Sunday’s NCAA tournament schedule and results: Elite Eight continues in March Madness

One of the regions in this year’s NCAA tournament, the East Region, to be precise, was played in Madison Square Garden in New York City. The famous arena located in Midtown is home to the New York Knicks. The winner of the East Region was the No. 7 South Carolina Gamecocks, who defeated the No. 4 Florida Gators 77-70, in the Elite Eight round on Sunday.

One of the sadder parts of South Carolina advancing out of the region is how many games the Gamecocks won in MSG during the month of March, compared to the arena’s home team, the Knicks. South Carolina won two, defeating the No. 3 Baylor Bears and Florida, and the Knicks won ... wait for it ... just one game.

Welcome to the Heroes of March Club, Luke Maye. The mostly anonymous North Carolina forward hit the game-winner against Kentucky with 0.3 seconds left to put the Tar Heels into the Final Four.

Maye played the biggest game of his life when UNC needed it most: he went for 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting and just hit one of the biggest shots in program history.

The Final Four of the 2017 NCAA tournament was officially set on Sunday evening, with the No. 1 North Carolina Tar Heels topping the No. 4 Kentucky Wildcats. This one was a rematch of these two powerhouse programs from last December, with the Wildcats winning, 103-100, in that one. UNC won this second round of the matchup in a 75-73 thriller of a game.

The first half of this one looked to be just as exciting as the first game between these two, but less high-scoring, with the Tar Heels heading to the locker room with a 37-33 lead. In the second half, things remained close throughout. One of the biggest storylines of the night was how the Tar Heels’ defense did a masterful job containing true freshmen De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk. The two combined for just 25 points on the night.

The No. 4 Florida Gators and No. 7 South Carolina Gamecocks faced off Sunday afternoon with a trip to the Final Four on the line. These two teams are quite familiar with each other, having played twice this season. South Carolina won the first matchup, winning at home, 57-53. Florida won the second matchup last month by a score of 81-66.

The Gamecocks took the rubber match in the Elite Eight, knocking off the Gators, 77-70, to advance to the Final Four for the first time in school history.

Verne Lundquist redeemed himself from the basketball-to-the-face incident from a few weeks ago.

This time, with the ball coming towards him, he was prepared.

The most exciting game of college basketball’s 2016-17 regular season was not played in a college gym with a rambunctious home crowd or under the guise of a traditional rivalry. Instead, when the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Kentucky Wildcats met in December, they traveled a combined 4,300 miles to Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena to meet in the CBS Sports Classic.

It was a weird venue and awkward timing for everyone involved. Kentucky had arguably its biggest game of the year four days ahead of it against super-rival Louisville while the Tar Heels were gearing up for conference play in an ACC that was supposed to be historically strong. They came to Las Vegas to test themselves and test each other, and the result was an awe-inspiring 103-100 Kentucky victory that left anyone watching out of breath and praying for a rematch.