Last Updated on March 16, 2017 1:01 pm by admin
The Latest on the NCAA Tournament (all times EST):
12:36 p.m.
Indiana coach Tom Crean has been fired after nine seasons.
Athletic director Fred Glass announced the decision as the NCAA Tournament was beginning.
Crean won two Big Ten regular-season championships over the last five seasons but went 18-16 in 2016-17 and missed the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in nine years. That includes each of his first three seasons after he took over a gutted team following an NCAA scandal.
The 50-year-old Crean went 166-135 in nine seasons at Indiana.
—
12:17 p.m.
The NCAA Tournament is underway. One of the day’s biggest story lines is top-seeded Villanova starting its quest to become the first repeat national champion since Florida in 2007.
The Wildcats (31-3) open tournament play in Buffalo against Mount St. Mary’s (20-15) Thursday night.
Some of the most intriguing games on the tournament’s opening day will include 12th-seeded Middle Tennessee State (30-4) against Minnesota (24-9). The Blue Raiders stunned Michigan State last year as a No. 15 seed.
Ivy League champions Princeton (23-6) opened the tournament against fifth-seeded Notre Dame, while 13th-seeded Winthrop faces Butler in early action.
—
12:21 p.m.
The Princeton Tigers can boast one edge over the Fighting Irish in their first-round matchup.
The Tigers, seeded 12th in the West Region, beat Notre Dame in their last meeting.
It was an upset, in fact, as Princeton beat the then second-ranked Fighting Irish 76-62 on Jan. 3, 1977.
The schools have only met three times, with Notre Dame winning the other two meetings.
As it turns out, the West Region’s other game being played in Buffalo have a connection.
On the same night in 1977, West Virginia defeated Bucknell 112-71 in the last time those two schools met.