The conclusion of the men's college basketball season is upon us and that can only mean one thing: it is time for the 'Big Dance.'

March Madness has arrived and will pit the best of the best and some overachieving "Cinderellas" duking it out for an opportunity to be crowned the NCAA men's Division I college basketball champion.

Having originally began in 1939 -- with the women's edition only added in 1982 -- it has become a fixture of every sport fan's calendar and is one not to be missed.

Not only has it become synonymous with shock results and upsets, March Madness has been the springboard for many successful NBA careers, including the Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry and Los Angeles Lakers big man Anthony Davis.

Here's all you need to know about the crescendo to the men's college basketball season.

Format

The process of whittling down 68 teams in Division I has pitfalls for teams around every corner.

The 32 automatic qualifying spots are filled by the teams which win each of the 32 conferences that make up Division I, while the other 36 will be selected to "at-large" berths by the NCAA Selection Committee.

The Selection Committee will reveal the "at-large" teams as part of the entire 68-team field on Selection Sunday, March 12.

The opening round of March Madness is called the "First Four" which sees eight teams -- the four-lowest seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams -- playing in four games to decide the final spots of the bracket. The "at-large" teams face one another while the automatic qualifiers take on each other.

Once the 64 teams have been cemented, the first and second rounds of March Madness take place between March 16-19 across various venues in the U.S.

The next round of the tournament is the regional semifinals -- colloquially called the "Sweet 16" -- which sees the 16 remaining teams compete for a spot in the "Elite Eight" -- the regional final round.

The four teams which make it to the "Final Four" will be the winners of their respective regional bracket.

This year's "Final Four" round will take place on April 1 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.

The two winners will advance to the NCAA championship game to be played at the same location on April 3, with the victor being crowned national champions.

Traditions

Since it was organized over 80 years ago, March Madness has become famous for some unique traditions.

Before the action gets underway, it is customary for fans and even non-hoops fans to fill out a single elimination tournament bracket -- a process by which spectators try to predict the outcomes of every game, including the eventual winner.

The process has been something people from all walks of life have tried their hand at, from former U.S. Presidents Barack Obama and George H.W. Bush to Jimmy Fallon.

You will also likely see coaches and players from the last team standing cutting down the nets on the court.

The act of cutting down the nets off a basket -- thought to have originated in Indiana high school basketball in 1947 -- has become synonymous with celebration, in particular of a championship victory.

There could be other points throughout the tournament where teams deem it worthy to cut down the nets, whether it be in the Final Four or the Sweet 16, but you will almost definitely see members from the 2023 national champions cutting the nets down at NRG Stadium and keeping threads as a souvenirs.

March Madness is also well-known for its propensity for shocking upsets.

The elimination element of the tournament lends it to unexpected results when higher seeds topple lower seeds. The unsung teams who topple notable programs are nicknamed "Cinderellas." Over the years, there have been plenty to delight neutrals or to break the hearts of bracket fanatics.

Last year's dream run came from unheralded Saint Peter's. With an enrollment of 2,637 students, the university, located in Jersey City, New Jersey, caught the attention of all when it became the first No. 15 seed to reach the Elite Eight in NCAA tournament history, upsetting the No. 3 seed Purdue Boilermakers and No. 2 seed Kentucky the way.

From No. 16 seed UMBC Retrievers beating No. 1 seed Virginia Cavaliers in 2018 -- becoming the first and only No. 16 seed to defeat a first seed -- to Lehigh defeating college basketball powerhouse Duke -- at the time, just the sixth win for a No. 15 seed over a No. 2 -- upsets are part of the fabric of the annual madness.

Whether it is hoping for upsets, anticipating the drama, filling out brackets, or watching potential future NBA stars, March Madness has something for us all.

(15) Princeton, 78, (10) Missouri, 63

Darius Garland had 24 points and nine assists, Donovan Mitchell scored 20 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers never trailed in a 117-94 victory over the Washington Wizards on Friday night.

Evan Mobley had 20 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots for the Cavaliers. They built a 21-point lead in the second quarter and didn't allow Washington to get closer than seven.

Cleveland (45-28) moved three games ahead of New York and 4 1/2 in front of Brooklyn in the battle for fourth place in the East and home-court advantage in the opening round of the playoffs. The Cavaliers’ next two games are in Brooklyn.

The victory assured Cleveland of its winningest season since 2018, when it last made the playoffs and was swept in the NBA Finals by Golden State. Starting center Jarrett Allen missed his fourth straight game with a right eye contusion.

Bradley Beal scored 22 points and Kristaps Porzingis had 20 points and nine rebounds for the Wizards. Washington (32-38) lost for the sixth time in eight games and fell into a tie with Indiana and Chicago for the final East play-in tournament spot.

The Cavaliers only made 4 of 19 3-pointers with Mitchell and Garland combining to miss their first 10 attempts. Caris LeVert had 15 points off the bench and Ricky Rubio added eight points and five assists.

Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma had seven points after missing a game with a sore right knee. Corey Kispert scored 12 points and Monte Morris had 10 points, but Washington committed 17 turnovers that cost it 21 points.

Cleveland swept the three-game season series.

CAUTIOUS COACH

The Cavaliers are closing in on their first playoff berth without LeBron James on the roster since 1998, but coach J.B. Bickerstaff refuses to look too far ahead.

“We’ve got to go out and finish what we’ve started,” Bickerstaff said. “That’s our focus.”

Cleveland lost 10 of its final 13 games last season, including two in the play-in tournament, to finish 44-38 and extend its playoff drought to four years since James’ joined the Lakers.

