NCAA Tournament

It wasn't pretty, but Drake is advancing in the NCAA tournament. 

Led by a strong showing from Joseph Yesufu, the Bulldogs knocked off Wichita State, 53-52, in First Four action.

Wichita State had a chance to win the game down one after Yesufu missed the front end of a one-and-one, but Alterique Gilbert's three at the buzzer hit the front of the rim and Drake survived. 

Be it nerves or just excellent defense, the two teams got off to a sluggish start on the offensive end, with Wichita State taking a 21-20 lead into halftime. The Shockers shot just 28.1 percent in the first half, while the Bulldogs weren't much better at 30.8 percent. 

There was this Yesufu arena-rattling dunk to liven things up, however:

Things didn't exactly open up in the second half. Wichita State finished 3-of-18 from three and 11-of-22 from the free-throw line. Drake turned the ball over 13 times and had seven shots blocked. 

Hey, March Madness isn't always about free-flowing, beautiful basketball. Sometimes it's a backyard scrap. Drake will take the win, however ugly.

Key Stats

Joseph Yesufu, Drake: 21 points

Darnell Brodie, Drake: Nine points, 10 rebounds

Tremell Murphy, Drake: 11 points

Morris Udeze, Wichita State: 22 points

Tyson Etienne, Wichita State: One point, 0-of-6 from the field

Dexter Dennis, Wichita State: 13 points, seven rebounds

Joseph Yesufu Came to Play

Drake struggled mightily with Wichita State's defense throughout the game, but Yesufu repeatedly had an answer or a big shot up his sleeve. He carried the Bulldogs. 

Seriously, for the majority of this game Drake's offense was pretty putrid:

Hey, a win's a win. And Yesufu was excellent. Drake can thank him for carrying it to the first round. 

Tyson Etienne Had a Night to Forget

On a night when Wichita State's leading scorer, Etienne, struggled mightily from the field and got himself in foul trouble, Udeze tried to pick up the slack with arguably his best game of the season. 

It still wasn't enough. The Shockers relied on Udeze's big performance and a stout defensive showing to stay in the game. They desperately needed Etienne to provide a spark, however, and he simply couldn't find his rhythm. 

It was a tough way for him to end an otherwise excellent season. You can imagine he won't have to search far for inspiration this offseason.              

What's Next? 

Drake will face sixth-seeded USC on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET. 

Texas Southern secured the first win of the 2021 men's NCAA tournament with a 60-52 victory over Mount St. Mary's.

Thursday's First Four win sets the Tigers up for a Round 1 game against No. 1 Michigan in the East Region.

John Walker III had 19 points and nine rebounds for Texas Southern (17-8), which overcame a 10-point halftime deficit in the battle of 16 seeds at Assembly Hall in Bloomington Indiana. 

The Tigers hung on despite making just 10 of their 19 free throws.

As is usually the case in March Madness, a few plays made the difference. Joirdon Karl Nicholas came through with the biggest points of the game with just over two minutes remaining:

Mount St. Mary's (12-11) simply couldn't make enough shots down the stretch.

The SWAC tournament champions won their 10th straight to advance.

Notable Performances

John Walker III, F, TXSO: 19 points, 9 rebounds, 1 block

Jordan Gilliam, G, TXSO: 12 points, 4 rebounds

Damian Chong Qui, G, MSM: 14 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists

Mezie Offurum, F, MSM: 10 points, 16 rebounds, 2 blocks

Second-Half Surge Leads Texas Southern to Victory

Texas Southern looked dead in the water at halftime with just 20 points in the first 20 minutes.

It took less than four minutes to get the next 11 as the Tigers pushed the pace and found easier shots:

The outside shooting was a major difference, as the team made four of its first five shots from three-point range after halftime to take a four-point lead.

John Walker III was especially all over the place for Texas Southern, scoring inside and out while making big plays defensively:

He finished one rebound short of his first career double-double.

Walker helped Texas Southern outscore Mount St. Mary's 40-22 in the second half, more than enough to secure the win.

Poor Shooting Derails Mount St. Mary's

The first half went about as well as possible for Mount St. Mary's, which played outstanding defense to make everything difficult for Texas Southern.

Just as importantly, the squad found ways to turn defense into transition points:

It was a very different style between the two teams in the first half.

