Big12Fan2024 said:

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NEWS: Houston’s Isiah Harwell intends to enter the transfer portal, his agents Anthony Fields and Rich Paul of @KlutchSports tell DraftExpress.

The former 5-star recruit played a 14-minute role off the bench for the 30-win Cougars as a freshman this season.

19-year-old Idaho… pic.twitter.com/6i0Z2diDvP

— Jon Chepkevich (@JonChep) March 30, 2026

Brick one falls. Flemings and Cenac, the other 5 stars, to the NBA draft are next. Get ready, Kelvin. You veered away from your traditional recruiting model and now you're about to find out how other schools have been forced to adjust rosters.

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"Well-proportioned" makes him sound like a house. "You'll love the layout on this new build, Isiah Harwell-style home!"

I'm surprised, Mitch finally called it. Took forever, this is the first real transfer loss they've had since the transfer to Texas. The kid last year to NC State wasn't developing.

Sampson held the line longer than anyone else. Someone needs to throw big $ at Tugler now. He can't get anything more out of the program..needs offensive development they can't give him.

Sports writer from Tucson

As it turns out, all it took for Arizona to get back to the Final Four was leaving the Pac-12. No more playing the Washington State’s and Oregon State’s of the college basketball world.

Playing in the Big 12 elevated the program to where it needed to be.

— Dane Miller (@DaneMiller_SWS) March 29, 2026

UConn is the only FBS public school in @Sportico's database that spends more money on basketball than football

And it sent both its men's and women's basketball teams to the Final Four this year pic.twitter.com/il0ce3y7PL

— Lev Akabas (@LevAkabas) March 31, 2026

LTBear19 said:

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Fre3dombear said:

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Biggest duke tourney collapse ever? Wow

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This one was bad, no doubt.

But last year's Final 4 game took the cake.

Yesterday's outcome ultimately came down to one bad play by a single player.

Despite the loss, it was only in the Elite 8, meaning Duke still had 2 more hurdles to overcome. And with the way they were playing, I doubt they would have cleared both.

Last year was a choke for the ages, however. And the whole team got in on the act.

Houston had ZERO business winning that game. They were down 6 with less than a minute to go, Duke had the ball, and the game was basically over.

About 7-8 things needed to go Houston's way in that final minute for them to pull off that miracle.

Duke Miss at Rim
Sharpe 3 After Stumbling to the Ground
Duke Turnover on Inbounds
Houston Putback Dunk
Duke Misses 1 and 1
Flagg Over the Back Foul on Roberts
Roberts Making Both Free Throws of 1 and 1 (He was Like 60% or so from the Stripe)
Flagg Mid-Range Jumper Miss

If any of those things go the other way, Houston loses.

Plus, Duke would have been huge favorites to beat Florida and win the whole thing.

So for as bad as yesterday was, last year's game was probably as painful as it gets.

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This most recent choke by duke was literally Kevin Steele Baylor (and now arandaesque)

🚨 Top 15 Projected NIL + Roster Spending for 2026-27 College Basketball

1. Kentucky (SEC) — $21M–$23M
2. BYU (Big 12) — $15M
3. Duke (ACC) — $14M
4. Arkansas (SEC) — $12.5M
5. Indiana (Big Ten) — $12M
6. Louisville (ACC) — $11.5M–$12M
7. Texas Tech (Big 12) — $11.5M…

— Conner Hale (@ConnerHaleSprts) April 2, 2026

Barf

NCAA leadership is expected to finalize an expansion of the men’s and women’s tournaments to 76 teams soon after this year’s tournament 🏀

The proposal would add eight games to the First Four, with 24 teams playing in an opening round before advancing into the main bracket.

Via… pic.twitter.com/GNp3bj4mAK

— Sports Business Journal (@SBJ) April 3, 2026

Was kind of looking like UConn had it on cruise control… But Illinois is making it interesting now

Wildcats starting out ice cold

This is the first time all year I've seen Arizona looked overwhelmed. I'm sure they'll settle down and start hitting some shots soon.

Arizona averaged only 10 TOs a game this year. They have 7 in the first 8 minutes of this game. Jaden Bradley is completely out of sync. That is not a good sign.