TIP-INS

Wizards: F Xavier Cooks -- named MVP of Australia’s National Basketball League last month -- signed a multi-year contract before the game. The 6-foot-8, 183-pound Australian went undrafted in 2018 after graduating from Winthrop. “Xavier is coming off a championship run (with the Sydney Kings) and had another excellent season,” coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. “He did enough to get noticed.” Cooks is making his NBA debut.

Cavaliers: F Danny Green has only logged 41 minutes over five games since being signed Feb. 15 after his release by Houston. The three-time NBA champion has made 5 of 9 3-pointers with Cleveland. “There are guys who need reps and I’ve been talking to Danny about that,” Bickerstaff said. “I need to get him more five-on-five time.” … F Dean Wade, who made nine starts, has not appeared in five of the last six games.

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Michigan clinched the Big Ten regular season championship, and are headed to the Big Dance as a top 1 seed. They play the winner of the 16 seed play-in game (Mount St. Mary's vs. Texas Southern) on Saturday, March 20. 

INDIANAPOLIS —

Here are some of the top moments from the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, March 19 (all times Eastern):

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5:25 p.m.

Oral Roberts has pulled off the first upset of the NCAA Tournament with a 75-72 overtime win over second-seeded Ohio State in the South Region.

It’s the school’s first NCAA win since 1974.

Kevin Obanor had 30 points, one more than teammate Max Abmas for the high-scoring Golden Eagles.

EJ Liddell had 23 points and 13 rebounds and Duane Washington had 18 points and 10 boards for the Buckeyes.

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5:00 p.m.

There’s been a sister sighting for Loyola Chicago’s first-round game against Georgia Tech.

Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the Ramblers’ 101-year-old team chaplain, was rolled into the fieldhouse in her wheelchair bundled up in a yellow-and-red scarf and wearing a mask that read Loyola shortly before the opening tip Friday night.

Sister Jean became an icon during Loyola's Final Four run in 2018, but she hadn’t attended a game in person since the pandemic began. She recently was vaccinated but has continued to keep her distance from the team, delivering the pregame prayer virtually all season and again prior to the Ramblers’ game against the Yellow Jackets.

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4:55 p.m.

UCLA and Michigan State was the most-watched First Four game since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 68 teams in 2011, according to CBS and Turner Sports.

The networks said the Bruins overtime victory against Michigan State averaged 3 million viewers and peaked at 3.3 million from 11 p.m.-11:15 p.m. EDT, based on data from Nielsen.

Overall, the four games played Thursday and televised on TBS and truTV drew 7.6 million viewers across all platforms, including streaming.

Viewership was up 36% from 2019′s First Four, according to the networks. The entire First Four was played on one day for the first time in this tournament. Usually, two of the games are played on Tuesday and the other two on Wednesday when the tournament is in a normal schedule.

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2:10 p.m.

Players from several NCAA Tournament teams took a knee during the playing of the national anthem before their first-round games.

Most of players on 16th-seeded Drexel knelt for the anthem before the Dragons played Illinois at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum, and several Colgate players did the same before the they played third-seeded Arkansas at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

A few players also took a knee during the anthem before Florida-Virginia Tech at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

College athletes have not been shy about showing public support for social causes and even pushing back against perceived inequities by the NCAA. Earlier this week, several prominent men’s players got the hashtag #NotNCAAProperty trending to protest NCAA rules that ban athletes from earning money off their names, images and likenesses.

At the women’s tournament in San Antonio, players have pointed out how workout facilities have been far from equal to what has been provided to the men’s players.

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1:50 p.m.

Virginia has finally arrived in Indianapolis, the 68th and final team to do so.

The Cavaliers remained in Charlottesville after a positive COVID-19 test caused them to pull out of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament before a semifinal game against Georgia Tech last Thursday.

The Cavaliers have been testing daily since and were to practice at home in the morning for the first time since they paused team activities and then travel to the site of this year’s tournament. Their arrival puts them two sets of negative tests away from facing Ohio on Saturday night.

Virginia is technically still the reigning national champion because it won the title in 2019 and last year’s tournament was canceled because of the pandemic.

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12:40 p.m.

The first game of the first round between No. 7 seed Florida and 10th-seeded Virginia Tech is underway at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse and a cloudless day outside has brought a significant amount of natural light into the arena.

Hinkle Fieldhouse has windows circling the concourse level of the arena and shades have been pulled down at the south end to try and help keep the sun out of the players' eyes. But windows at the top of the arched-roof building are still allowing in sunlight.

It's the first time Hinkle has hosted NCAA Tournament games since 1940.

Related video above: Surge in sports betting expected with March Madness

INDIANAPOLIS —

Here are some of the top moments from the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, March 20 (all times Eastern):

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7 p.m.

VCU has been pulled from the NCAA Tournament because of COVID-19 protocols.

The NCAA says the 10th-seeded Rams' first-round game Saturday against Oregon has been declared a no-contest.

The seventh-seeded Ducks will advance to the second round without playing.

The announcement came a little more than three hours before the teams were set to play in the West Region. The NCAA didn’t offer specific details, citing privacy concerns, and said that the decision came after consultation with the Marion County Public Health Department.

“The NCAA and the committee regret that VCU’s student-athletes and coaching staff will not be able to play in a tournament in which they earned the right to participate,” the statement read.

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5:30 p.m.

The NCAA Tournament’s single-elimination format creates plenty of emotional scenes in virtually each game as the losing teams cope with the reality that the season is over.

St. Bonaventure guard Jaren Holmes spoke eloquently on that subject while discussing teammate and good friend Kyle Lofton, who was in tears at the end of a 76-61 loss to LSU.

