Tubby Smith (Getty Images)

For the past few years, Tubby Smith's Minnesota tenure has inspired two schools of thought.

Some have argued the Gophers can do better than a coach whose teams consistently start strong only to fade to the NCAA tournament bubble or off it every February. Others have insisted a program with modest tradition like Minnesota is lucky to have a coach who is annually in NCAA tournament contention at all.

We'll soon find out who's right because Minnesota has apparently decided to part ways with Smith and go in a new direction. First-year athletic director Norwood Teague fired Smith on Monday afternoon in the wake of the Gophers' second-round NCAA tournament loss to Florida the previous day.

In Smith's six years with the Gophers, he reached the NCAA Tournament three times and advanced past the first round only once. Minnesota's best Big Ten finish under Smith was sixth and the Gophers never finished above .500 in league play.

Smith's exit comes on the heels of a season that typified both the positive and negative aspects of his tenure.

Flush with enough talent and experience to compete in even the strongest Big Ten in recent memory, Minnesota started the season 15-1 and climbed into the top 10 in the polls after a 3-0 start to league play. It was a slow descent into mediocrity from there, however, as the Gophers lost 10 of 15 to close the Big Ten season, fell in the opening round of the conference tournament and temporarily righted themselves with an NCAA tournament win over shorthanded UCLA before losing to Florida.

Ben Howland (Getty Images)

On the day he hired Ben Howland 10 years ago, UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero set the bar high for his new coach, telling reporters, "We expect that he will return UCLA basketball to the nation’s elite."

Howland accomplished that goal during the first half of his tenure but he was fired on Sunday night because he couldn't sustain it.

Despite his three straight Final Fours from 2006 to 2008 and his Pac-12 title this season, Howland wasn't the victim of impossibly high expectations at UCLA the way some have suggested the past 24 hours. Guerrero made the correct decision letting him go because recruiting had slowed, transfers had become an epidemic and he had lost the faith of a significant portion of the fan base.

In the past five seasons, UCLA has fallen from title contention to mediocrity, missing the NCAA tournament twice and failing to make it out of the opening weekend the other three times. The structured, demanding style that made Howland so successful during the first half of his UCLA tenure also wore on his teams, contributing to his woes recruiting players and retaining them.

Between 2008 and 2012, 17 players left UCLA with eligibility remaining, some to enter the NBA draft early but the majority to transfer to other schools. Especially damaging were the departures of all-conference talents Chace Stanback (UNLV), Drew Gordon (New Mexico), Mike Moser (UNLV) and Joshua Smith (Georgetown).

The roster attrition became a bigger issue once Howland began having less success landing elite recruits and identifying hidden gems.

The Southwest Philly Floater caused a lot of havoc. (AP)Are you singing the Busted Bracket Blues this fine Monday morning? If so, you should know that you aren't alone.

After taking a deeper look at the data from Yahoo! Fantasy Sports Tourney Pick'Em, there wasn't a single soul among the 3 million plus entries that escaped the weekend with his or her entire Sweet 16 intact. Only two brackets came close with this one missing 15th-seeded FGCU and this one missing 13th-seeded La Salle.

[Pick'em: Click here to enter your second chance bracket]

So with so much havoc being created by this weekend's upsets, which brackets are sitting pretty? Well, one person currently leads the pack after correctly picking the outcomes of 42 of the 48 games that were played. Five others garnered 55 of a 64 possible points though two of those entries have been busted thanks to Gonzaga and Georgetown.

If your brackets are nowhere near those lofty heights, remember that you can enter a Sweet 16 second chance brackets. All entries must be submitted by the time the next round of games start on Thursday night.

[Second Chance Help: Brad Evans' picks for the Sweet Sixteen]

Here's some more data on the first weekend of the tournament:

His team may not be advancing to the Sweet 16, but that certainly can't be blamed on Khalif Wyatt. The Temple guard scored 31 points in both of the Owls' two NCAA tournament games, the first a 76-72 victory over NC State and the second a taut 58-52 loss to Indiana. If highlighting a player whose team was ousted rubs you wrong, there are other deserving candidates. Kansas would not still be playing without contributions from Jeff Withey on both ends, nor would Marquette without the late-game heroics of Vander Blue.