Damian Chong Qui remained a key player as the game continued, making a significant impact whether he was shooting or passing.

The guard led the team with 14 points, but he shot just 4-of-14 from the field.

This was a problem throughout the lineup as the Mountaineers finished 6-of-22 from three-point range. The inability to find the bottom of the net caused the lead to quickly evaporate in the second half.

It eventually meant Mount St. Mary's would be watching the rest of the tournament from home.

What's Next?

Texas Southern now has just one day to prepare for top-seeded Michigan as the teams face off in the round of 64 Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.

The NCAA did not dispute the accuracy of pictures that circulated on social media Thursday comparing the amenities available to players in the NCAA men's tournament to those available for players in the NCAA women's tournament.

The pictures showed a greater availability of training equipment for the men. They also showed differences in gifts that were presented to the players.

NCAA vice president Lynn Holzman released the following statement:

"We acknowledge that some of the amenities teams would typically have access to have not been as available inside the controlled environment. In part, this is due to the limited space and the original plan was to expand the workout area once additional space was available later in the tournament. However, we want to be responsive to the needs of our participating teams, and we are actively working to enhance existing resources at practice courts, including additional weight training equipment."

Players such as Sabrina Ionescu, A'ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum and CJ McCollum raised concerns on social media:

Molly Hensley-Clancy of the Washington Post reported the NCAA acknowledged the differences with one representative saying the initial thought was the smaller convention center available to the women would not have the space to accommodate larger weight rooms and facilities:

Henry Bushnell of Yahoo Sports noted men's teams are based in Indiana. Those teams in Indianapolis have a convention center with 12 practice courts and six full-size weight rooms that can be reserved.

The women's tournament is taking place in the San Antonio area.

Bushnell spoke to multiple coaches on the women's side who said they were told they would not have access to weight rooms until the Sweet 16.

Eight people tested positive for COVID-19 among the 9,100 tests administered ahead of the 2021 men's NCAA tournament.

The tests consisted of Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 personnel who will be in Indianapolis and its surrounding areas for the tournament, which begins Thursday. The NCAA previously announced seven positives out of 6,900 tests Wednesday, meaning one person tested positive over the last 24 hours. 

Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger announced Wednesday that guard De'Vion Harmon was among those who tested positive, which will keep him out of at least the first and second round.

Sixty-seven of the 68 teams are in Indianapolis. Virginia, which had to pull out of the ACC tournament due to a positive test, is the lone exception.

The NCAA announced Wednesday there will be no replacement teams. Louisville would have been the first team in line to play in place of any at-large team unable to participate because of COVID-19 protocols. However, the deadline for team replacement passed on Tuesday, and the opponent of any team unable to compete going forward will advance automatically to the next round.

Many teams in the field have been affected by the virus throughout the season, either via positive tests themselves or canceled/postponed games. 

There are a bunch of weird things about the bracket for the 2021 NCAA men's basketball tournament.

No Duke. No Kentucky. No Indiana. No Louisville. At least two of those four teams partook in each of the previous 44 NCAA tournaments. The last time all four missed the cut was in 1965 even though Duke finished that season at No. 10 in the AP poll and all four teams had winning percentages of .600 or better. The 23-team era of the NCAA tournament was...different.

No Kentucky, no Louisville and yes Rick Pitino (Iona) is even more bizarre.

Baylor as a No. 1 seed is a first. The Bears had not previously received a No. 1 or No. 2 seed and have not been to a Final Four since 1950. And Gonzaga as the favorite to win it all is a fun reality that some people simply cannot process because they refuse to believe a "mid-major" could ever be the best team.

However, before the tournament can truly begin on Friday, one of the strangest sights of the entire bracket will be Michigan State and UCLA battling in the First Four late Thursday night.

Let's be brutally honest: Since the NCAA expanded the field from 65 to 68 teams in 2011, the First Four has mostly felt like a gimmick.

Yes, VCU went from the First Four to the Final Four in that inaugural year. And yes, three other First Four teams (La Salle in 2013, Tennessee in 2014 and Syracuse in 2018) have made it into the Sweet 16. In fact, 2019 was the first time all of the First Four winners were immediately eliminated in the first round.

It's not part of the bracket 99.9 percent of us fill out, though.

