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Take a breath. The first and second rounds of the 2026 NCAA Tournament are over, with games resuming Thursday night. Similar to recent tournaments, Cinderella is done dancing by the Sweet Sixteen, though #12 High Point came darn close, showing incredible heart, moxie and fearlessness during two thrilling and impressive performances against Wisconsin and Arkansas. For context, the lowest seed remaining is #11 Texas, one of the richest programs in all of college sports. The most shocking moment of the opening weekend came yesterday as defending champion and #1 seed Florida fell to #9 Iowa, which executed a masterful game plan behind the devious duo of Head Coach Ben McCollum and star guard Bennett Stirtz. Make the jump for some quick reflections on the opening weekend of the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
Best Game of the First Round: High Point versus Wisconsin
The Panthers and Badgers went up and down throughout Thursday afternoon's opening game, with the Panthers getting ridiculously hot in the game's final four minutes, stunning Wisconsin behind the heroics of tournament darling Rob Martin and Chase Johnston.
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Best Game of the Second Round: Vanderbilt versus Nebraska
Simply watch the last minute of this game to understand why. Nebraska has earned its first two NCAA Tournament victories in school history en route to the Sweet Sixteen. Vanderbilt's Tyler Tanner put the Commodores on his back and nearly shocked Nebraska and its home crowd.
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Best Game of the Second Round (Honorable Mention): High Point versus Arkansas
The Panthers had no let down after stunning the Badgers, going back and forth with the Razorbacks, who simply had the best player on the floor in freshman Darius Acuff.
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Biggest Shocker of the Opening Weekend: Iowa vs. Florida
While I didn't think it was possible, Iowa got Florida into its style of play, scored more than expected, and pulled off an upset that no one saw coming, with the likely exception of Iowa Head Coach Ben McCollum and his team. While Florida's guard play was worrisome and concerning entering the tournament, the Gators did not respond well to Iowa's pace, hardly looking like a team that won it all last year.
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Star Head Coach of the Opening Weekend: Ben McCollum, Iowa
McCollum not only forced Florida to play Iowa's style but drew up an absolutely beautiful inbounds play at the end of the game, getting Bennett Stirtz free and downhill, leading to the game-deciding three by Alvaro Folgueiras. McCollum's methodical offense is not for everyone or always pretty, though it is effective for the talent the Hawkeyes have (as was the case at Drake, McCollum's previous school). Additionally, I loved McCollum's fire going at it with Florida Head Coach Todd Golden, who is getting an annoying reputation as being a cocky, arrogant and bratty jerk on the sidelines.
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Subpar Head Coach of the Opening Weekend: Hubert Davis, UNC
The Tar Heels were in total control of its first-round game against VCU before blowing a 19-point lead with poor shot selection, costly turnovers, an inexplicable five-second violation, and a lack of use of timeouts. Despite the collapse, Tar Heels Head Coach Hubert Davis was defiant in the postgame interview, though it is clear that UNC needs to move on as the program is fading and not what it should be.
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Awoken Sleeping Giant of the Opening Weekend: Michigan
Uh, oh! The Wolverines look hungry and focused, as seen in blowouts of Howard and St. Louis, after not playing its greatest ball during the Big Ten Tournament.
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Snoozing Sleeping Giant of the Opening Weekend: Duke
Despite what the incessant A T & T commercials of the Boozer twins would try to have you believe, Duke is not a likeable, prohibitive favorite of this tournament. The Blue Devils were more down than up during uninspiring victories against Siena and TCU. It is problematic when players say they didn't take an opponent seriously, as Maliq Brown admitted during halftime of the Siena game, and when head coaches say they were outcoached, as Scheyer did after the Siena game. Since it is Duke, though, all is forgiven, though the Blue Devils are not passing the eye or sniff tests.
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Gutsiest Performance of the Opening Weekend: Iowa State
After star Joshua Jefferson suffered a serious ankle injury early in the first round, Iowa State was a trendy pick to lose its second-round game against Kentucky. While getting off to a cold shooting start against the Wildcats, the Cyclones ratcheted up their team defense to overwhelm Kentucky and show that Head Coach T.J. Otzelberger, Tamin Lipsey, Milan Momcilovic and company should not be slept on.
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Freshman of the Opening Weekend: Darius Acuff, Arkansas
This year's stacked freshman class has been headlined by Duke's Cameron Boozer, Kansas' Darryn Peterson and BYU's AJ Dybantsa (who had 35 points during the Cougars' first round loss to Texas). No freshman has been better and more important so far in the tournament than the Razorbacks' explosive Acuff, who will be a problem for Arizona during the Sweet Sixteen.
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Senior Performance of the Opening Weekend: Alex Karaban, UCONN
While UCONN and Karaban haven't been playing their best ball as of late, the senior forward showed out last night as the Huskies handled a UCLA team that a lot of pundits were picking to pull the upset. The Huskies are finding ways to win despite some holes, and are getting heroic performances from different players each game, with senior big man Tarris Reed, Jr., dominating with 31 points and 27 rebounds against Furman and Karaban delivering 27 big points against the Bruins. Karaban is the ultimate role player who sometimes gets a lot of flak when UCONN loses; however, his tourney experience, overall headiness and clutch play should never be overlooked. UCONN is 15-1 in its last 16 tournament games, and it is going to take a consistently solid performance to kill the Huskies and Head Coach Dan Hurley, who is as scary of a tournament coach to face in the last decade.
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Most Clutch Shot of the Opening Weekend: Alvaro Folgueiras, Iowa
There have been a lot of candidates this opening weekend:
- Otega Oweh's half-court banker to save Kentucky against Santa Clara.
- Dylan Darling's game-winning layup at the buzzer during St. John's victory against Kansas.
- Braden Frager's game-winning layup for Nebraska against Vanderbilt.
- Tyler Tanner's near game-winner for the Commodores against the Cornhuskers.
- Martin's big buckets and Johnston's crazy threes for High Point against Wisconsin and Arkansas.
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