A national TV audience was waiting for Nate Wolters to channel Stephen Curry and lead South Dakota State to a memorable upset of fourth-seeded Michigan in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Instead Wolters endured one of the more miserable games of his otherwise excellent college career. The senior guard and potential NBA draft pick managed only a quiet 10 points on 3 of 14 shooting in a 71-56 loss to the Wolverines.

With a 10-3 overall NCAA tournament record and four teams in the Sweet 16, the Big Ten validated its season-long status as the best conference in college basketball. Michigan and Michigan State advanced to the Sweet 16 in convincing fashion and Ohio State and Indiana joined them by surviving tense, back-and-forth round of 32 games. Of the three Big Ten schools eliminated, only Wisconsin lost to an opponent with a worse seed.

As Florida Gulf Coast players danced around the court Sunday night celebrating becoming the first No. 15 seed ever to reach the Sweet 16, San Diego State star Jamaal Franklin made a point to seek out the Eagles' best player.

Franklin pulled FGCU senior Sherwood Brown aside, embraced him and delivered a classy but heartfelt message.

"He just told us that we did a great job and he was just saying to keep this thing going," Brown said. "We're doing something special, and he just wants us to keep it moving. Don't stop now."

Franklin's version of the conversation was similar. He said he encouraged Brown to keep being a leader, to embrace the opportunity of playing in the Sweet 16 and to make FGCU's ride last as long as possible.

[Related: Best and worst from NCAA tournament's opening weekend]

"Those guys we played against right now are just like us," Franklin said. "They all love each other and they all play together. They just want to win. And you can see at the end of the game, a lot of teams win games and just leave the court, but they embraced it. They embraced it together."

Shane Larkin (AP)Miami will head to its first Sweet Sixteen in 13 years, thanks to a 63-59 win over Illinois in the East Region on Sunday night.

It was far from an easy win.

The second-seeded Hurricanes could never shake the seventh-seeded Illini, who even took a one-point lead on a Tracy Abrams free throw with 1:24 remaining in the game.

Shane Larkin, however, hit a three to take a 57-55 lead with 1:03 remaining. The Hurricanes then took advantage of a highly-questionable possession call that would have given Illinois the ball down one with under 40 seconds to play. Durand Scott made two free throws on the ensuing possession to extend the lead to four points and Miami never looked back.

Miami's Rion Brown led all scorers with 21 points and added five rebounds. Larkin contributed 17 points and had five assists. Brandon Paul led the Illini with 18 points.

[Slideshow: Best photos of the NCAA tournament]

"I asked you guys to be fighters and you know who I saw out there?" Miami coach Jim Larranaga asked his team in the locker room after the game.

Flamboyant and controversial Ole Miss guard Marshall Henderson was on the court but he wasn't playing when La Salle knocked the Rebels out of the NCAA tournament Sunday night.

In the final moments of a tight game, the Ole Miss star was kneeling in front of his bench when La Salle guard Tyrone Garland drove through three Rebels to score on what he called a 'Southwest Philly Floater' with just 2.5 seconds remaining. The bucket gave the Explorers a 76-74 win.

Henderson watched helplessly as a teammate heaved a shot from beyond half court in an attempt to tie, and when that shot missed, his forearms and forehead sunk to the floor in front of his knees before he stood to shake hands.

As Florida Gulf Coast celebrated the most improbable Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA tournament's upset-filled history on Sunday night, the obvious question wasn't how the Eagles toppled Georgetown and San Diego State this week.

It was how they lost twice to Lipscomb in the regular season.

Anyone who thought Florida Gulf Coast's upset of the second-seeded Hoyas was a fluke Friday night may have to reconsider after the beach-side school few had heard of a few days ago outclassed the seventh-seeded Aztecs two nights later. Bernard Thompson scored 23 points and Sherwood Robinson added 17, breaking open a close game midway through the second half and propelling the Eagles to an 81-71 win.

The next opponent for Florida Gulf Coast is the most fitting one possible for an underdog hoping to make the Final Four in its first-ever NCAA tournament. The Eagles will face in-state power Florida in the regional semifinals in Dallas with a spot in the Elite Eight on the line.

[Slideshow: Faces of NCAA tournament losers]

Of the seven No. 15 seeds who have pulled first-round upsets since the NCAA tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1985, Florida Gulf Coast is the only one ever to win a second game.

The six previous No. 15 seeds lost in the Round of 32 by an average of 15 points per game. Only 1997 Coppin State even came within 10 of its second-round opponent, falling 82-81 to 10th-seeded Texas.