NCAA tournament 2017: Today’s live blog, scores, bracket updates, and schedule

The opening weekend of the NCAA tournament is perhaps the best four-day stretch on the sports calendar. Sadly that comes to a close today, but not without a tremendous slate of games that has the potential to give us the most exhilarating and eventful day of the Big Dance so far.

After today, we will be forced to soldier through three consecutive days without any basketball. And even when it returns, it won’t be the all-day affair that we’ve become accustomed to. Soak today up, and refresh this page throughout the day for constant updates on the action.

11:19 — South Carolina pulls off the absolute stunner, putting an end to one of the bizarre college basketball seasons you’re ever going to see a team have. Duke is officially not back.

10:40 — Oh, it’s on. South Carolina leads Duke 60-53 with under eight minutes left.

These North Carolina fans are going wild.

10:05 — Baylor wins, 82-78. Point guard Manu LeComte was the difference. Looks like we’re on track for a Baylor-Duke matchup in the Sweet 16.

9:52 — Duke 30, South Carolina 23 at halftime. There are only two ACC teams remaining in this bracket and Duke is trying to keep it that way.

9:45 — USC vs. Baylor is lit. The No. 11 Trojans were in control for most of the second half. Baylor star Johnathan Motley has four fouls. Somehow, Baylor clawed back to take the lead with four minutes left. Stay tuned.

9:20 — Praise be to Tyler Dorsey. The sophomore guard scored 27 points to carry Oregon over a very game Rhode Island team. The Ducks face Michigan in the Sweet 16.

8:40 — Attention: Rhode Island has Oregon on the ropes. 11 minutes left, Rhodey leads by six. This is a good one.

8:20 — Wow, UNC survives, 72-65. The Heels were lucky and Roy Williams knows it. Click that link for a full breakdown of what happened.

8:00 — UNC’s down five with three minutes left. This is very serious.

7:40 — Arkansas and UNC are tied at 50 with about 11 minutes left. TNT.

7:35 — Kansas pulled pretty far away from Michigan State and finished with a 90-70 win. The Jayhawks get Purdue in the Sweet 16.

7:22 — Arkansas giving UNC more of a game than anyone anticipated, while Rhode Island and Oregon are just underway on TBS.

7:18 — Kansas leads Michigan State by 13 with just 3:12 to play. Jayhawks are shooting 50 percent from the field. Going to be tough to beat when that happens.

6:50 -- This hasn’t been quite the year of the freshman that some were predicting, but both Bridges and Josh Jackson have been tremendous today.

6:34 — UNC three-point play. Right on cue.

6:33 — After an extremely hot start, North Carolina has gone ice cold. They still lead Arkansas by five at 16-11, but they haven’t made a shot in four minutes.

6:16 — Michigan State avoids what looked like it was going to be a disastrous end to the half by scoring six straight points and trimming Kansas’ advantage to 40-35 at the break. North Carolina and Arkansas just underway now.

5:58 — Really fun first half so far between Kansas and Michigan State. Would have liked to have seen Miles Bridges on the court for all of it. Jayhawks up, 33-27.

5:31 — Wichita State and Kentucky probably both got screwed by having to play in round two, but their heartache was certainly our gift.

5:20 — More powers colliding in the second round as Kansas and Michigan State are underway in the Midwest. Sparty leads 3-2 early.

5:05 — Here’s Monk’s block in the final minute, which was likely the play of the game.

4:59 — Wichita State turns in an atrocious possession with a chance to take the lead. Monk buries a pair of free-throws and Shamet’s three is blocked on the other end at the buzzer. It’s a second crushing second round loss for the Shockers to UK in four years. Final score: Kentucky 65, Wichita State 62.

4:54 — Shamet with a deeeeep three cuts the lead to 1 with 55 seconds to go. It took a couple hours, but this game is now just as fun as we thought it would be from the opening tip.

4:52 — Wichita gets it down to two before Malik Monk hits a stone-cold three with a defender in his face. Shockers answer with a three of their own but a Fox dunk has the Cats up four with a minute to go.

