What happened in the NCAA Tournament second round: Princeton advances, Kansas upset and more

• Big East — 3
• SEC — 3
• Big 12 — 2
• AAC — 1
• ACC— 1
• Big Ten— 1
• CUSA — 1
• Ivy — 1
• MWC — 1
• Pac 12 — 1
• WCC — 1

Notably, that’s five teams from outside the Power 6 conferences.

Gonzaga is back in the Sweet 16, mostly because Drew Timme made sure of it. On a night when that reality was at least a little in peril, the Zags star went for 28 points and eight rebounds in an 84-81 win over TCU. The margin was not quite that close — the Horned Frogs hit a buzzer-beater 3-pointer — though there were enough nerves generated by poor first-half 3-point shooting for the Zags and the general speed and orneriness of the Horned Frogs.

But as it's wont to do, Gonzaga reset, hitting 52.9 percent from the floor after the break -- making six 3s along the way. Rasir Bolton in particular awoke, going for 13 of his 17 points in the second half. Whatever juice TCU had for about three-quarters of the game petered out in a stretch of miss after miss, and the Zags duly extended the lead by being the vastly more efficient team.

And now we get a Gonzaga-UCLA regional semifinal in Las Vegas, and a rematch of a fateful Final Four matchup in 2021, with Timme's career on the line.

(Photo: Michael Ciaglo / USA Today)

Mike Miles Jr. hit a pullup jumper midway through the second half, then slapped his thigh as he got ready to defend for TCU. It was as ominous as it looked. The next trip down Miles hit a step-back 3, getting him to 20 points on the night with 12 minutes still to play. An in-rhythm Mike Miles is a problem for Gonzaga. He's the kind of singular force that can carry the Horned Frogs on his back. We'll see if Mark Few has any ways to mix things up in a game that seems like it will come down to nothing more than players making individual plays at the end.

Some very 2021 NCAA Tournament final vibes here in the second round of the 2023 event, with Gonzaga on the floor and a different Big 12 opponent looking a lot faster and meaner.

TCU hasn't so far performed quite the evisceration that Baylor did on that night, leading by a modest 38-33 count at halftime. But there's no question which team has been the more assertive, and which team looks a little out of sorts.

The No. 3 seed Zags have missed 12-of-14 3-pointers and have gotten zero consistent offense outside of Drew Timme, who had 11 first-half points but missed the final few minutes with two fouls. The six missed free throws aren't helping, either.

Not when Mike Miles, Jr., looks like he's taking this personally and setting the tone. Miles has 10 points, three assists and a steal, and the Horned Frogs are humming along at 1.027 points per possession so far.

And so the Big Ten, which tied the SEC for the most bids in this NCAA Tournament (eight) is down to one school left in the Sweet 16: No. 7 seed Michigan State.

It’s yet more fodder for critics of the league, which has continually stumbled in March despite receiving as many or more bids as any other conference. Just think about where the Big Ten would be without Tom Izzo, who led the Spartans to the league’s last national title in 2000.

ALBANY, N.Y. –– After his coach called a timeout, Miller Kopp took an inbounds pass and promptly traveled. Which was only the beginning of the problem.

On Miami’s next possession, Norchad Omier missed a layup and then hustled over the weakside of the basket, chased down his own rebound, and saved it from going out of bounds. Jordan Miller than scored.

If a handful of seconds can be emblematic of a game, that was all of it a nutshell. Miami played with verve and swag.

Indiana looked flat and even tight. The Hurricanes chased. The Hoosiers didn’t. Isaiah Wong carved up IU’s guards. Omier ate up the glass. It’s just not complicated.

Miami’s 85-69 victory wasn’t even as close as the decisive 16-point margin. This was an old fashioned butt whooping by a team.

So effortless did Miami’s game seem, I’m not sure Jim Larranaga ever took his hands out of his pants pocket. He was the absolute picture of calm, seemingly well aware that his team had this game in hand from the opening tip.

Nowhere was the difference more glaring than on the boards. Miami flat-out punked the Hoosiers.

Never a great defensive rebounding team, the Hoosiers were thoroughly exposed, dusted 48-31, giving up a ridiculous 29 second-chance points. Some of the rebounding issues were positioning; most were just effort.

Omier finished with 17 by himself, while Isaiah Wong dunked and swished his way to 27 points.

Now, a year after losing to Kansas in the Elite Eight, Miami returns to the Sweet 16. The Hurricanes will take on No. 1 seed Houston in Kansas City.

Miami on an 18-3 run, now leads the Hoosiers by 12 at the under 8 time out.

Indiana is in pretty deep.

Davis had the game of his life en route to a Sweet 16 berth. In his postgame interview, his reasoning behind his performance was simple:

"I'm just trying to feed my family, that's all."

"Our confidence as a team is through the roof right now. Even though we experienced that little setback against Marquette (in the Big East tournament), I think our confidence is through the roof."

The Huskies naturally experienced a dip in confidence after losing five of six in January. But they looked unshakeable in Albany against Iona and Saint Mary's, outscoring the Gaels and, well, Gaels, 89-49 in the second half. (UConn has to be the first team to beat two Gaels teams in one NCAA Tournament, right?)

"It felt like a home game in a sense," Karaban said of the team's second half runs — and the MVP Arena crowd was definitely pro-UConn. "It feels like we’re unbeatable."

We have reached the “discussing NYC traffic and various routes from North Jersey to Madison Square Garden” portion of the FDU-FAU broadcast.

Which means you know there’s a very real possibility FDU can win this game.