NCAA Tournament schedule and results: Sweet 16 starting to take shape

Coaching an NCAA Tournament game is emotionally taxing enough as is, but now imagine doing so on the day your mother passed away. That’s exactly what Mike Brey did yesterday, although maybe with a little help because, as he puts it, “It was really a special night. I think she was definitely with us down the stretch.”

Brey billed his team’s performance as a tribute to his mother, who was 84, an Olympic swimmer and, in his words, “an unbelievable woman.”

But there was more -- like, so much more. You probably need a complete recap.

So here it is:

Update: Here are Sunday’s NCAA Tournament scores.

The Wildcats haven’t seen much tournament success since reaching the national title game in 2009. Despite making the tournament in five of the past six years, they haven’t made the second weekend in that span. 2015 may end up being the most bitter disappointment yet. Villanova entered the tournament with 15 straight wins, easily winning the Big East Conference and climbing up to No. 2 in the AP poll. There was some naysaying about them getting a No. 1 seed over the likes of Arizona or Virginia, but for the most part the Wildcats were expected to do good things this year.

Half of the field for the Sweet 16 is set after a first Saturday of the NCAA Tournament which saw a No. 1 seed fall for the first time, and the ACC run its record to a perfect 9-0. The last of those two wins came from North Carolina and Notre Dame, which took care of Arkansas and Butler, respectively, to join conference brethren NC State in the second weekend of the Big Dance.

No. 4 North Carolina 87, No. 5 Arkansas 78 (West)

Notre Dame beat Butler in overtime, but the Fighting Irish never would’ve gotten there had it not been for a wild ending to regulation.

Nice catch by the ref to make a call you’re typically not looking for in a crucial moment:

Anthony “Cat” Barber was huge in NC State’s win over No. 1 Villanova. President Obama had picked Villanova in his March Madness bracket. So Cat had one question for his teammates after the game: “the f*** wrong with Barack Obama?”

(I also picked Villanova. The f*** wrong with me?)

She kept playing her piccolo through the heartbreak. The NCAA Tournament does crazy things to people.

The good news is: Piccolo Girl is an absolute champ, and is feeling much better now:

The Wildcats found themselves in trouble early on, shooting just 28.6 percent from the field in the first half. N.C. State didn’t pull away with any big leads, but the Wolfpack did much better on offense with a 48.1 field goal percentage. N.C. State closed out the half on a 7-0 run and went into halftime leading, 32-28.

The Wolfpack continued taking it to Villanova in the second half, opening up an 11-point lead at one point while the Wildcats forgot how to score. Villanova tried clawing back into the game, but N.C. State still kept the Wildcats at arm’s length. Any attempt at a comeback was quickly cut off by N.C. State.

Coach Hunter and the Panthers may be done at the NCAA Tournament, but we’ll remember this team for a long, long, time. So many things about this team’s wild run made us fall in love: from the chair Hunter coached in after his Achilles injury, to the time Hunter fell out of that chair on a miracle game-winner, to Hunter’s hilarious personality, to his relationship with his NBA bound son RJ, to the return of Kevin Ware to the NCAA Tournament after his brutal injury.

The Panthers are the stuff of March legend. And this emotional press conference just ensures that.

But their run ended on Saturday against a No. 6 Xavier team that’s solid all around. The Musketeers beat No. 14 Georgia State 75-67 in a game that was surprisingly close, all things considered. Xavier shot an incredible 67.6 percent from the floor and out-rebounded the Panthers 23-12. Georgia State refused to die, hitting a key shot every time Xavier looked like it might pull away.

After a couple of deep bombs in the first half, R.J. Hunter didn’t score for the first 12 minutes of the second half. He finished with 20 points on 6-of-15 shooting for Georgia State.

The cast Georgia State coach Ron Hunter wears due to his torn Achilles tendon leaves his toes exposed. You know what that means? PEDICURE TIME!

Lookin’ good, coach!

After beating Coastal Carolina in their first NCAA Tournament matchup Friday night, the Wisconsin basketball team realized a stenographer was in the back of the room rapidly transcribing their quotes and had their minds blown by her weird machine. So Nigel Hayes began his Saturday press conference like this:

(Thanks to @BadgersMBB for sharing this, and of course to ASAP Sports for doing the transcribing.) That’s absolutely incredible by Nigel Hayes. (And we should take a moment to thank those stenographers, whose job is thankless and helpful. Although this made her life a bit more difficult, we imagine she appreciates the recognition.)

And it worked! Georgia State got the basketball thanks to TJ Shipes’ smart play (and JP Macura’s pain)! Earlier in the year, Montrezl Harrell chucked a ball in a dude’s face but couldn’t make it look like he was trying to save it and got hit with a tech.

Stanley Johnson is so good he doesn’t even have to be standing up to grab rebounds.

I typed this while sitting on my butt and that’s the closest I’ll ever get to being Stanley Johnson.

So casual.

This counted for two points for Arizona. Who hit it in? Brandon Ashley of the Wildcats or D’Angelo Russell of Ohio State?

In the Sweet Sixteen next weekend, Kentucky will play the winner of the matchup between West Virginia and Maryland.

We’ll just let Rutherford explain this one:

Pretty much.

Cincinnati is hanging tough with Kentucky through the first half but OH MY GOD WILLIE CAULEY-STEIN, IT’S OVER, GO HOME BEARCATS.

It’s pretty great in picture form. The defender is Quadri Moore. We hope he finds a hiding place. (pictures via Jamie Rhodes, USA Today Sports)

The Bearcats are leading Kentucky with five minutes left in the first half. It’s been a good game.

Who knows, we might even get a few more of these against Cincinnati.

When the Flyers advanced to the Elite Eight last year, the streets of Dayton were filled with celebrating students. This year was no different.

Eventually the cops showed up and forced the party off the streets, but luckily they still had porches and sidewalks where they could keep going.

Luck has been on the Bruins’ side this March, but they’ve taken advantage. The No. 11 seed advanced past the second round thanks to an iffy goaltending call that gave them a win over SMU. And instead of facing a tough Iowa State team in the next round, they got fellow underdog UAB.

With the loss, UAB’s dream season came to an end. Their upset of Iowa State in the round of 64 came on the heels of the announcement that the UAB football team was being shut down due to what University President Ray Watts called financial problems. But there are rumors and accusations that athletic department relationships were the real issue, which led to fans chanting “Fire Ray Watts” during the tournament games. The football team may not be around next year, but at least the basketball team gave the school a reason to have some pride.

Georgia State coach Ron Hunter has become the darling of the NCAA Tournament -- he tore his Achilles celebrating his team’s tournament bid, then he fell off his stool after his son’s huge buzzer-beater to give the Panthers a shocking upset. Now Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith want that scooter he’s using.

Smith complained about the position his knee was in, suggesting a better solution would be to have somebody carry him. Barkley liked it a lot, though, asking his family to buy him one for Christmas. (Although he said he was short of breath after his little ride.)