Among the many stories that dashed across my screens over the weekend, one about Kansas senior guard Zeke Mayo caught my attention. Mayo had just played a terrible game against Texas Tech and the Jayhawks lost at home for the third time this season. After the game, Mayo opened his social media accounts and read hateful, racist messages from anonymous strangers. Mayo posted a screenshot of those messages on Twitter with an apology to the KU fans. A few hours later, his coach, Bill Self, offered his own statement in support of his players. Although Self did not mention Mayo specifically, it was clear why he was putting out the statement.

After that made the rounds, I wondered if Self regretted putting out that statement. So I reached out to him Sunday night and spoke with him for a while. He told me that he did, in fact, regret putting out the statement, although he had good intentions. The story that conversation produced leads our site and offers an important look at a prevalent topic, both in college basketball and society at large.

That’s just one of many pieces of content you can devour on this first Monday of March. There is lots of Madness headed our way and you have come to the right place to stay on top of it all. We are offering a 68 percent discount (one percent for every team in the bracket) to make it easy for you to purchase an annual subscription. And I also encourage you to follow our Twitter, our TikTok and especially our Instagram account, because that’s where I’ll be holding a live stream the day after Selection Sunday.

The party has officially started. Enjoy your Monday, everyone, and thanks as always for your support of Hoops HQ. — Seth

“I Shouldn't Have Done It”: Bill Self Regrets Addressing Social Media Hate

By Seth Davis

It was another rough day for Kansas in a season that has been all too full of them. The Jayhawks almost never lose at home, but they fell on Saturday 78-73 to Texas Tech, their third setback this season in Allen Fieldhouse. Last week, after losing back-to-back games at Utah and BYU (the latter by 24 points), KU fell out of the AP Top 25 for the first time in four years.

No one in Kansas’ locker room likes losing, but Zeke Mayo took Saturday’s setback especially hard. When the game was over, Mayo did something he hadn’t done much this season — check his social media accounts. He looked at his Direct Messages and saw messages from anonymous strangers that went well beyond critical and angry. They were hateful, threatening and overtly racist.

Shortly after that post, Mayo deleted his Twitter account and has vowed to stay off social media. But his coach, Bill Self, felt the need to rise to his player’s defense.

Bracketology Update: Two No. 1 Seeds Are Up for Grabs

By Brad Wachtel

Determining the Tournament’s four No. 1 seeds is no easy task following this weekend’s results. Auburn and Duke remain in excellent position to be the first and second overall No. 1 seeds, but after Tennessee knocked off Alabama, and Florida dominated Texas A&M on Saturday, things are much closer for the other two No. 1 seeds.

With the Crimson Tide's loss at Tennessee, Houston jumps them as my third overall No. 1 seed, though I am still giving the fourth top seed to the Crimson Tide over the Vols, based on their having a better record against Q1A road/neutral (Alabama is 5-3, Tennessee is 3-4). But as Florida, currently a No. 2 seed, plays at Alabama on Wednesday, things are far from settled....

🚨 Last chance! Submit your questions now for our first READER MAILBAG with Editor-in-Chief Seth Davis. Click here to submit your query.

🏀 With a loaded class entering April's WNBA draft, there are a number of big-time college players with pro-ready games who slip into the second round. Here, the top WNBA draft sleepers.

🏀 Could Villanova make a deep Tournament run? What's wrong with Marquette? We go Inside the Big East.

Kansas @ Houston: The team that was projected to win the Big 12 in the preseason (Kansas) and the team that actually won it (Houston) meet at the Fertitta Center. When these squads played at Allen Fieldhouse in late January, Houston somehow pulled off an improbable 92-86 victory in double overtime. It was one of the games of the season... and now we get to run it back. Kansas is in desperate need of a confidence boost and a win over Houston would definitely do the trick. 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.