Nuanez Now · ESPN Missoula

Nuanez Now March 23, 2026 - Hour 1 - Ian Laird

March 24, 2026·1 hr 2 min·5 clips

Coulter Nuanez shaved his playoff beard and head, leaving him feeling like a bashful dog with a new haircut.

It starts with tournament housekeeping. After the sponsor-heavy reset, the host gets right into bracket damage, buzzer-beater buzz, and whether chalk-heavy listeners are still feeling smug. Nebraska gets treated as a real upset. The seed line had Nebraska as a four against five-seed Vanderbilt, but the host leans on the betting line and notes Nebraska was the underdog. Illinois and Houston make their cases cleanly. Illinois rolls VCU, Houston buries Texas A&M, and that sets up a tidy two-versus-three regional semifinal with the regional final sitting right there. Nebraska and Iowa take the other regional semifinal. Out west, things get less tidy. Arizona beats Utah State, and Arkansas survives High Point after High Point had already picked up Cinderella attention. The host slows down on that word. VCU over North Carolina and High Point over Wisconsin fit better as double-digit, non-power-four upsets. Texas is different. The argument is simple: an 11 seed from the SEC is not much of a Cinderella when the team had talent, underachieved, slipped in, and then got hot. The run still counts. Texas beat Gonzaga, had the play-in win already banked, and now gets Purdue in the Sweet 16. Purdue survives with a second-half push, beating Miami 79-69, which gives the west another heavy regional semifinal next to Arkansas against Arizona. Michigan gets the biggest reaction. The Wolverines are called an absolute juggernaut after beating St. Louis 95-72, setting up Alabama after the Tide handle Texas Tech 90-65. The Texas Tech aside is short and sharp. Graham McCallum's Elite Eight team from last year gets mentioned, then brushed aside because Alabama had little trouble. Tennessee also gets filed as a quote-unquote upset after beating Virginia 79-72, though five Sweet 16 trips in six years makes the Cinderella label hard to sell. The segment plays like a fast score crawl with a point of view: seeds matter, spreads matter, conference baggage matters, and margins can change the story.

As heard by us

A brisk tournament checkpoint that turns bracket results into a clear, opinionated sports-radio map.

This one spends a lot of time sorting the bracket, with Nebraska, Illinois, Houston, Arizona, Arkansas, Texas, Purdue, Michigan, and Alabama tightening the picture.

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Why you'd press play

You want a fast March bracket update from a local ESPN Montana voice.

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