Maybe you wait until after the First Four to submit your picks, but most people have already decided whether they think "MSU/UCLA" is good enough to beat BYU. And because the games aren't really a part of the totally-not-for-profit bracket pool you're in, it doesn't feel like they are truly part of the tournament, either.

Also, the nomenclature has been just plain annoying.

From 2011-15, the NCAA changed the naming convention for the first three rounds of the tournament, hoping we would all accept the First Four as the first round instead of calling them "play-in games." It was finally changed back to just First Four in 2016, but those five years will forever be confusing in the record books.

There's nothing like seeing that Creighton was eliminated from three consecutive tournaments (2012-14) in a round that no longer exists.

However, the First Four's biggest legitimacy problem hasn't been the naming, but rather the lack of big names.

We're never going to convince the average sports fan to care about the two games involving No. 16 seeds, but even the at-large play-in games haven't had much national appeal. Twenty-eight programs have been to at least 30 men's NCAA tournaments, and while one-fourth of them (BYU, Kansas State, Michigan, St. John's, Syracuse, Temple and UCLA) have taken part in a First Four game, there has never been a head-to-head game within that group.

Until now.

UCLA has won more national championships than any other program, and the last time Michigan State went more than four years between Final Four appearances was in the mid-1990s.

As far as Sports Reference's simple rating system is concerned, the Bruins and Spartans are, respectively, the fifth-best and 11th-best programs of all time.

Now, here they are, battling for the 64th and final (chronologically, at least) spot in the field.

No matter who wins, the brand name alone is going to make it feel like that team is a threat for the type of magical run VCU went on a decade ago. Between that and the fact that we need to wait later into the week than usual for the first games to begin—and because we didn't get to watch any March Madness last year—the anticipation for this First Four clash is palpable.

Which high-profile program takes the first step on a journey to win seven consecutive games, though?

Seven weeks ago, UCLA would have been the heavy favorite. At the beginning of February, the Bruins were 13-3 and looked like a Top 25 team. Meanwhile, the Spartans were 8-6 overall, had just come back from a lengthy COVID-19 pause and didn't appear capable of beating anyone.

Since then, however, the Bruins have lost six of 10 games while trying to adjust to life without their best big man, Jalen Hill, who has been away from the team for personal reasons since early February. The Spartans have been more successful with great home wins over Illinois, Ohio State and Michigan, but they have still been wildly inconsistent. All five of their losses since mid-February have come by double digits.

Suffice it to say, there's a reason these teams just barely made it into the tournament, and it's hard to know what to expect.

KenPom.com likes the Bruins, but only slightly. Those projections give UCLA a 55 percent chance of winning with an expected final score of 68-67.

Of course, KenPom doesn't account for the NCAA tournament history of the coaches in this matchup.

At 52-21 overall, Michigan State's Tom Izzo has been one of the most successful NCAA tournament coaches of all time. His teams always seem to hit their stride at the perfect time of year. The whole "January, February, Izzo" thing isn't just hot air; the man owns this month.

Then there's Mick Cronin, who has a 6-11 career record in the Big Dance. To be fair, he was coaching a No. 5 seed or worse in all but one of those tournament appearances, so multiple wins weren't to be expected in the vast majority of those trips. Still, during his time at Cincinnati, Cronin became synonymous with early exits from the tournament.

In a game the metrics say UCLA should win by one, is that difference enough to swing things in Michigan State's favor? Or is this the year Cronin finally silences the naysayers and puts UCLA back on the map as an annual contender?

I have no clue. This game is a complete coin flip, if only because there's no telling which version of Michigan State we're going to see on any given night.

But for the first time ever, I'm legitimately ecstatic about a First Four game.

Kerry Miller covers men's college basketball and college football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter, @kerrancejames.

By now, most basketball fans know which names to expect at the top of this year's NBA draft. Consensus No. 1 selection Cade Cunningham of Oklahoma State, Gonzaga's Jalen Suggs and Florida State forward Scottie Barnes are just a few of the expected first-round picks who are set to take part in the Big Dance.

But others may be flying under the casual fan's radar. These players might not put up the biggest numbers and may be coveted by NBA teams more for their potential at the next level than their production on this one. But they're out there, and next fall you could see them in the pros.

Here are the five players who are flying the lowest under the radar heading into the Big Dance and are also sending up plenty of blips for NBA scouts and draftniks. For draft positioning, we're using the latest NBA mock draft from Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman and NBADraft.net.