“The quote is like men don’t cry, but I believe real men cry,” Holmes said “Real men show emotion, and that’s the true showing of a man, one who wears their heart on his sleeve. He does that every time he goes on the court and every time he’s in the locker room with us.

“It’s a tough loss, but we’re going to become better from it ... and we’re going to remember this for the rest of our lives, sharing this moment together. We’ll probably laugh about it 20 years from now ... about how we were crying.”

The loss came nearly three weeks after university president Dennis DePerro died from complications of COVID-19.
___

4:10 p.m.

Michigan standout Isaiah Livers wore a shirt with #NotNCAAProperty written on it at the top-seeded Wolverines’ NCAA Tournament opener against Texas Southern.

The hashtag is part of a social media effort to raise awareness about inequities in college sports.

Livers, who is out with a foot injury, is one of a few prominent Big Ten players leading the movement. Players have pushed for the NCAA to change rules banning college athletes from earning money for things like endorsements, sponsorship deals and personal appearances.

The National College Players Association released a statement Wednesday detailing the players’ goals, which included meetings with NCAA President Mark Emmert and the opportunity to meet with lawmakers who are working on passing laws that could set parameters for the association’s rules on name image or likeness.

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2:29 p.m.

Georgetown's late-season surge is over. Fifth-seeded Colorado took command with 11 3-pointers in the first half and cruised to a 96-73 win over the Hoyas.

Freshman Jabari Walker had a career-high 24 points to lead Colorado, which went 16 for 25 from long range — that's 64% — was 34 of 56 from the floor. Colorado also had 27 assists. D’Shawn Schwartz had 18 points and made four of his five 3s in the first half to put Colorado into cruise control.

Coached by former star Patrick Ewing, Georgetown made March Madness with a four-wins-in-four-days streak through the Big East Tournament but was no match for the Buffaloes.

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12:48 p.m.

The second full day of the NCAA Tournament is underway. Georgetown started it by kneeling during the national anthem.

The Hoyas locked arms and took a knee during “The Star-Spangled Banner” ahead of their opening game against Colorado.

Coached by former star Patrick Ewing, Georgetown is a 12 seed after making March Madness with a four-wins-in-four-days streak through the Big East Tournament.

No. 1 seeds Gonzaga and Michigan will also be in action Saturday.

Friday’s action featured three big upsets — pulled off by No. 12 Oregon State, No. 13 North Texas and No. 15 Oral Roberts. Two of the upset victims — Ohio State and Purdue — were from the Big Ten.

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Dunk City's thrilling NCAA Tournament run as a No. 15 seed in 2013 gave a rocket-boost to Andy Enfield's coaching career that landed him at USC after just two seasons with Florida Gulf Coast.

When 15th-seeded Hampton shocked Iowa State in 2001, the image of Steve Merfeld celebrating — arms and legs extended, lifted off the floor by one of his players — became one of the lasting images of March Madness. Merfeld's time at Hampton lasted one more season before he jumped to a bigger job.

In 2016, Kermit Davis led 15th-seeded Middle Tennessee to an upset of No. 2 seed Michigan State in his 14th season with the Blue Raiders. Two seasons later, Davis jumped from Conference USA to the Southeastern Conference and became coach at Mississippi.

A bracket-busting NCAA Tournament victory can change the trajectory of a coach's career. With a 75-72 overtime stunner of second-seeded Ohio State on Friday, Oral Roberts coach Paul Mills' stock likely went soaring.

Oral Roberts became just the ninth No. 15 seed to beat a No. 2 since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

"Once the buzzer went off, it's more a feeling of relief, probably, than anything else," Mills said.

Four of the last five coaches to win in the NCAA Tournament with a No. 15 seed jumped to another job in a bigger conference within three seasons of their big win.

Mills, a former Baylor assistant under Scott Drew, is in his fourth season at Oral Roberts. The Golden Eagles have made steady improvement during his tenure, reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008.

But their first tournament victory since 1974 made Oral Roberts and its 48-year-old coach the biggest story in sports for at least a day.

"Paul Mills to many of us was an outstanding coach four hours ago," ESPN analyst and former college coach Fran Fraschilla said. "But the fact that he's knocked off Ohio State the way Oral Roberts did has given him great currency.

"A win like this validates Paul Mills not only with the general public, but it validates him with his peers. It validates him with basketball fans and it validates him, unfortunately for Oral Roberts, with the next AD thinking of hiring a guy like Paul."

Mills wasn't the only former Baylor assistant to Drew to make a mark on the first day of the first round: No. 13 seed North Texas and fourth-year coach Grant McCasland also beat a Big Ten power in overtime, knocking off fourth-seeded Purdue.

"It does open up an unbelievable amount of opportunity because it's instant equity, a win like that and an upset like that in the NCAA Tournament," former Nebraska coach Tim Miles said.

Merfeld had Hampton back in the tourney as Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champs the season after that memorable win against Iowa State. The next year, he landed at Evansville in the Missouri Valley, but it never quite clicked there and he was let go after five losing seasons.

In 2012, two No. 15s advanced out of the first round. Lehigh stunned Duke with future NBA star C.J. McCollum and Norfolk State bounced Missouri.

Anthony Evans spent one more season as Norfolk State coach in the MEAC before becoming head coach at Florida International in Conference USA. Five losing seasons later, he was out. Lehigh coach Brett Reed stayed put and just finished his 14th season at the school.

No coach has parlayed an unexpected star turn in March into a meteoric rise like Enfield. Florida Gulf Coast's "Dunk City" team in 2013 became the first 15 seed to reach the Sweet 16.

