March Madness 2026: The Best and Worst From Day 4

It’s been a long week so let’s get right to it.

The 3 best games of Day 4

1. (9) Iowa 73, (1) Florida 72 (South)

We had two second round classics that both could have occupied the top spot. We’ll go with the game that was better played from start to finish, even if it didn’t have quite as perfect an ending as the other

Advertisement

Florida overcame a 12-point deficit to seemingly take advantage late in the second half, but Iowa battled back in the game’s final minutes thanks to what head coach Ben McCollum referred to as “irrational confidence.” They found themselves down two with just under 10 seconds to play.

With Florida attempting to foul — an unusual end of game philosophy for a team up by two points, but one UF head coach Todd Golden has employed in the past, dating back to his days as the head coach at San Francisco — the Hawkeyes broke their opponent’s backcourt pressure and found Alvaro Folgueiras open for a corner three that would set the game’s final score.

Florida has one final shot at keeping its hopes of repeating as national champions alive, but Xaivian Lee’s drive to the basket was cut off and his attempted pass to Thomas Haugh deflected, allowing the final ticks of the clock to come off.

Advertisement

The loss, which was UF’s first tournament defeat in the state of Florida in 23 years, added Florida to the list of reigning national champions that have struggled in March Madness. Since 2007, only one reigning champ has advanced even to the Sweet 16 — UConn, which went back-to-back in 2023 and 2024.

On the flip side, it took Ben McCollum just one season to get Iowa to the promised land Hawkeye fans have been begging to see since the start of the century. After years and years of stellar regular seasons and postseason disappointments under Fran McCaffery (now the head coach at Penn), McCollum has Iowa in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999.

2. (5) St. John’s 67, (4) Kansas 65 (East)

Speaking of teams that had not been to the Sweet…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/march-madness-2026-best-worst-150504203.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-03-23 15:05:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.