Sixteen sweet thoughts before we call it a season:
1. The selection committee appears to have gotten the top two teams in the men's NCAA tournament exactly right. Alabama and Houston are on a collision course for an in-season rematch in the national championship game. Houston's path to a hometown hurrah is much trickier, however, as 2-seed Texas, 3-seed Xavier and 5-seed Miami await in the Midwest Region. The Crimson Tide, meanwhile, are contending "only" with 5-seed San Diego State, 6-seed Creighton and 15-seed (!) Princeton in the South Region. Alabama also won the regular-season meeting 71-65 at Houston.
2. All signs point to a team from Texas advancing to the Final Four in that state. Sign me up right now for an Elite Eight game between Houston's Cougars and the Longhorns. And if Texas isn't smart enough to sign interim coach Rodney Terry to a long-term contract in extremely short order, perhaps he can buy Ed Cooley's house in Providence, Rhode Island.
3. Color me surprised to learn that the Marquette's Shaka Smart -- a legitimate national coach of the year contender -- had lost seven straight NCAA tournament games before the Golden Eagles flew past Vermont in this year's first round. Overall, Smart is just 3-9 in the tourney since leading VCU from the First Four to the Final Four in 2011. That tally figures to improve if Marquette maintains its current upward trajectory.
4. UConn enjoyed near home-court advantage in both of its impressive wins in Albany, New York, particularly in the second round against Saint Mary's. The tables will turn quickly in the West Region if the Huskies can take care of Arkansas on Thursday. Saturday's regional final in Las Vegas -- against either UCLA or especially Gonzaga -- will feel like anything but a home game for the Big East interlopers.
5. Maybe Duke wasn't underseeded. And maybe rolling through the ACC tournament wasn't all we thought it was cracked up to be.
6. Don't know what I was thinking in picking against Miami's guards in the first round versus Drake. Now I'm thinking the Hurricanes have exactly what it takes on the perimeter to seriously challenge Houston in the Sweet 16.
7. Not at all surprised by the first-weekend success of: UConn, San Diego State, Creighton, Florida Atlantic.
8. Even less surprised by the first-weekend woes of: Kansas, Kentucky, Memphis, Iowa.
9. Pleasantly surprised by: Kansas State, Tennessee, Michigan State, Penn State, Pittsburgh.
10. Unpleasantly dismayed by: Marquette, Indiana, Duke, Iowa State, Illinois, Boise State, Utah State, Providence, Nevada.
11. A category all their own: Princeton and Fairleigh Dickinson.
12. If you're going to make a stink about the selection committee -- talking about you, again, Texas A&M -- it helps to back up the words with decent play. Sure, the Aggies might have been underseeded by a line or even two, but I can give athletic director Ross Bjork all the data he needs for the 2023 tournament: A&M made only 10 of 25 2-point shots (40%) in its lopsided loss to Penn State, a double-digit seed, and was even worse from 3-point range (10-for-34, 29.4%). Conversely, the Aggies allowed Penn State to shoot 59.1% from downtown and 48.2% overall. No team, regardless of seeding, is overcoming numbers like that in a single-elimination event.
13. I am not going to play a Sweet 16-only bracket. Three of my original Final Four -- Alabama, Houston and Gonzaga -- are still alive, and I can't imagine many folks have an East Region champion left. So I'm sticking with my pretournament call of Houston over Alabama for the title.
14. Can you name the only team so far in this postseason to win multiple true road games? That would be Utah Valley. The Wolverines have won NIT first- and second-round contests at New Mexico and Colorado, respectively. They now get Cincinnati at home on Wednesday with a trip to Las Vegas as the prize, and I like their chances.
15. We've not seen an overtime game yet in the NCAA tournament, but if you haven't had enough regulation madness, consider tuning into the College Basketball Invitational this week. Three straight CBI opening-round matches went to overtime on Sunday, and last year's championship game was won by UNC Wilmington in double overtime. They know all about free basketball in Daytona Beach, Florida.
16. Finally, there will be a full 2024 bracket posted not long after the Final Four. But if you can't wait that long, we'll tease the top 16 for next season during the CBI title game on Wednesday (ESPN2, 5 p.m. ET).