After just 69 games as a college head coach, Enfield went from making $157,000 per year in the Atlantic Sun Conference to a Pac-12 job with an annual salary of well over $1 million.

"It's a lot easier to hire a hot name out of the NCAA Tournament and if he doesn't work out the athletic director can always say, 'Look, we thought we were hiring a superstar based on what he did at X school,'" Fraschilla said.

The Trojans are in the NCAA Tournament this season for the third time in eight seasons under Enfield, a No. 6 seed-facing Drake on Saturday afternoon.

Davis was the antithesis of Enfield, an established, veteran coach with a long track record of success — just not in the NCAA. Then his Middle Tennessee team beat mighty Michigan State as a 15 seed.

"Rightly or wrongly, the emphasis is on the NCAA tournament," Miles said. "It's almost like the guy's an overnight sensation and it only took him 15 years to get their. But that's just the way it is."

Fraschilla led Manhattan College to a 13-over-4 upset of Oklahoma in 1995. Two years later, he took the St. John's job and then went to New Mexico, but never won another NCAA Tournament game.

Whether Friday's upset turns out to be the peak of Mills' coaching career or the first of many March moments, he might never top the feeling of leading Oral Roberts past Ohio State.

"It will be one of the greatest days of his career no matter what happens from here," Fraschilla said. "He can go to the Naismith Hall of Fame in 25 years and he'll remember this day forever because of what it means to him, his team, his school and his family."

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If the pregame prayer sounded more like a scouting report, it was. And if Sister Jean didn't have any plans for next weekend, well, she does now.

Loyola Chicago carried out its 101-year-old superfan's plans to a T on Sunday, moving to the Sweet 16 with a 71-58 win over Illinois, the first No. 1 seed bounced from this year's NCAA Tournament.

Cameron Krutwig delivered a 19-point, 12-rebound masterpiece and the quick-handed, eighth-seeded Ramblers (26-4) led wire to wire. They befuddled a powerful Illinois offense to return to the second weekend three years after their last magical run to the Final Four.

A hard habit to break for these Ramblers. And a classic case of nun-and-done for the Illini.

Loyola Chicago will next play either Oklahoma State or Oregon State, who were set to meet later Sunday.

"We just executed, played our game and controlled the game from the start," Krutwig said. "Nobody was really doing anything out of body or out of mind. We just stuck to the game plan."

Who wrote it?

Some of Loyola's wisdom comes from Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the venerable team chaplain, who headlined the team's 2018 run to the Final Four and received both COVID-19 vaccination shots so she could travel to Indianapolis to see what inspiration she could provide in 2021.

Before taking in this game from the luxury suite — sitting in her wheelchair and decked out in her trademark maroon and gold scarf — Jean delivered a pregame prayer that could've been stripped straight from a John Wooden handbook.

"As we play the Fighting Illini, we ask for special help to overcome this team and get a great win," she said. "We hope to score early and make our opponents nervous. We have a great opportunity to convert rebounds as this team makes about 50% of layups and 30% of its 3 points. Our defense can take care of that."

From her mouth to their ears.

Illinois (24-7) earned top seeding for the first time since its own Final Four run in 2005, but fell behind by 14 in the first half and never got within striking range. The Illini committed 16 turnovers and scored 23 points fewer than their season average. A team that lives for easy buckets in transition got two fast-break points.

Illinois' 7-foot second-team All-American Kofi Cockburn finished with 21 points on 7-for-12 shooting, but worked hard for every shot against the pestering presence of Krutwig and Co.

Loyola's handsy guards, Lucas Williamson (14 points) and Keith Clemons (two steals), kept first-team All-American Ayo Dosunmu from ever finding his comfort zone. He finished with nine points, 11 under his season average. Illini guard Trent Frazier went 1 for 10 for two points.

Loyola held its lead in the 8-to-12-point range through most of the second half, and though Illinois made a few 4-0 flurries, it never made this a one-possession game.

"We tried everything in the bag," Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. "Everything that's made us one of the most efficient offensive teams, today, just for whatever reason, didn't work."

Krutwig is also an All-American — a third-teamer who looked all-world in this one.

Posting up, pivoting, dishing when necessary and causing all kinds of trouble on defense in the paint, the 6-9 senior played bigger. He also had five assists and four steals. Krutwig was with Loyola for the last Final Four trip, and has since become one of only four players in Missouri Valley Conference history to record 1,500 points, 800 boards, and 300 assists.

And there's a chance for more.

It's a turn of events that Sister Jean could see happening. Before the game, she suggested Loyola, the MVC champs who have the nation's best defense (55.7 points per game) and were ranked 17th in the final AP poll, might have gotten a raw deal with a No. 8 seeding that put it up against a 1 so early.

There was only one way to deal with that — by winning. To anyone outside of Champaign — or now holding a freshly obliterated bracket — it's hard to argue this Loyola team isn't the breath of fresh air this tournament-in-a-bubble sorely needed.

Sure, there have been upsets, some drama and little teams doing big things.

But there's nobody quite like Sister Jean to put the whole thing in perspective. The Ramblers and March Madness — what an inspiration!

"It's amazing what happens when you get a group of young men who believe," coach Porter Moser said. "And these guys believed."

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IN THE CROWD

On other days, for other teams, Jerry Harkness might have been the biggest celebrity spotted in the crowd for Loyola Chicago. The point guard sparked Loyola's national-championship run in 1963 — a win, of course, that Sister Jean watched on an 11-inch TV loaned to her by a friend.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Oral Roberts welcomed the madness back to March.