Franz Wagner (Michigan Wolverines, SF, Sophomore)

All the love goes to Hunter Dickinson (and Isaiah Livers before he injured his foot), but Wagner may well be the best pro prospect on this loaded Wolverines team.

He is second on the squad with 2.9 assists per game, an illustration of his terrific passing and court vision. Wagner also has improved his shooting from 45.2 percent as a freshman to 49.3 percent this season.

Defense, however, is more his calling card. Most NBA teams would be happy to snag a 6'9" forward who can guard multiple positions. Wagner leads the Big Ten in defensive box plus/minus (6.4) and defensive win shares (1.7), and he sits second in defensive rating (92.5). 

That Swiss Army knife skill set could translate well to the pros, where teams obviously have needs besides shooting. Let Dickinson take the praise for now.

Keon Johnson (Tennessee Volunteers, PG, Freshman)

Jaden Springer is a linchpin for this Volunteer team. He leads the group in scoring (12.5 ppg) and is ranked among the top in several other statistical categories.

Johnson is just behind him in scoring with 11.2 points per contest, but it hasn't always been easy for him. He has struggled to take care of the ball, ranking No. 10 in the SEC with 69 turnovers. His game has blossomed lately, however. Meanwhile, Springer outranks Johnson in key advanced metrics like player efficiency rating (21.2 to 16.3) and win shares per 40 minutes (.184 to .127). 

Heck, Johnson didn't even start until January. Still, he has consistently been higher up than Springer on mock draft boards. 

Springer is penciled in at No. 15 in Wasserman's mock, while Johnson is projected to go at No. 7. Johnson's athleticism and playmaking abilities are driving the ranking. 

So while Springer is edging Johnson on Rocky Top, look for that to flip come draft day.

Kai Jones (Texas Longhorns, PF, Sophomore) 

Jones has all the upside in the world, displaying top-shelf athleticism and all-around offensive talent in a 6'11" package.

But he's not heavily used in Austin, where he averages 8.8 points (sixth on the team) in 22.5 minutes (fifth) per game while playing second fiddle to senior big man Jericho Sims.

Still, you can't teach 6'11", and his athletic potential is clear. When draft day comes, Jones' speed and above-the-rim game will have him in the green room. The native Bahamian's game is tailor-made for the pros, even if his jump shot and free throws could use work.

Chris Duarte (Oregon Ducks, SG, Senior)

Duarte is a steady player. That may not sound sexy, but down the stretch of the Pac-12 season, it became clear his consistency was likely good enough to land him in the NBA, even if via the second round. 

The 6'6" senior improved his shooting dramatically from last season to this one, going from 41.4 percent overall and 33.6 percent from three last season to 52.4 and 43.0 percent this season, respectively. Those numbers are good enough to put him No. 1 the Pac-12 in effective field-goal percentage (63.0) and true shooting percentage (65.4), and eighth with 16.7 points per game.

But he's a tenacious defender, too, especially in open space. He leads the conference in both steal percentage (3.3) and total steals (45).

Duarte's name might not ring bells, but he's the leader of an Oregon team that's on a big-time roll (minus that Oregon State loss in the Pac-12 title game), heading into the Big Dance as a No. 7 seed.

Herbert Jones (Alabama Crimson Tide, SF, Senior)

The SEC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year doesn't lead his team in scoring—he's fourth with 11.2 points per game, mainly earned through transition buckets and the like. But Jaden Shackelford and Jahvon Quinerly get the lion's share of the points (26.9 combined) for a high-octane group that ranks ninth nationally in adjusted tempo, per KenPom.com.

They do the scoring, Herbert Jones does everything else.

Can he shoot? He's connecting from three at a 39.2 percent clip (20-of-51). And the 6'8" swingman can do everything else, too, particularly on defense. He leads the SEC in box plus/minus (9.2), defensive win shares (2) and steals (53). He also sits fifth in defensive rebounds (125) and seventh in assists per game (3.4). He also leads the Tide with 6.5 boards per contest.

That's why Jones is sneaking onto draft radars and could continue to climb if he leads Alabama on a deep tournament run. If things line up his way, he has Defensive Player of the Year potential.

Stats via Sports Reference unless otherwise noted.