The second day of the round of 32 is in full swing and the top seeds are flexing. Win or lose, what’s next for all 16 teams in action Sunday.
Though the first day of the second round of the 2024 men’s NCAA tournament featured victories by every favored team, the second day might present some upset opportunities.
Just ask 2-seed Marquette, which had to battle 10-seed Colorado until the final seconds of an 81-77 win.
Elsewhere, top-seeded Purdue and fourth-seeded Duke had no problems advancing past Mountain West regular-season champion Utah State and Sun Belt tournament champion James Madison, respectively.
The rest of Sunday’s slate has potential for chaos. Stay tuned.
Scroll to read our breakdown of every game of the second day of the men’s round of 32. Find our takeaways to the first day here. Check your bracket here.
Is Jared McCain the best freshman in the tournament? He’s at least in the conversation, and might even be at the top of the list after Colorado’s Cody Williams got sent home Sunday. McCain, a 6-3 guard, came into the tournament as Jonathan Givony’s 20th-ranked prospect for the 2024 NBA draft. If anything, he has improved his stock, especially with the first half he had in Sunday’s second-round blowout of a good James Madison team. McCain scored 22 points in the first half against the Dukes, hitting 7 of 11 shots and 6 of 8 3-pointers. He finished with 30 points, going 8-of-11 from beyond the arc, despite sitting the final seven-plus minutes. It was quite the performance, the most points by any player during the first half of this year’s tournament. It came on the heels of a 15-point, six-rebound performance in the opening round against Vermont. McCain was a few inches from that being a big scoring night as well. He had two or three 3-pointers halfway down before they popped out in that contest. This is what the Blue Devils need from McCain to make a big run in the tournament.
What it means for Duke: The Blue Devils reached their 29th Sweet 16 since it officially began in 1975. Only North Carolina (31) has more. Duke goes into the Sweet 16 with confidence after blitzing James Madison with a dominant effort, led by McCain. But it was more than that. Duke outrebounded the Dukes 21-13 in the opening half, moved the ball well while assisting on 11 of 17 field goals and played suffocating defense that resulted in five steals. That continued in the second half as the Blue Devils’ lead ballooned to as much as 38. Some of that was from hitting 14 of 28 from beyond the arc in this game. If this version of Duke shows up the rest of the way, it’s probably capable of winning a national championship.
What it means for James Madison: The Dukes’ dream season concludes with 32 wins. They had their second 14-game win streak of the year end Sunday in the second round of the tournament at the hands of a national powerhouse. From the start, nothing went right for James Madison. Leading scorer Terrence Edwards Jr. picked up two fouls in the opening two minutes. Even though the Dukes (32-4) failed to reach their first-ever Sweet 16, this remains one of their most successful seasons in school history.