The 15th-seeded Golden Eagles pulled off the first major upset of the first NCAA Tournament in two years, holding off second-seeded Big Ten power Ohio State 75-72 in overtime.

Oral Roberts got poised, impeccable performances from its two-star players, guard Max Abmas and forward Kevin Obanor, to become the ninth 15 seed to win a first-round game and the first since Middle Tennessee shocked Michigan State in 2016.

According to ESPN, Oral Roberts in the first lowest seed team to win an overtime game in the men's round of 64.

Obanor scored seven of Oral Roberts' 11 points in overtime, including two free throws with 13 seconds left, and finished with 30 points and 11 rebounds.

Abmas scored 29 points.

According to ESPN, 95% of brackets had picked Ohio State to defeat ORU.

The Golden Eagles (17-10) will play seventh-seeded Florida on Sunday.

Sweet 16 games kicked off Saturday. Here are some of the highlights (all times Eastern).

6:19 p.m.

Picked to finish dead last in the Pac-12, Oregon State instead might be the last one standing.

Led by unflappable guard Ethan Thompson, whose 20 points included a pair of clinching foul shots with 35 seconds left, the No. 12 seed Beavers and their brilliant defense shut down eighth-seeded Loyola Chicago in a 65-58 victory on Saturday that sent their long-suffering program into the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.

It's Oregon State's first regional final since 1982 — one that was later vacated by the NCAA — and sets up a showdown with second-seeded Houston or No. 10 seed Syracuse on Monday night for a spot in its first Final Four since 1963.

Original story follows:

What to watch on Saturday at the NCAA tournaments in Indiana and Texas:

TOP GAMES

Men: No. 1 seed Baylor (24-2) vs. No. 5 seed Villanova (18-6), South Region semifinal, Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indianapolis. Tipoff: 5:15 p.m. Eastern on CBS.

Villanova is seeking its third men’s national title in the last six years after winning it all in 2016 and 2018. The Wildcats have withstood a season-ending injury to point guard Collin Gillespie to get back to the Sweet 16. Baylor guards Jared Butler, Davion Mitchell and MaCio Teaue are averaging a combined 55 ½ points through the first two rounds.

Women: No. 1 seed UConn (26-1) vs. No. 5 seed Iowa (20-9), River Walk Region semifinal, Alamodome, San Antonio. Tipoff: 1 p.m. Eastern on ABC.

This matchup features two of the most dynamic freshmen in the game and they happen to be good friends. UConn’s Paige Bueckers is just the third freshman to earn first-team honors on the AP All-America women’s team. Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, a second-team All-America pick, leads the nation in points per game (26.8), total assists (209) and total 3-pointers (112).

WHAT ELSE TO WATCH FOR

Men: The other men’s games include Loyola Chicago-Oregon State, Arkansas-Oral Roberts and Houston-Syracuse.

Oral Roberts’ Kevin Obanor is averaging 29.5 points in two NCAA Tournament games. That’s the highest average of any player remaining in the tournament.

The Oregon State-Loyola game marks just the second matchup between a No. 8 seed and a No. 12 seed in tournament history. No. 12 seed Missouri beat No. 8 seed UCLA, 82-73, in 2002.

Women: The rest of the women’s schedule includes Baylor-Michigan, North Carolina State-Indiana and Texas A&M-Arizona.

Michigan is making its first Sweet 16 appearance.

Texas A&M has produced plenty of suspense thus far in the tournament by squeaking past No. 15 seed Troy 84-80 and erasing a 12-point deficit to edge Iowa State 84-82 in overtime. The Aggies never led Iowa State in regulation and won on a buzzer-beater from Jordan Nixon, who scored 35 points.

INDIANAPOLIS —

The matchup between Arkansas' Eric Musselman and Baylor's Scott Drew in the South Region final Monday night features coaches who've built on their dads' successes.

Musselman's late father, Bill, coached at Minnesota in the early 1970s and made stops at the highest and lowest levels of pro basketball. Drew's father, Homer, was coach at Valparaiso for 22 years and went to the NCAA Tournament seven times.

Eric Musselman coached pro ball for nearly a quarter-century before he entered the college game nine years ago. Drew, who worked for his father at Valpo, took over then-scandal-plagued Baylor 18 years ago and turned it into a Big 12 power.

The 56-year-old Musselman said there never was a question he would get into coaching.

"My father was my idol, my best friend," he said. "For Halloween, I wanted to be a coach. After school, when I was in grade school, my mom would drop me off at my dad's practices, and I'd stay until 10:00 or 11:00 at night until he'd finish breaking down film or having staff meetings. I just wanted to walk in his footsteps."

The next generation of coaching Musselmans is being developed. Michael Musselman is in his second season as Arkansas' director of recruiting. That followed his one year as a graduate assistant for his dad at Nevada.

"I have a younger son in college," Eric said, "and I know he wants to get into coaching when he graduates from the University of San Diego."

Musselman said a lot of coaches' sons avoid the business because they understand how stressful a life it can be.

"It's a conversation that my mother and I had several, several times when I decided to get into coaching, just how difficult it is," he said. "Coaches get fired, and it affects family. But it's what I loved. But I was warned by my mom, I promise you that."

The coaching bug also bit Scott Drew's brother. Bryce Drew, 46, is in his first year at Grand Canyon after head coaching stints at Vanderbilt and Valpo.

"We have a great mentor," Scott said of their dad. "There's a reason he's in the Hall of Fame. Both of us were blessed to learn from him. As good a coach as he is, he's a better father."

