college basketball

While perennial favorites Duke may have suffered a stunning first round defeat in this year’s NCAA men’s tournament, the Blue Devils are still number one in the hearts of many college basketball fans.

Traditional college basketball powers Kentucky and Kansas each won regional finals on Sunday to join Ohio State and Louisville in the 2012 Final Four in New Orleans next weekend. Here’s a recap of Sunday’s regional final games:

Ohio State and Florida joined Big East powers Syracuse and Louisville in advancing to the regional finals of the 2012 NCAA tournament on Thursday. Here’s a recap of Thursday’s NCAA tournament games:

Ohio, Cincinnati and Xavier all won on Sunday to join Ohio State in the NCAA basketball tournament round of 16. Top-seeded North Carolina and Michigan State also won to advance to the regional semi-finals. Here’s a full recap of the day’s action in the NCAA tournament:

The higher-seeded team won every NCAA tournament game played in men’s Division I basketball on Saturday. Top seeds Kentucky and Syracuse were among the teams which advanced to the regional semifinal round next week. Here’s a recap of all of the NCAA tournament action from Saturday:

Higher-seeded teams won all but two games during Thursday’s play in the second round of the NCAA basketball tournament. VCU and Colorado were the only lower-seeded teams to record victories. Here’s a recap of all of the day’s action in the NCAA tournament:

The annual NCAA Tournament kicks off Tuesday with two games featuring lower seeds vying for a spot in the field of 64.

The country is rapidly approaching March Madness, an annual celebration of rabid sports fandom and hallowed college tradition. Every year, NCAA fans follow their alma mater or college they’d go to if grades and criminal records didn’t matter from hope and glory to everlasting victory or crushing defeat.

It was not a good week for ranked teams from western states as No. 11 UNLV, No. 13 San Diego State and No. 21 St. Mary’s all suffered multiple defeats. Meanwhile, No. 1 Kentucky and No. 2 Syracuse continued to dominate their conferences. Here’s what’s happening in college basketball:

No. 7 Duke, No. 8 Kansas and No. 9 Michigan State all lost this week. Those defeats should clear the way for still-undefeated No. 10 Murray State (23-0, 11-0 Ohio Valley) to race further up the AP NCAA men’s basketball poll. Here’s what’s happening in college basketball this week: