From The Sports Desk: Cinderella’s rough weekend

Entering yesterday afternoon, the magic of the NCAA Tournament seemed to be on life support.

Entering yesterday afternoon, the magic of the NCAA Tournament seemed to be on life support. Through the first three and a half days, there had been lots of blowouts and no real Cinderella stories. Then came two spectacular finishes: St. John’s beating Kansas at the buzzer, and Iowa knocking off No. 1 seed Florida, the defending national champs.

Just when we started to doubt … March Madness pulled us back in.

We dive into the topsy-turvy first weekend of the NCAA Tournament below, and our Rohan Nadkarni has more over at NBC News. Stay tuned for more coverage throughout the week, too, as the tourney rolls on.

St. John's guard Dylan Darling (0) celebrates with teammates after defeating Kansas a game in the second round of the NCAA college basketball tournament Sunday, March 22, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)Marcio Jose Sanchez / APFor lots of college basketball fans, what makes March Madness special is the seeming randomness of it. The small school that comes from nowhere. The player who becomes a folk hero. The Cinderella story. The feeling that anything can happen in any given game.

A few days in, this year’s NCAA Tournament had been largely lacking that element. More than one-third of the first-round games ended as blowouts, with a team winning by 20 or more points. On Friday, the favorites went a perfect 16-0 for the first time since 1992, according to ESPN. Imagine that: a March Madness day with no madness.