HOOP CITY

Spokane, Washington, already was going to get plenty of attention in this tournament thanks to No. 1 overall seed Gonzaga.

Surprising Elite Eight team Oregon State also has a strong connection to the Lilac City. The 12th-seeded Beavers will face No. 2 seed Houston on Monday in the Midwest Region final, while Gonzaga will play in the West Region final on Tuesday.

Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle reminisced Sunday about growing up in Spokane in the 1980s when the city's basketball scene began taking off. That's when John Stockton starred at Gonzaga before his Hall of Fame career with the Utah Jazz.

Tinkle starred at Ferris High School in the early 1980s before playing at Montana. Tinkle's daughter, Elle, played at Gonzaga.

Tinkle said he shared a birthday text with Stockton recently and had a chat with Gonzaga coach Mark Few when they ran into each other at Victory Field in Indianapolis.

"There's a lot of good athletes that come out of Spokane, not just basketball," Tinkle said. "But it does make me proud that I once had a hand and part of the history there as far as basketball goes."

HOOSIER CONNECTIONS

There might not be any Indiana teams left in the tournament. There still are some Hoosiers.

Two former Indiana coaches, Houston's Kelvin Sampson and Oregon State associate head coach Kerry Rupp, previously worked in Bloomington, and Arkansas' Justin Smith played three seasons with the Hoosiers before transferring.

Rupp spent two seasons on the staff of Mike Davis, who was Bob Knight's successor in 2000. Sampson replaced Davis in 2006. Smith was recruited by Tom Crean, who replaced Sampson in 2008, and played for the recently fired Archie Miller.

And if UCLA wins, assistant coach Michael Lewis would join the list. He was a captain on Knight's final Indiana team in 1999-2000 and graduated as the Hoosiers' career assists leader with 545. Lewis is now second all-time behind Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell (633).

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AP Sports Writers Tim Booth and Steve Megargee contributed to this report.

INDIANAPOLIS —

Houston overcame a blown 17-point lead to hold off Oregon State 67-61 on Monday night in the NCAA Tournament, reaching the Final Four for the first time in 37 years.

Quentin Grimes hit a 3-pointer with 3:21 left to break a 55-all tie. The second-seeded Cougars (28-3) spent the first half building a big lead behind a dominant defense, but they spent the second half hanging on as the 12th-seeded Beavers tried to add one more surprising result to a Midwest Region bracket beset by upsets.

Grimes' 3 from near the top of the arc finally steadied the Cougars, and Houston knocked down enough free throws down the stretch while holding Oregon State without a basket during a critical 3 1/2 minutes.

It wasn’t always pretty, with Houston shooting 29% after halftime and 32% for the game. Yet it also exemplified the program’s rugged defense-first identity under Kelvin Sampson, who has led Houston to accomplishments it hasn't seen since the famed “Phi Slama Jama” days of the 1980s.

This will be Houston's first Final Four since Hakeem Olajuwon and coach Guy Lewis led the Cougars to the 1984 title game, where they lost to Patrick Ewing and Georgetown. When it was over, Houston's players sprinted to midcourt to celebrate, then migrated to the corner of the court near the Houston fan section and started jumping around — and on top of each other — in a celebratory mob.

Maurice Calloo scored 13 points to lead Oregon State (20-13), which was vying to become the worst-seeded team ever to make a Final Four.

INDIANAPOLIS —

Gonzaga's countdown to perfection has ticked to two.

The Bulldogs are back in the Final Four, two wins from becoming the first undefeated team since the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers.

And, after all those upsets, the March Madness apex in the Hoosier State will be a high-seeded affair.

Gonzaga is a No. 1 seed. So is Baylor. Houston, a 2. UCLA is an 11, but it's also the all-time leader in national championships.

There also will be a trip down Southwest Conference memory lane.

But the Zags will be the team to beat.

Gonzaga (30-0) has been an offensive juggernaut rarely seen in college basketball. Fast moving and free flowing, the ultra-efficient Zags have steamrolled everyone in their way, winning a Division I-record 27 straight games by double digits.

An 85-56 dismantling of Southern California in the Elite Eight stretched their win streak to 34 games over two seasons and put them back in the Final Four for the second time in the past four NCAA Tournaments. Gonzaga came up short in a loss to North Carolina in the 2017 national title game, but has its sights set on finishing it off this time — and grabbing a piece of history.

“Everyone wants us to keep moving forward, but that’s not how we roll,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “This is a heck of an accomplishment. We’re going to take it and savor it for what it is. That doesn’t lessen our desire to win this game, the next game or win two more games.”

11:25 p.m.

For the 30th straight time this season, Gonzaga answered that question with a resounding “No.”

The Bulldogs got on a roll and put on a show, cruising into the Final Four with an 85-66 beatdown of a Southern California team that was nowhere near ready for what it ran into Tuesday night.

Drew Timme had 23 points and five rebounds and, after one dunk, pretended to slick down his handlebar mustache for the few thousand fans in the stands.

“This is a really, really big deal,” coach Mark Few said of the program's return to the Final Four after a four-year hiatus. “And Zags know how to celebrate, OK?”

The top-seeded and top-ranked Bulldogs will be the third team to bring an undefeated record into the Final Four since the bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The last team to go undefeated was Indiana in 1976. On Saturday in the national semifinals, the Zags will face the winner of a later Elite Eight matchup between UCLA and Michigan.

9:30 p.m.

Official Bert Smith collapsed on the floor early in the Elite Eight game between Gonzaga and Southern California and had to be taken off the court on a stretcher.

Smith had just set up on the baseline as the Trojans were moving onto offense when he collapsed and hit his head on the floor.

