March Madness winners, losers so far: Big Ten dominates, blue-bloods flop

One weekend down, two to go.

A chalky bracket seemed unlikely to yield any major upsets until No. 9 Iowa knocked off No. 1 seed Florida in the South region, bringing some chaos to a men’s NCAA Tournament that had lacked the underdog stories that can often define the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight.

Until the Hawkeyes ’ win, the tournament Cinderella was No. 11 Texas , which beat fellow No. 11 North Carolina State in the play-in round, beat No. 6 Brigham Young in the first round and then beat No. 3 Gonzaga 74-68 on Saturday to reach the program’s second Sweet 16 since 2008.

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While Florida has been sent packing, the name-brand teams and programs still alive should make for an intensely competitive weekend.

Starting with the Big Ten, let’s get ready for the Sweet 16 by breaking down the biggest winners and losers from the second round:

March Madness Round 2 winners

Big Ten

The Big Ten leads the way with six teams in the Sweet 16, ahead of the four from the SEC (No. 4 Alabama , No. 4 Arkansas , No. 6 Tennessee and No. 11 Texas), three from the Big 12 (No. 1 Arizona, No. 2 Houston and No. 2 Houston), two from the Big East (No. 2 Connecticut and No. 5 St. John’s) and one from the ACC (No. 1 Duke). It's the second-most for any conference after the SEC had seven last season. The Big Ten went 6-1 in the second round, with the only blemish coming in No. 7 UCLA ’s 73-57 loss to the Huskies. Moving on are No. 1 Michigan in the Midwest region, No. 2 Purdue in the West, No. 3 Michigan State in the East and No. 3 Illinois , No. 4 Nebraska and No. 9 Iowa in the South.

Nebraska

The Cornhuskers did it again. Two days after beating No. 13 Troy for the first tournament win in program history, Nebraska took home one of the best games from the opening weekend, beating No. 5 Vanderbilt 74-72 on freshman Braden Frager ’s driving layup with 2.2 seconds to go. More drama ensued: Vanderbilt’s Tyler Tanner , who was brilliant in the loss, put up a heave from beyond half court that barely rimmed out to preserve the Cornhuskers’ win. Next up is the third meeting this year with the Hawkeyes after each team held serve at home during the regular season.

John Calipari

After losing his tournament mojo at Kentucky , Calipari is back in the Sweet 16 for the second time in as many years at Arkansas after the No. 4 Razorbacks avoided an upset with a 94-88 win against No. 12 High Point. Arkansas has scored 191 points while shooting 52.9% from the field through two tournament games. Importantly, the win against High Point also saw the Razorbacks do better from 3-point range; after making just 4 of 21 from deep against No. 13 Hawaii , they connected on 9 of 16 attempts against the Panthers.

March Madness Round 2 Losers

Florida

Down by as many as 12 points in the second half, the defending national champions stormed back to lead 71-70 and had guard Isaiah Brown at the free-throw line after stopping Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz ’s driving layup with 8 seconds left. But after Brown missed his first attempt before making the second, Iowa inbounded to Stirtz, who raced downcourt and found forward Alvaro Folgueiras , who drilled a corner 3 to give the Hawkeyes the win. This is Iowa’s first Sweet 16 appearance since 1999.

Kentucky

While Arkansas made its second Sweet 16 appearance in a row, Calipari’s former program was ejected in the second round with an ugly 82-63 loss to No. 2 Iowa State . The Cyclones dominated despite playing without second-leading scorer Joshua Jefferson , who sprained his ankle against No. 15 Tennessee State. After pulling off a miraculous comeback and win against No. 10 Santa Clara, the No. 7 Wildcats committed 20 turnovers, shot 9 of 25 from deep and were obliterated in the second half: ISU led 31-30 at the break but quickly blew things open, turning a 43-38 game with 15:36 left into a 59-41 lead about six minutes later. This was a miserable end to the Wildcats’ miserable season.

Kansas

Down 58-45 to No. 5 St. John’s with 7:22 remaining, No. 4 Kansas went on a 20-7 run to even the score on two Darryn Peterson free throws with 13 seconds left. (Peterson had 21 points on 5 of 15 shooting in his likely college finale.) But on the game’s final possession, Dylan Darling took an inbounds pass on the Red Storm’s side of midcourt with 3.9 seconds to play, raced through the KU defense and banked in a running layup as time expired for his only points of the game and a 67-65 win. This loss was emblematic of the Jayhawks’ season: Terrific in spurts but mostly unreliable, they never quite put everything together.

Lower seeds

Overall, lower seeds went 4-12 in the second round. While Iowa changed the complexion of the Sweet 16, the total combined seeding heading into the second weekend remains pretty low at 60. That’s a combined 11 in the East, 18 in the South, 13 in the Midwest and 18 in the West. For the fourth year in a row, there will be only one double-digit seed in the Sweet 16.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NCAA Tournament winners, losers so far: Big Ten on top, champs chomped