And there's still five more rounds!
Okay, so my summary of what happened didn't even touch some of the awe-inspiring moments of the opening round of the NCAA tournament so here's a look at each game in order:
- Ohio State and the media pulled the little brother card, Dayton pulled the upset card in one of the best March Madness tip-off games I have ever seen. Aaron Craft, the Buckeyes' go-to defensive star, had an uncharacteristically turnover-happy day (5 TOs to 4 assists and 4 steals) that ended with a heartbreaking clanker off the rim as time expired and Craft was left lying on the floor.
Dayton 60 Ohio State 59 - American University hung around with the Badgers of Wisconsin for the first half but then Wisconsin went on a rampage in the second half to crush the Eagles 43-13 in the second act.
Wisconsin 75 American U 35 - Pittsburgh took off Colorado's head in the first half cruising to a 46-18 advantage at the break. The Panthers shot over 50% from the field en route to a first (second) round victory.
Pittsburgh 77 Colorado 48 - For the second installment of Upset Madness, look no further than the fourth game on Thursday. After being called for an administrative technical (explained here), the Bearcats will be looking for a new bookkeeper and some more offense this offseason. Sean Kilpatrick, known to many Cincinnati fans as the offensive key for the Bearcats, was, once again, paired with Justin Jackson as the only two players to be able to hit the bottom of the net. Harvard, for their part, simply sunk their shots to overcome one extremely stingy Cincinnati defense.
Harvard 61 Cincinnati 57 - A typical 3-14 seed matchup should look like what Syracuse and Western Michigan looked like. Although WMU was good, the Orange were flat out better in a full game runaway.
Syracuse 77 Western Michigan 53 - Oregon put to rest any doubters, myself included, when they blew by BYU. 50% shooting from the field mixed with 81% efficiency from the charity stripe make it hard for any team to keep up with you. Although Oregon did lack the deep ball (15%), BYU wasn't much better (26%) while giving Oregon multiple second chance points off the glass.
Oregon 87 BYU 68 - The first one seed, and the number one overall seed, was tested for much of their game before pulling away from Albany. Once again, the team shooting over 50% from the field won the game. However, both teams played a fairly clean game but both turned the ball over 10 times.
Florida 67 Albany 55 - Michigan State, or should I say Adreian Payne, looked like their beginning of the season #1 ranking in a complete offensive performance against the Fightin Blue Hens of Delaware. The Spartans shot 53% from the field, 52% from beyond the arc and 92% from the line. Enough said. But then there's Payne who recorded an astounding 41 points while going 17-17 from the line.
Michigan State 93 Delaware 78 - UConn and St. Joe's played the typical 7-10 chess match down to the bitter end with UConn coming from behind to tie the game to force OT in which the Huskies simply willed themselves to a first round win. For the first time this tournament, the team that shot 50% didn't win the game while the team that shot 46% from downtown and 90% from the line pulled it out.
Connecticut 89 Saint Joseph's 81 - Michigan dispatched the pesky Terriers of Wofford in their first action since a Big-10 Title loss to Michigan State on Sunday. That was helped by the Terriers shooting 5% from beyond the arc on 19 attempts.
Michigan 57 Wofford 40 - Saint Louis. The Billikens must have replaced their Gatorade with some sort of magic potion over the final 8 minutes of their game in order to come back from a 16 point deficit. Or maybe it was the unsung big man, Rob Loe, who reigned in the Wolfpack on 22 points and 15 rebounds. Or maybe it was the Free Throw curse that ailed both teams (neither team shot over 55% from the stripe) that just did in North Carolina State. Or maybe the Wolfpack just gave the game away after an exhausting past three days (playing Xavier Tuesday night and flying into Orlando the following morning). But all I know for sure is that this five seeded Saint Louis played like a championship-worthy team the final 13 minutes of regulation and OT.
Saint Louis 83 North Carolina State 80 - And the 12 seed wasn't done yet. Shortly after the Billikens wrapped up their non-upset upset, North Dakota State hit a game-tying three and Oklahoma couldn't hit three different shots to end the game. Thus, the Bison, perhaps the first Cinderella of the tournament, went into overtime sensing a victory was within their grasp. Sure enough, five minutes later, the Bison were rewarded for their persistence and the phrase "Sooner or Later" was born to commemorate NDSU's first NCAA tournament victory.
North Dakota State 80 Oklahoma 75 - Texas lived for the buzzer. Arizona State died at the buzzer. In a back and forth battle that saw Texas on top by double digits for three minutes before ASU's comeback, the Longhorns willed their way to a last second, layup, two point victory over the Sun Devils. The score came off a missed three which should have spelled overtime for the two schools, but Cameron Ridley was not to be denied as he rebounded and threw the ball up and in as time expired.
Texas 87 Arizona State 85 - Villanova was simply able to outlast the surging Milwaukee team they faced on Thursday night. After a close first half, the Wildcats played like a two seed while the Panthers played like a 15 seed simply running out of spark down the stretch
Villanova 73 Milwaukee 53 - You want better games than the box score suggests? How about a Manhattan-Louisville game that was destined to cause heartbreak one way or another? With just over four minutes left to play, the Jaspers were up three on the reigning national champions. At the two minute mark it was knotted up at 60. One minute and the Cardinals were up three. The game ended with a late 6-2 run by the Cardinals to squeak by the Jaspers.
Louisville 71 Manhattan 64 - And the rollercoaster of a kick-off day wasn't going to end on a ho-hum run of the mill 4-13 matchup, how could it? Instead, the Aggies of New Mexico State gave the Aztecs of San Diego State all they could handle during regulation. On a six second 5-0 run, the Aggies hit a game tying three to force overtime. However, overtime went to the survivalist Aztecs led by senior Xavier Thames.
San Diego State 73 New Mexico State 69
Four upsets, four overtimes, five four points or less decisions and a one 16 point comeback. And we aren't done yet. That was just one day of thrilling NCAA tournament basketball. Stay tuned for a recap of Friday's action coming out later today (early tomorrow before the first tip).
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