He stayed down for about five minutes, and then was able to stand up and move to a nearby stretcher. He was alert and sitting up with his arms crossed as he was taken off the court.

In a statement, NCAA spokesman David Worlock said Smith is "alert and stable," and won't be transported to a hospital. Worlock also said Smith has been in contact with his family.

Worlock's statement didn't specifically state the nature of Smith's "medical issue," though CBS Sports rules analyst Gene Steratore said on the TBS broadcast that Smith was feeling "lightheaded," leading to the fall. He said Smith was being treated by trainers in the locker room.

Smith was officiating his second Elite Eight. He was replaced by an alternate, Tony Henderson, who had been at the scorer's table. Additionally, Tony Chiazza — the standby official for the UCLA-Michigan game later Tuesday — would also serve as the standby official for the remainder of the USC-Gonzaga game, Worlock said.

The matchup was the 70th game Smith has worked this season, according to kenpom.com. He has officiated in multiple conferences.

INDIANAPOLIS —

Somehow, the COVID-19 pandemic didn't derail the season, notwithstanding lots of postponed or canceled games over five months.

Here's the latest from the Final Four (all times EDT):

11:09 p.m.

UCLA scored a 3-pointer to close the gap to 90-88.

As the Bruins held the ball with the clock draining, UCLA tied the game 90-90 before the Zags shot a buzzer-beating 3-pointer for the win.

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11:03 p.m.

Cody Riley sank a jumper, and UCLA nearly tied it up again with less than 2 minutes left.

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11:01 p.m.

Drew Timme swiveled into a layup to extend Gonzaga’s lead 87-83, scoring all 6 of the team’s points in overtime.

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10:55 p.m.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. is fouled with 43 seconds left and made both free throws to tie the game 81-81.

After UCLA picked up a charge call, the game was sent into overtime.

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10:50 p.m.

UCLA has called a timeout with less than 1 minute left; with Gonzaga leading 81-79, both teams have one timeout left.

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10:46 p.m.

The Zags turned the lead back to 75-74 with over 4 minutes left and then caused a UCLA shot clock expiration.

But teams struggled to convert for more than a minute before UCLA’s Johnny Juzang sank a 3-pointer.

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10:35 p.m.

Gonzaga can't quite shake UCLA in the national semifinals.

The heavily favored Zags were up 70-69 before UCLA took the lead 71-70.

The upstart Bruins stayed close thanks to Tyger Campbell. He had a 3-pointer, then hit another bucket to cut the deficit to a pair.

Campbell has 15 points while Johnny Juzang leads UCLA with 19. Gonzaga's Joel Ayayi has 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting.

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9:51 p.m.

UCLA is going toe-to-toe with Gonzaga at the Final Four. The Bulldogs, trying to keep their undefeated season going, have a 45-44 lead at halftime.

It was a wild first half, featuring 11 lead changes and six ties. The upstart Bruins led most of the way before Corey Kispert hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds.

Joel Ayayi leads top-seeded Gonzaga with 16 points and Johnny Juzang played all of the first 20 minutes and has 15 for UCLA, which is the fifth 11th seed to make the Final Four.

Gonzaga brought a 30-0 record into the game and is trying to carry an undefeated record into the national title game.

Waiting there is Baylor, which defeated Houston 78-59 in the earlier semifinal.

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9:39 p.m.

UCLA is hanging with heavily favored Gonzaga in the national semifinals.

The Zags entered this Final Four with four straight double-digits victories in the NCAA Tournament. The tourney's No. 1 overall seed didn't trail in the previous two.

But the upstart Bruins are hanging tough in the first half with a 27-25 lead at the under-8-minute media timeout. They maintained that edge with less than 2 minutes left, winning 39-37, but Gonzaga gained the lead before the half, 45-44.

The 11th-seeded Bruins have tried to shorten the game by slowing the pace.

But as player after player and coach after coach has warned throughout the tournament, taking just one play off — any play — could lead to one of Gonzaga’s trademark runs.

The Bruins also could get a boost from their fans, who have been noticeably louder during the first half.

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8:55 p.m.

UCLA has the early edge over No. 1 Gonzaga as Baylor awaits its opponent in the NCAA championship game.

The 11th-seeded Bruins are up 10-9 at the first media timeout. Jaime Jaquez Jr. put UCLA in front with a 3-pointer.

Joel Ayayi scored the first seven points for the Zags, heavy favorites against the Bruins as they try to get within a victory of being the first undefeated national champion since Indiana 45 years ago.

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7:15 p.m.

Baylor has cruised into the NCAA championship game and will wait to see if No. 1 Gonzaga can provide the much-anticipated final.

Jared Butler didn't score in the second half, but the second-ranked Bears didn't need any more points from their All-American guard after he scored 17 to help them take a 25-point halftime lead in a 78-59 victory over Houston.

Gonzaga, the tournament's No. 1 overall seed, plays 11th-seeded UCLA in the late game.

It's the second trip to the championship game for Baylor. The other was in 1948, when the Bears lost to Kentucky 58-42. This is Baylor's first trip to the Final Four since 1950, when only eight teams were in the tournament.

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6:55 p.m.

Health officials in Indiana say they are investigating whether anyone was exposed to COVID-19 by Alabama residents following Friday night’s reported death of a Crimson Tide fan who was in Indianapolis for the NCAA Tournament last weekend.

Marion County officials say in a statement provided to the NCAA they are investigating possible exposure based on an Alabama newspaper report that cited multiple sources it didn't identify in reporting 23-year-old Alabama student Luke Ratliff died of complications related to COVID-19.

