PLAYER OF THE DAY: Carsen Edwards, Purdue

Edwards absolutely went off on Saturday night.

He hit four threes in the first five minutes. He hit nine threes on the night. He scored 42 points — the most points anyone has scored in an NCAA tournament game since Gerry McNamara had 43 points for Syracuse against BYU in the first round of the 2004 NCAA tournament. He set the tone for the Boilermakers in a game where they utterly embarrassed Villanova, winning 87-61.

But that’s burying the lede.

Because the real story here is that Carsen Edwards had spent the last month of the season playing like he forgot how to shoot. He was 7-for-23 in the win over Old Dominion. He was 4-for-17 in the Big Ten tournament loss to Minnesota, which was better than the 7-for-31 he shot in a regular season loss to Minnesota. There was a 3-for-16 night, a 4-for-24 night, an 8-for-27 night.

The scary part is that it never really affected the way that Purdue was running their offense.

Which leads me to Saturday night.

Edwards exploded. He looks like he’s back, and despite the fact that he has spent the last third of the season playing a super-high usage, non-existent efficiency role, Purdue still is a top five offensive team, according to KenPom.

The Boilers are starting to look a little scary.

TEAM OF THE DAY: Auburn Tigers

Auburn jumped out to leads of 15-5, 25-9 and 40-20 en route to an 89-75 win over Kansas in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Bryce Brown led the way with 25 points, Jared Harper added 18 and the Tigers hit 13 threes in a win that should make everyone take notice. This was dominant.

GAME OF THE DAY: Kentucky 62, Wofford 56

While LSU-Maryland was a thriller with the best ending of the tournament, I actually enjoyed Kentucky’s battle with Wofford more than any other game that happened on Saturday. Here’s our Travis Hines on the game here.

ONIONS OF THE DAY: Tremont Waters, LSU

We had our first game-winner of the NCAA tournament!!!

TREMONT WATERS. FOR THE WIN. LSU IS HEADED TO THE SWEET 16. pic.twitter.com/1mat4D1khr — CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 23, 2019

WTF OF THE DAY: Fletcher Magee, Wofford

Fletcher Magee is the best shooter in the history of college basketball. I feel comfortable saying that because he entered Saturday have hit 43 percent of his threes while shooting more than 10 threes per game. On Saturday, the career-leader in made three-pointers went 0-for-12, becoming the first player in NCAA tournament history to go 0-for-12 from beyond the arc.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: Brandon Clarke, Gonzaga

We’ve known just how good Clarke can be on the defensive end of the floor all season long, but he was the difference for the Zags offensively on a night where no one else was really able to get it going. He put up 36 points on Baylor, shooting 15-for-18 from the floor while added eight boards, five blocks, three assists and two steals.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Murray State

The Racers ran into a better team on Saturday, getting drubbed by 28 points and ending Ja Morant’s run in this tournament before it really got started. And that’s what is disappointing here. It’s not the way they played as much as it was Morant going out without much in the way of drama or excitement. He deserved better.

THREE MORE THINGS TO KNOW

THE END OF A SPECIAL VILLANOVA ERA

With Phil Booth and Eric Paschall seeing their college careers come to a close on Saturday night, we have officially reached the end of one of the most dominant eras in modern college basketball history. Starting in 2013-14, with Ryan Arcidiacono’s sophomore season on the Mainline, Villanova has posted a 191-31 record. In those six seasons, the Wildcats accounted for a total of nine Big East titles — five regular season and four of the tournament variety — to go along with a pair of runs to national titles.

Jay Wright built Villanova into a program that is now mentioned in the same breath as the bluebloods. He’s winning Big East regular season titles despite losing four of his six rotation players to the NBA, two of them unexpectedly. The continuity truly is incredible.

And Booth and Paschall were the end of that era.

Heading into next season, the Wildcats will have just three contributors on the roster that saw action in the 2018 national title game, and only Colin Gillespie, who played just 17 minutes, was really a factor. That’s not to say they won’t be good, because they will be. Jermaine Samuels will be one of college basketball’s breakout stars next year, while a pair of loaded recruiting classes back-to-back has re-upped the level of talent in the program.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Cole Swider, Jahvon Quinerly and Brandon Slater will be valued contributors next season, which is to say nothing of Saddiq Bey, who turned out to be their best freshman this year. Bryan Antoine has one-and-done potential while Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Justin Moore and Eric Dixon are all talented kids that should thrive playing in Villanova’s program.

The future is very bright for Villanova

But it’s also very different.

Villanova is going to be incredibly young again next season. It may still be another year before Wright is back to being in the national title conversation again. It’s a new era with new players ready to write their own legacy.

And while the ending was anything but storybook, the final chapter has been written.

Phil Booth and Eric Paschall will be missed, and not just in the Philly suburbs.