4:44 — Big steal and a dunk by De’Aaron Fox puts Kentucky up 7 at the under four. It’s going to take some extreme Wichita magic in the final segment to keep its season alive.

4:34 — Little bit of a danger zone for Wichita State right now. Derek Willis hits a three and suddenly Adebayo is having his way in the post. They lead by 6 with 6:28 to go. Scoring seems much easier for the Wildcats than the Shockers right now.

4:28 -- The game flow still favors Wichita State, but the teams are exchanging (spaced out) blows at the moment. All tied up at 41 as we head to the under 12. Shaq Morris and Bam Adebayo battling in the paint has been the game’s definitive matchup to this point.

4:01 — We are back underway, and the first basket of the second half belongs to Kentucky.

3:52 — Yeesh.

3:38 — A half that was played in much more the style of Wichita State than Kentucky ends with the Wildcats up, 26-24.

3:28 — This is unbelievable.

3:27 — Annnnd we’re back to nobody being able to score. Very strange half. Wichita up 18-17 as Kentucky hasn’t made a shot in four minutes.

3:18 — Now we’re cooking. Made shots on both ends of the court and a discernible flow to the game. Kentucky up, 17-16 with 7 minutes to play in the first half.

3:15 — Isaiah Briscoe is hitting threes and Dominique Hawkins looks like UK’s most competent offensive player. This is bizarro Kentucky, but bizarro Kentucky leads 13-8.

3:04 — It’s not quite the masterpiece that the 2014 game was early on. Missed shots and turnovers everywhere as Wichita leads 6-4 at the first TV timeout.

2:44 -- One two seed from the Bluegrass State is out before the second weekend. Kentucky will look to avoid making it two. The Cats and Wichita State are up next in rematch of the 2014 epic the two played in this same round.

2:21 -- Final: Michigan 71, Louisville 67. The Wolverines are onto the Sweet 16. Also, the Big Ten continues to roll while the ACC continues to flounder.

2:12 — Michigan leads by 4 and is 60 seconds away from continuing one of the more memorable March runs we’ve seen in recent years.

2:05 — Sometimes it’s just not your day.

2:02 -- Louisville can’t get stops and they’ve now stopped getting buckets on other end. Quentin Snider of 0-for-8 and 0-for-6 from three. Michigan up four and shooting free-throws after the final TV timeout of the game.

2:00 — Michigan suddenly can’t miss and Louisville is blowing dunks. Wolverines up 4 with 5 minutes left.

1:53 — All tied up at 55 here at the under 8 timeout. We don’t deserve this game as the starter.

1:42 — THE (missouri valley) CHAMP IS HERE

1:39 — Louisville is not letting Michigan get anything from the outside, but the Wolverines are still piecing together a rally thanks to Mo Wagner’s steady scoring. A steal and a bucket have the lead down to nine.

1:34 — Wagner is still cooking, but Michigan’s bigs can’t stop Louisville on the other end of the court. Cards lead, 45-36 at the under 16.

1:26 — Moe Wagner going to work early on for Michigan but Donovan Mitchell buries a three off yet another Louisville offensive rebounds. Cards are dominating the glass and lead it, 41-34.

1:11 — Second best highlight of the first half.

1:03 -- With the game and tied and momentum appearing to swing in Michigan’s direction, Donovan Mitchell hit a huge fadeaway three at the end of the shot clock. Cardinals ended the half on an 8-0 run and lead 36-28 at the break.

12:50 — DENG ADEL

12:38 — Big man Mangok Mathiang picks up his second foul for Louisville and has to go to the bench. He has been the Cardinals’ best player so far today. The Ville still leads, 21-16.

12:27 — This is all sorts of fun already. Michigan still red-hot from outside, but Louisville holds a 17-14 advantage.

12:18 -- Both teams accentuating their frontcourt advantages here in the early going. DJ Wilson spreading Louisville’s power forwards out and scoring, while the Cardinals bigs are bodying the Wolverines in the paint. U of L up 9-6 at the under 16.

12:10 — Louisville and Michigan up first in a rematch of the fantastic 2013 national championship game. The Cardinals are the two seed, but the Wolverines might be the hottest team in the country.