10 compelling Wisconsin March Madness stories from first weekend of 2024 NCAA Tournament

For Wisconsin basketball teams, the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament will be remembered as a long-awaited breakthrough (for Marquette fans) or an abject disaster (for Wisconsin fans).

But there were a number of Wisconsin-centric story lines from the first two rounds of the 2024 Big Dance.

Here they were in reverse order of prominence:

10. SEC has a rough go, and ex-Wisconsin coaches among those bounced

This list will start and end with the struggles of the Southeastern Conference, which saw five of its teams lose in the first round and four suffer losses at the hands of double-digit seeds. Auburn, the SEC tournament champion coached by former University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee head coach Bruce Pearl, took a 78-76 loss to Yale, one night after sixth-seeded South Carolina (coached by former Wisconsin assistant Lamont Paris) took a lopsided 87-73 loss to No. 11-seeded Oregon.

Former Marquette coach Buzz Williams got Texas A&M into the second round but fell to Houston once he got there, though the Aggies forced overtime with a thrilling rally before coming up short in OT. Watertown native Nate Oats and Alabama are through to the second weekend.

9. Tyrese Hunter almost wills Texas back

Racine St. Catherine standout Tyrese Hunter finished with 13 points and hit a deep late three-pointer that provided at least some drama, but Texas couldn't get over the hump against No. 2-seeded Tennessee in the second round, 62-58. Hunter had eight points in a first-round win over Colorado State, a team that features Brookfield East alumnus Patrick Cartier.

8. Seth Trimble's rejection

North Carolina's 85-69 win over Michigan State looked plenty comfortable on paper in the second round, but players afterward had positive things to say about feisty reserve guard Seth Trimble, who had two big rejections as the Tar Heels took control of the game. Trimble, from Menomonee Falls, finished with two points.

7. Grambling State rallies for a thrilling First Four win

Grambling State, a team with multiple connections to Wisconsin, rallied for an 88-81 win in overtime against Montana State in the First Four in Dayton, giving the program an NCAA victory in its first appearance in the Big Dance.

Head coach Donte' Jackson is from Milwaukee and played at UW-Milwaukee. Jalen Johnson, who transferred from UWM, and Mikale Stevenson, who transferred from Milwaukee Area Technical College, both hit double figures in scoring as the Tigers came back from a 14-point deficit. Three other players hailing from the Milwaukee area didn't play in the game; Grambling State lost to Purdue two days later.

6. Marcus Domask's triple double

The Waupun native has made the most of his graduate-transfer season playing for Illinois, and he was on fire in the Illini's first-round win over Morehead State, 85-69. Domask had 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, just the ninth official triple-double in the NCAA men's tournament. The last? Ja Morant of Murray State against Marquette in 2019. Marquette's own Dwyane Wade famously recorded one against Kentucky in the Elite Eight. Domask added 22 points in an 89-63 win over Duquesne in the second round.

5. Does Bennett Ball work anymore?

Tony Bennett, the former star at UW-Green Bay and son of ex-Badgers coach Dick Bennett, won the national title in 2019, but Virginia hasn't won an NCAA Tournament game since, with three losses all to double-digit seeds. This year, the Cavaliers were among the last invited to the tournament, and the 14-point first half in a First Four loss to Colorado State started a fire on social media, calling out the selection committee for making the wrong call. Colorado State, with Brookfield East's Patrick Cartier in the lineup, eventually dismissed Virginia, 67-42. The Cavaliers had Wisconsinites Reece Beekman, Andrew Rohde and Leon Bond in the rotation.

4. Iowa State's Wisconsin contingent marches onward

Second-seeded Iowa State, potentially under-seeded a bit as the fourth-ranked No. 2 seed, registered a 67-56 win over Washington State in the second round after an 82-65 win over South Dakota State.

The opening-round game marked a unique battle between coach T.J. Otzelberger and his old program, as well as his former assistant Eric Henderson, now head coach of the Jackrabbits. Both Otzelberger and Henderson once coached basketball at Catholic Central in Burlington.

Pewaukee High School alumnus Milan Momcilovic scored 19 points in the first game and another 10 in the follow-up. The freshman has become an immediate difference-maker for the Cyclones.

3. Wisconsin wilts vs. James Madison

Changes are already afoot for the Wisconsin program in the days after an ugly 72-61 loss to 12th-seeded James Madison, with Connor Essegian announcing that he's about to transfer. How will the program transform in the months ahead as it stares down its third loss to a double-digit seed in the past four tournaments?.

2. Tyler Kolek, Marquette deliver against Colorado

The big question surrounding Marquette heading into the tournament was whether Tyler Kolek would be healthy, and would the oblique injury that held him out for more than two weeks limit him with the games started? Back-to-back double doubles suggest it won't be a problem.

The 81-77 win helped cement an already dazzling legacy at MU for the consensus All-American, with his 21 points and 11 rebounds leading the way.

No Wisconsin school has reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament since Wisconsin was stunned by Florida in the Sweet 16 in 2017, and Marquette hasn't made it to this stage since 2013. Brookfield Central's David Joplin had an impressive dunk in the win over Colorado and two monster free throws late.

1. Pewaukee native Jack Gohlke becomes a household name

Oakland University senior Jack Gohlke, a Pewaukee native who spent five years playing at NCAA Division II Hillsdale in Michigan, is everything the NCAA Tournament is about. He was a star who came out of nowhere as an upstart mid-major team shocks a blue blood. The Pewaukee High School graduate hit 10 three-pointers in a stunning 80-76 win over Kentucky, sending the 14th-seeded Golden Grizzlies to their first appearance in the round of 32. Gohlke hit another six triples against North Carolina State in the second round, but the Grizzlies fell in overtime, 79-73.

Gohlke's 16 triples are the most ever by a player in his first two NCAA tournament games. He seemed completely unfazed in postgame press conferences by his newfound celebrity and success.

“I know they have draft picks and I’m not going to the NBA,” Gohlke said in the postgame presser. “But I know on any given night I can compete with those guys and our team can. When we play our ‘A’ game, we can be the best team on the floor.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Jack Gohlke leads 10 Wisconsin-tied stories in March Madness weekend