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Good morning! Close out that task before overtime today.
While You Were Sleeping: Can every game go to overtime?
Two high seeds entered last night’s games in position to advance to their respective Sweet 16s. Both had to sweat:
- On the men’s side, No. 1 seed Houston really, really tried to lose to No. 9 seed Texas A&M. There is always a fine line between grit and collapse in these sorts of games. On one hand, Houston squandered a 12-point lead with two minutes remaining and allowed this to happen as time expired in regulation:
TEXAS A&M AT THE BUZZER TO FORCE OVERTIME 🚨
🎥@MarchMadnessMBBpic.twitter.com/d5eFmjqPJp
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) March 25, 2024
- And then there is the grit, which emerged in the overtime period of the Cougars’ 100-95 win. Is it troubling that one of this tournament’s best teams simply could not put away a decent A&M squad? Or is it impressive that Houston survived four starters fouling out and still advanced to the school’s fifth straight Sweet 16? I think both are true, actually.
- On the women’s side, No. 2 seed Stanford nearly went out sad at home to No. 7 seed Iowa State in an 87-81 overtime…