NPR Sports

Thousands of people were expected in Las Vegas for the first weekend of NCAA men's college basketball tournament. It's one of the most lucrative weekends in Las Vegas. Casino officials say it draws more people than the Super Bowl.

In the NCAA men's basketball tournament Saturday, Marquette escaped with a 2-point win over Butler. What does it take to win a close game? Grit and determination? Luck? Host Rachel Martin speaks with NPR's Mike Pesca, who was at the game.

There's a team in the NCAA men's basketball tournament making some noise in the West. The Oregon Ducks, seeded 12th in their region, now have two double-digit wins over much higher-seeded teams. NPR's Tom Goldman reports from San Jose, Calif.

Saturday's NCAA men's basketball shocker? Wichita State toppled Gonzaga, 76-70. Gonzaga is the first top-seeded team to be eliminated, and it's the first time Wichita State is heading to Sweet 16 since 2006, The Associated Press reports. The AP adds:

"Wichita State had the Zags down 13 early. Though Gonzaga (32-3) fought back, the barrage of 3s was too much for the small school from Spokane, Wash."

March Madness is here. Even President Obama has filled out a NCAA Division I men's college basketball tournament bracket. His pick to win it all was Indiana University.

The bracket frenzy is unbelievable, says Deborah Stroman, who teaches sports administration at the University of North Carolina.

San Jose, Calif., is just a piece of a very big March Madness pie. But in the eight teams that gathered there for second- and third-round games this week, you could see the undeniable trend in big-time college basketball globalization.

Rosters from schools as geographically diverse as Syracuse, New Mexico State and California featured athletes from Senegal, France, Canada, South Africa, Croatia, Sudan.

But it's the University of Oregon with a groundbreaker — from Iran.

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Time now for sports.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPORTS THEME)

SIMON: Madness, sheer Madness. Two-seed Georgetown ousted by the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles; that's a school, not an endangered species. And Harvard shows New Mexico that their $30 billion endowment can be used to recruit some good basketball players, too. But maybe no team in sports is more dominant than the Golden Gophers of Minnesota - women's hockey.

NPR's Mike Pesca rhymes his way through the 32 opening-round games of the NCAA basketball tournament.

Another big shock from the NCAA tournament: Florida Gulf Coast "busted a load of brackets" Friday, beating second-seeded Georgetown, as The Associated Press reports.

The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles managed a 78-68 victory over the Hoyas, only the seventh time in NCAA history that a No. 15 seed beat a No. 2, the AP says.