No. 1 UConn and No. 3 Houston made the NCAA Tournament selection committee look smart by eviscerating quality foes on Saturday in the hours after landing as projected No. 1 seeds in the NCAA March Madness Men’s Bracket Preview on CBS. But not every team named in the committee’s mock bracket exercise fared as well after earning recognition as one of the top 16 teams.
Just ask No. 2 seed Marquette. (Although, uh, I’d advise doing so at your own peril. The Golden Eagles did not have a good time on the road vs. No. 1 UConn. At all. Maybe give them some space.)
Of course, not every team in the top 16 went on the road to face a top-five foe, so it wasn’t all doom and gloom after earning flowers earlier in the day. The No. 1 seeds that played (Houston, UConn, Arizona) all won. So did all the No. 3 seeds (Baylor, Iowa State, Alabama and Duke.) And every non-Marquette No. 2 seed (UNC, Tennessee and Kansas) also won.
Beyond that things went a bit sideways. With some of the shakier teams who earned projected No. 4 seeds, two of them — Wisconsin and Auburn — suffered losses. So in addition to the carnage that comes with ranked teams stumbling there opened a path for more movement with Selection Sunday one month out. Things could change in that span, and if Saturday is any indication, things likely will change. College hoops is nothing if not unpredictable.
So to run through all the madness we experienced from a full Saturday slate we’ve compiled a handy list of winners and losers below to scroll through to help catch you up on a busy slate.
Loser: Auburn misfires in loss to Kentucky
In a 70-59 home loss to No. 22 Kentucky, No. 13 Auburn shot 17-of-55 from the floor (30.9%), which marked its lowest home field-goal percentage in eight years. The Tigers had the same amount of assists (11) as turnovers and never led. Auburn could’ve moved into second place in the SEC standings behind No. 15 Alabama…
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