🏀 Dan Hurley's record in the NCAA tourney: 20-5
🏀 Dan Hurley's record over the last four tournaments: 18-1
🏀 Dan Hurley's record in the Final Four: 5-0
🏀 Dan Hurley's record in the national championship: 2-0 pic.twitter.com/vhmarD60t6

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 5, 2026

Finally. Some life out of Arizona. Ball movement is much better.

Wildcats have a pulse

Bradley's used his right arm all year long to create space on his dribble drives. They just didn't call it in Big 12 games. Tonight they're calling it and he already has 3 fouls in the first half.

Michigan's size is in Arizona's head. Arizona is rushing and missing short shots they hit all year along against shorter Big 12 teams.

The difference between the very average Elliot Cadeau I watched at UNC versus this version is staggering.

They are getting their ass handed to them. Thought this one would be close and entertaining.

Wildcats gonna need to figure something out in the locker room.

Arizona has been horrible on put backs

This is Baylor - Houston semi-final from 2021. This game is over at the half. Arizona may chip away and get it closer but they have no response for Michigan's size. They are completely intimidated. Kinda embarrassing the team who won the Big 12 handily is getting routed this badly. In basketball even the best teams have a game here or there where they underperform and it looks like Arizona picked the wrong time to have their's. Makes me appreciate even more how we manhandled teams on the way to our Natty.

Big12Fan2024 said:

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Michigan's size is in Arizona's head. Arizona is rushing and missing short shots they hit all year along against shorter Big 12 teams.

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Yep, Illinois v Houston repeat on steroids with a better team. Michigan would be up 30 if Yaxel was healthy

Completely running them off the court.

boognish_bear said:

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IowaBear said:

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Who does everyone have winning their bracket ? I wound up with Houston

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I ended up very B12 biased and have Duke, Az, UH, and ISU in the FF...and Az beating Duke in the final.

Joshua injury not gonna help that ISU run.

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I regret my B12 bias

I realize a couple of the teams were missing key players (ISU, Tech), but few people are gonna remember that 3 months from now. The Big 12 is probably gonna take a reputational hickey for performance in this tournament.

Arizona (losing by 20+ points right now)
Tech blown out by 25
ISU lost by 14
Houston lost by 10

The 4 best programs in the conference all getting eliminated by double digits. Yikes!


Kansas, TCU and BYU didn't make it past the first weekend (although none were expected to make it)

Arizona's loss means that the Big 12 stays at three national championships since the inception of the conference, which was 1996.

Kansas 2008, Baylor 2021, Kansas 2022.

That's it. That's the list.

Texas Tech 2019 and Houston 2025 couldn't have been closer, but no cigar.

— Rock Chalk Blog (@RockChalkBlog) April 5, 2026

Michigan's record in the National Championship game: 1-6

UConn's record in the National Championship game: 6-0 pic.twitter.com/aik3zJ8rPk

— Underdog (@Underdog) April 5, 2026

Big12Fan2024 said:

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I realize a couple of the teams were missing key players (ISU, Tech), but few people are gonna remember that 3 months from now. The Big 12 is probably gonna take a reputational hickey for performance in this tournament.

Arizona (losing by 20+ points right now)
Tech blown out by 25
ISU lost by 14
Houston lost by 10

The 4 best programs in the conference all getting eliminated by double digits. Yikes!


Kansas, TCU and BYU didn't make it past the first weekend (although none were expected to make it)

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The "Big 12 physicality" narrative is a bit overblown imo. Houston and Iowa play like maniacs.. true. But Arizona was the most physically dominant team this year -- and they got manhandled last night.

There are teams that can match the physicality of the league. Big 12 teams overwhelm lesser talented opponents with ridiculous effort, but when that physicality is matched, they often struggle to get over the hump.

UConn is getting hosed with foul calls that aren't going both ways.

Michigan looks like Land of the Giants.

Been a good one so far

Anyone who doesn't think coaching and development still matter in the era of the transfer portal should look no further (or is it farther) than Mara of Michigan. He looked awful at UCLA under Cronin. He's turned into a good basketball player at Michigan under May and his staff.

UConn's back-up center is not ready for a game like this. He's getting completely dominated. Reed is gonna have to play or UConn is done.