Devine: March Madness has been nothing short of, well, madness

Villanova ‘s Omari Spellman (14) begins to celebrate as time runs out in the second half of an NCAA men’s college basketball tournament second-round game against Alabama, in Pittsburgh, Saturday, March 17, 2018.

Ladies and gentlemen: Welcome to the Madness.

The second weekend of March Madness is less hectic, but can be every bit as gainful.

One weekend of the NCAA tournament is now in the books. The Ramblers from Loyola went toe-to-toe with No. 3 seed Tennessee and with seconds left in the game and a one-point deficit for Loyola, former Iowa State guard Clayton Custer came to the rescue. No, they haven’t had the toughest path to this point, but they did what so many other top seeds were unable to do – they took care of business against lesser opponents.

UMBC and Kansas State was a mess of a game even though it was a delight to watch America’s newest sweetheart.

Units are what the NCAA calls its revenue distributions from the basketball performance fund, which rewards teams for tournament performance.

A insane first day with a lot of upsets and buzzer-beaters, the second day of the tournament did not disappoint either.

In the other No. 13 seed upset of a fourth seed, Marshall shocked Wichita State, 71-65. The Ramblers upset sixth-seeded Miami on a buzzer-beater by senior Donte Ingram. “Incredibly hard matchup”, said MI coach Kim Barnes Arico, whose team lost to the Lady Bears in the second round. While the opening round produced some very surprising results, it was nothing compared to what we saw in the Round of 32.

Loyola Chicago and Syracuse were 11 seeds with a chance to reach the Sweet 16 with victories this weekend.

Then came Thursday and Friday, the NCAAs best two days, each with 16 games and some real potential for upsets.

But the madness did not stop there. They take on No. 2 seed Duke who had no troubles in its 25-point victory over No. 7 seed Rhode Island. UMBC won 74-54 against Virginia.

The next team remaining with the highest percentage of selections across all brackets to win it all is Villanova, at 16.3 percent.

Jalen Brunson, Villanova. The national player of the year contender has teamed with Mikal Bridges to form an unstoppable duo.

The champions of the Mountain West and Missouri Valley brought their own unique style of drama to the Big Dance in the first two rounds.

A year after losing 5-0 to a different MA foe in the first round a year ago, the Red – armed with 10 freshmen who didn’t experience the loss to UMass-Lowell – is primed to do some damage in the tournament this season. The first-ever 16-over-1 upset in NCAA tournament history that completely tore through so many brackets.

It was also the second straight year the titleholder lost before the Sweet 16.

Although the Orange’s zone defense can be tricky to handle, Duke has experience from playing against it late in the regular season, and it contains a roster chock full of freshmen talent that should be able to find the gaps in Jim Boeheim’s team.

They are the second eleven seed remaining and play goliath Duke on Friday at 9:37.

“They come to a lot of our games, they support us, and I wanted to support them”, Howard told The Associated Press while the Hornets were in NY to play the Knicks.

Young, who played in last year’s OT wins in Fargo, said there is a lot to learn from a weekend like this as a player whether suiting up or not. The Blue Devils laid only 2.5 more points against the Orange when the teams met at Cameron Indoor Stadium last month – and they won by 16 points.

The ACC has four of the 16 teams left, but Duke provides the conference with their best hope for a title. Jevon Carter finishes everything at the rim, makes the right decision consistently and has the mental makeup to put his team on his back when necessary. That game, as well as the #4 Gonzaga vs #9 Florida State matchup that follows, will air on TBS.

Despite the Mavs’ lack of NCAA tournament experience, junior wing Parker Mackay said the Bulldogs’ most recent encounter with the Mavs – a 1-0 January 23 loss in Mankato – tells him they’re a team that is built to do damage this weekend and beyond.