Penny Hardaway played in the 19 NCAA tournaments in his only two seasons as a player for the school then known as Memphis State. Their first-round game Friday in Columbus is against Montana State (25-9), the Big Sky champion in consecutive NCAA tourneys for the first time. 3 seed in its first NCAA Tournament since 2019.Īfter leaving Scott Drew's side at Baylor, where he had been an assistant coach for 19 years and part of the Bears' only national championship two years ago, Tang won 15 of his first 16 games and led the Wildcats to a 23-9 overall record while playing in the brutal Big 12. And I’m excited about it.”įirst-year coach Jerome Tang has Kansas State as the No. They’ve got to see me (and) saying, ’he is loose and ready to go” because they’re going to feed off of me.

For me, this has got to be a ball because they’re going to feed off of me. “But, you move on and you move to the next. And you know what, hurt like hell,” Calipari said.

“What happened last year, the first time in my career. 11 Providence (21-11) on Friday in Greensboro, North Carolina. The task now for big man Oscar Tshiebwe and the Wildcats is winning Kentucky's first NCAA Tournament game since 2019, a drought highlighted by last year’s epic first-round upset loss to No. That first-round game Thursday in Orlando, Florida, is on the same side of the bracket as fourth-seeded Tennessee (23-10) and Louisiana-Lafayette (26-7) in its first NCAA tourney since 2014.Ĭonsidering Kentucky (21-11) was teetering on the tournament bubble in January amid speculation of Hall of Fame coach John Calipari leaving for Texas, the Wildcats weren’t going to complain about its No. They play scoring ace Max Abmas and 12th-seeded Oral Roberts (30-4).Īfter spending last year as the coach-in-waiting for Mike Krzyzewski’s last Final Four run, Scheyer assembled the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class that's already got its first tournament trophy. The fifth-seeded Blue Devils (26-8) haven't lost since falling in overtime on the road against Virginia on Feb. Coach Tom Izzo and the Spartans are in their record 25th consecutive tournament.ĭuke, with some standout freshmen and 35-year-old rookie head coach Jon Scheyer, takes a nine-game winning streak into the tourney after beating Virginia in the ACC Tournament title game. If the Big East champion Golden Eagles win their opener, they would then play either No.

Double down casino fort knox