Gonzaga heads field of mid-majors into tournament
While Gonzaga is the king of the mid-majors come tournament time, the Bulldogs are happy to spread some of that attention around.
Top-seeded Gonzaga (26-3) is one of three West Coast Conference teams in the NCAA Tournament, along with Saint Mary's, the only team to beat Gonzaga in conference play this season, and upstart San Francisco.
It's just the third time the WCC has sent three teams to the tourney.
The Mountain West has four teams in this year's tournament, most since 2013 and most of any mid-major conference this year. They include Boise State, Colorado State, San Diego State and Wyoming, which lost to Indiana in the First Four on Tuesday.
“So all this Power Five stuff, you know, it's getting pretty old now,” Gonzaga's Drew Timme said with a laugh.
Gonzaga has had so much success both in the regular season and the tournament that the Bulldogs long ago graduated from plucky midmajor to established powerhouse — a major-mid-major. Still missing for Gonzaga is that elusive national championship. They lost to Baylor in the title game last season and fell to North Carolina in the 2017 title game.
Gonzaga's quest to finally add that championship banner opens with the Bulldogs facing No. 16 seed Georgia State today in Portland.
Other mid-majors to watch include Murray State, Loyola-Chicago, south Dakota State, Chatanooga and Colgate.
Tanner Holden had 37 points and 11 rebounds and Wright State beat Bryant 9382 for its first NCAA Tournament victory.
Playing inside the University of Dayton Arena just 12 miles from its home court, Wright State (22-13) advanced to play top-seeded Arizona in San Diego on Friday in the West Region.
Holden was 11 of 15 from the field. Tyler Calvin added 21 points, and Grant Basile had 14.
Peter Kiss, the NCAA's leading scorer, led Bryant (22-10) with 28 points.
The Raiders led 44-42 at halftime behind 20 points from Holden.
Paul Atkinson Jr.'s putback layup with 1.4 seconds left in the second overtime gave Notre Dame an 89-87 win over Rutgers in a wild First Four game.
Ron Harper Jr. tied it with a long 3-pointer with 22 seconds left in the second OT. Notre Dame's Blake Wesley then missed a shot before Atkinson grabbed the rebound and put back the winner.
Atkinson finished with 20 points, Nate Laszewski 18 and Cormac Ryan 16 to lead the Irish (23-10), who will face sixth-seeded Alabama in a first-round game Friday in San Diego.
Caleb McConnell had career-high 23 points and Harper Jr. 22 for the Scarlet Knights (18-11).
Women
Brooklynn FortDavis had 15 points and 10 rebounds, Krislyn Marsh added 14 points and 17 rebounds and Howard beat Incarnate Word in the first women's First Four game.
Howard (21-9), in its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2001, advanced to play overall No. 1 seed South Carolina (29-2) in the Greensboro Region.
Tiana Gardner scored 16 points for Incarnate Word (13-17) in the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance.
Erin Whalen scored a career-high 28 points, hitting seven of Dayton's 13 3-pointers and the Flyers eased past DePaul in the inaugural women's First Four.
Dayton (26-5), making its 10th NCAA Tournament appearance, advanced to play No. 6 seed Georgia on Friday in the Greensboro Region.
Star freshman Aneesah Morrow had 28 points and 17 rebounds for her nationleading 27th double-double of the season in 33 games for DePaul (22-11).