Kentucky's NCAA Tournament win leaves Jamal Mashburn unimpressed; Where's Cinderella?

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Otega Oweh single-handedly kept his coach from facing a scorching hot seat.

And, still, Jamal Mashburn wasn’t impressed.

If you listened to Mashburn’s postgame studio monologue, you would have thought Kentucky lost to Santa Clara. It didn’t. Thanks to Oweh’s 35 points , including a buzzer-beating bucket to send the game to overtime , the Wildcats prevailed against the 10th-seeded Broncos. But, Mashburn spoke for Big Blue Nation when he said Kentucky is supposed to beat Santa Clara, especially with its pricey roster. Merely advancing to the second round won’t be enough to meet Kentucky’s standard.

“It's not an expectation to get to the tournament,” Mashburn said in the TNT studio. “It's about Final Fours and championships.”

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The ‘Cats survived a first-round upset in a tournament filled with chalk, but now they’ll have their hands full with No. 2 Iowa State.

If the officials had granted Santa Clara coach Herb Sendek the timeout he wanted , this game might have ended differently. Up three points with a couple of seconds remaining, Sendek probably would have instructed his team to foul Kentucky to prevent a 3-point shot.

But, the officials didn’t see Sendek signaling timeout, Santa Clara didn’t foul, and Oweh banked in a bomb to stave off an upset.

Meanwhile, Pope’s predecessor John Calipari cruised into the second round with a red-hot Arkansas team. Pope’s not going to get that Final Four Mashburn talked about, but better go as far as Cal’s Hogs go, or face the heat .

Pope became a portrait of relief.

Sendek, who used to be an assistant coach at Kentucky , knows the expectations Pope must be facing.

“Coach (Rick) Pitino often refers to Kentucky as Camelot, and there’s a lot of truth to that,” Sendek said. “It is not like that everywhere else, you know. … I assure you, Big Blue Nation is one of a kind.”

By one of a kind, he means they’re more demanding than any other fan base in college basketball.

No wonder Calipari looks like he’s got the weight of the world off his shoulders.

Cinderella snoozes in 2026 NCAA Tournament

Blame NIL and the transfer portal if you must, or perhaps the Cinderellas are just enjoying a brief hibernation, but for the second straight year, the underdog napped in the first round of the tournament.

Tradition dictates we get a 12 vs. 5 upset, and so High Point delivered . Siena put a scare into Duke, but the Blue Devils rallied to fend off embarrassment. Otherwise, the biggest upsets were a pair of 11-seeds knocking out a couple of 6-seeds. That doesn’t count for madness, especially when you consider No. 6 North Carolina was playing without its best player, Caleb Wilson, and No. 6 Brigham Young was without one of its top scorers, Richie Saunders .

The good news about so much chalk prevailing? It heightens the chance for some epic Sweet 16, Elite Eight and Final Four matchups.

Final Four still intact

Before the tournament, I uncorked a Final Four of Michigan State, Houston, Arizona and Michigan. No reason to modify those picks. All four cruised in Round 1, while No. 1 overall seed Duke threatened to join Virginia and Purdue in the Hall of Shame.

Head to the Missouri Valley

If you’re in need of a new coach, you might try the Missouri Valley Conference. A couple of ex-Valley coaches are wearing their promotion well.

Josh Schertz has Saint Louis in the second round after the Billikens trounced Georgia. Two years ago, Schertz took Indiana State to the NIT finals. At Iowa, Ben McCollum passed the test in Year 1 after getting a call-up from Drake. McCollum’s Hawkeyes beat Clemson in the first round.

NCAA Tournament expansion? Please, no

The first round won’t kill off tournament expansion dialogue, but it should. Did anyone watch those first-round games and think, “You know what we need? We need the 69th-best team in the bracket!”

The bubble was as weak as ever, and the favorites served a barrage of blowouts in Round 1. Please, leave the field at 68. Nothing about this first round made a worthy argument for tournament expansion.

March Madness second-round upsets

Who’s on upset alert in the second round? Here are three to watch:

∎ Few gave Tennessee much chance to reach the Sweet 16 before the tournament began, but the Vols looked better in the first round than No. 3 Virginia did against Wright State. Tennessee plays the type of nasty defense that Rick Barnes loves, and a Vols team that beat Houston and Louisville is good enough to topple Virginia, which would be a fourth straight Sweet 16 for Tennessee.

∎ Miami aced its hire of 37-year-old Jai Lucas. The Hurricanes torched Missouri in St. Louis, and they’re good enough to threaten No. 2 Purdue in the second round. Three of the four 7-seeds won in the first round. If you judge Miami by the way it played against Missouri, it should have been a 6- or even a 5-seed.

∎ Now, for my boldest second-round upset: Kentucky can beat Iowa State if the Cyclones are without Joshua Jefferson , who injured his ankle in the first round. Never mind Mashburn's groaning, a second straight Sweet 16 for Pope would alleviate some heat. Just get the ball into Oweh’s hands, and let him cook.

Blake Toppmeyer  is a columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at  BToppmeyer@gannett.com  and follow him on X  @btoppmeyer .

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kentucky March Madness win leaves Jamal Mashburn unimpressed