Bryan Ratliff tells The Tuscaloosa News his son died after a brief illness. The elder Ratliff could not immediately be reached for comment Saturday by The Associated Press.

The younger Ratliff was hospitalized shortly after returning to Tuscaloosa on March 29, one day after attending Alabama’s game against UCLA at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, the News reported.

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6:45 p.m.

Fans are showing up in team colors, parking attendants are waving signs encouraging drivers to turn in and there are lines at souvenir shops.

Inside, it hasn't been anywhere close to normal at the Final Four.

Only a few thousand watched the first national semifinal between Baylor and Houston instead of the usual tens of thousands. And with the Bears taking control early and still holding a 20-point lead early in the second half, they've been mostly quiet.

The seats closest to the court are filled primarily with cardboard cutouts behind the baselines and a large sign over the sideline that the read “The Big Dance.” Instead of the traditional pep bands playing through timeouts, songs echo off the metal and concrete stadium.

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6:10 p.m.

Jared Butler is more than halfway toward a career high with 17 points, just about everyone else wearing a Baylor uniform has found nothing but the bottom of the net, and the Bears lead Houston 45-20 at halftime of their national semifinal.

Butler is 6 of 8 from the field, hitting four 3-pointers, to give the Big 12 champions a big cushion in their first Final Four appearance since 1950. Butler had 11 points during a 16-3 run late in the half that cracked open the game.

The Bears are 8 of 15 from beyond the arc and shooting 57% overall against the nation’s second-best scoring defense.

Marcus Sasser is doing his best to keep Houston in the game, hitting five 3-pointers and scoring 17 himself. But the rest of the Cougars are 1 of 15 from the field.

That includes All-American guard Quentin Grimes (0-5) and DeJon Jarreau (1-7), the most valuable player of the Cougars’ tournament region.

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5:55 p.m.

So far, Marcus Sasser is carrying the Houston offense. And the defense is struggling to slow Baylor.

The sophomore guard has 15 points on 5-for-9 shooting, with each made shot coming from behind the arc. But the rest of the team has started 1 for 11 and has just two points.

Sasser had struggled in the past three tournament games with his shot, making 11 of 43 attempts and 7 of 27 3-pointers.

More alarmingly, Houston’s defense that had held every tournament opponent to 61 points or less allowed Baylor to shoot 58% and make 6 of 12 3-pointers. The Bears led 33-17 near the 5-minute mark of the first half.

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5:25 p.m.

The first NCAA Tournament semifinal has tipped off in Indianapolis between two Texas teams that have Indiana connections.

Baylor coach Scott Drew graduated from Butler and coached at Valparaiso. Houston coach Kelvin Sampson spent two seasons as coach of the Indiana Hoosiers.

It’s only the third time that two teams from the same state have squared off in the Final Four, the last being Louisville and Kentucky in 2012.

The top-seeded Bears have reached the Final Four for the first time since 1950. The Cougars, the Midwest Region champs, have reached the national semis for the first time since 1984.

Students from six Indiana schools sang the national anthem before the tip.

CNN contributed to this report.

An NCAA official says the governing body may consider using a single site for later rounds of men’s college basketball tournaments following a successful run in Indianapolis. Senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt told reporters Tuesday that it was unlikely to occur before 2027 or that all 68 teams would play at one site.

But if schools and coaches are interested, Gavitt says the model could work for future regional games and the Final Four.

The NCAA hosted the entire Men's Basketball Tournament in the state of Indiana, utilizing the Indianapolis area's plethora of stadiums and arenas. The entire tournament was moved to Indiana due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The NCAA opted to also hold regional semifinals, better known as the Sweet 16, on a Saturday and a Sunday, meaning the games were played throughout the day.

CLEVELAND — The 2021 NFL Draft in downtown Cleveland is one of the first major public events since the pandemic started, following the NFL’s Super Bowl and NCAA’s March Madness Tournament.

The way to keep everyone safe relied mostly on using more space, being outdoors, and rules about distancing, mask-wearing, and special access for vaccinated fans and officials. Even though the draft now travels around to a new city every year (except during 2020 when it was completely virtual), COVID was the audible no one saw coming.

Kevin Barry

“When we started planning over two years ago, we couldn’t have anticipated that we’d be in the current situation that we’re in now,” said NFL Director of Events Heather Nanberg.

That’s why she’s in charge of the largest draft stage the NFL has ever built so that it has enough room to fit representatives from all 32 NFL teams and specially selected fans, all of whom will have to be vaccinated.

The 4,000-5,000 fans who will get to watch the draft in front of the stage also needed to have their second vaccine shot more than two weeks ago and will wear stickers showing that they’ve been vaccinated.

Kevin Barry

“Everyone, regardless of vaccination, will also have to wear masks throughout the experience,” said NFL Senior Director of Event Planning Eric Finkelstein.

Fans don’t need vaccines for the NFL Draft Experience, which will allow 50,000 fans to play on the field at First Energy Stadium and do other actives outside the stadium.

Commissioner Rodger Goodell will be in Cleveland announcing picks from the stage with some prospects in attendance, but the teams will not have someone to hand the draft card in person. That’s all being done virtually, just like 2020, which Nanberg says is a feature the NFL enjoyed and is trying to recreate.

Kevin Barry

“There were some really cool moments where we got a lot closer to a lot of prospects…and we got to see into their homes,” said Nanberg.

Many fans can't get close to the stage, so three Rock the Clock end zones are set up in Playhouse Square, Flats East Bank, and Mall C, allowing fans to watch the draft from a distance.

Kevin Barry at WEWS first reported this story.