 points and 19 rebounds as the Panthers set a program record for wins, and claimed back-to-back NCAA tourney berths, but this time it was under first-year coach Flynn Clayman.
They’ve won 22 of their last 23 games and have played into form.
“We made a lineup change. And I took a little bit of heat for that,” Clayman said. “We were just really small and had to go compete against these bigger, more physical teams. And then Cam, you know, he’s had an up-and-down year, but I told him ‘You’re gonna be the best guy on the floor when it matters most.'“
North Dakota State was the last tourney champ on Sunday night, outrunning in-state rival North Dakota, 70-62.
The Bison (27-7) swept the regular-season and tourney titles. They’ll be back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019, and for the third time in Dave Richman’s 12-year tenure as head coach. It should be the fourth time as NDSU won the Summit tourney in 2020, but you know. COVID.
"It's not about me. I'm happy for these guys," Richman said. “I go back to 2020. Those guys never got to experience the tournament. And the other guys that have been close.”
2. Michigan wins amid more Fears controversy + more results
No. 3 Michigan put the finishing touches on a superb regular season with a 90-80 win against No. 8 Michigan State on Sunday. Normally, that’d be the entire postgame focus.
Except Spartans guard Jeremy Fears Jr. dealt with another kicking incident.
