Top storylines from Day 4 of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament

Chalk continued to reign supreme in this year's NCAA Tournament as Sunday's action produced just a single victory by a lower-seeded team: sixth-seeded Ole Miss, which upended the undermanned and third-seeded Cyclones of Iowa State. But the games themselves were thrilling — most of them anyway — with a handful decided by single digits and one coming down to a fadeaway jumper at the final buzzer. The stage is now set for a heavyweight Sweet 16 featuring big brands and blue bloods across the bracket.

For that to happen, No. 1 Florida needed a late comeback against eighth-seeded Connecticut, the two-time defending national champions. Fourth-seeded Maryland needed a moment of magic from freshman phenom Derik Queen to stave off No. 12 Colorado State. And second-seeded Michigan State, which fell behind by 10 in the first half, surged away from New Mexico and the other member of the Pitino family in the waning moments.

Dive in for a recap of the day's biggest storylines:

By the arrival of the under-12 media timeout during Sunday night's game between No. 2 Michigan State and No. 10 Mexico, the most glaring difference between the two teams had become readily apparent: depth. Such a discovery couldn't exactly be considered revelatory; after all, schools from high-major conferences should almost always have more talent than their counterparts from the lesser leagues, especially as revenue sharing and NIL further stratify the sport. But what underscored the difference between the Spartans and the Lobos in the Round of 32 was the impact — or lack thereof — on each team when one of their respective stars endured an uncharacteristically quiet outing.

For Michigan State, which pulled away from Bryant in the opening round, that player was