First set of games:
- On paper, the best game from the early action looked like the 7-10 matchup between Texas A&M and Providence. For the first 25 minutes of action, it was a tight affair as neither team shot the ball all that well. The Aggies starting showing signs of life with about 15 minutes left, opening up an 8-point lead. The Friars showed in the Big East tournament that they wouldn't go down easily and they didn't here, finding a way to trim the lead down to 1 late in the second half. That would be as close as they would get though. Texas A&M held on to take this one, 73-69.
- The best game of the first quartet would end up being the Wichita State-Marshall battle. The Shockers have been a mid-major darling for years, but they left the Missouri Valley Conference for a bigger conference this year. That helped get them a higher seed, but it also forced a role reversal. They went from being the hunter to the hunted. Their opponent was a true mid-major, Marshall. The Thundering Herd hung around during the first 20 minutes, only trailing by 3. The two teams traded the lead for most of the second half, but Marshall proved the better team over the last 4 minutes. The Shockers were...ummm...surprised by the #13 seed, falling 81-75.
- Very few people had Georgia State as a serious upset candidate, but the #15 seed led Cincinnati for the first 15 minutes of their tilt. It looked like we might have a replay of Kansas-Penn from the day before when the Bearcats asserted control and opened up a lead after falling behind early, but Georgia State was feisty. With less than 10 minutes to go, they went on a run that gave them a 1-point advantage. Cincinnati would score 22 of the final 28 points though, sending home a valiant Panther squad.
- The last game of the initial four wasn't noteworthy for its competitiveness, but rather for a major injury. Purdue won by 26, but the Boilermakers watched star 7-foot-2 center Isaac Haas fracture his elbow on a freak play. They will have to play the rest of the tournament without him.
Second set of games:
- Only one good battle in the second set of games as Nevada and Texas might have been the most evenly matched teams of round one. Things got tense late as the Longhorns held a 1-point lead in the final seconds. Nevada drew a foul and had two free throws to take the lead with 3 seconds to go. They missed the first, but made the second, tying the game. Texas had one more chance to win it, but they threw a dangerous inbounds pass that resulted in a turnover. Now the Wolfpack had a chance to win it, but their shot at the buzzer would not fall. In overtime, Texas would grab an early 4-point lead, but Nevada stormed back with 8 consecutive points to build an advantage that would prove insurmountable. The best Wolfpack in the tournament lives to play another day.
- Butler was the underdog in their matchup against Arkansas, but they didn't play that way, pummeling the Razorbacks by 17.
- West Virginia set up an intrastate battle with Marshall after thrashing Murray State by the same margin of 17.
- North Carolina would go one better, making Lipscomb's March Madness debut a short one in an 18-point victory.
Third set of games:
- Would this be the night that a 16-seed finally took down a 1-seed? Texas Southern was trying to make the case that it was. They didn't look like a 16-seed when they scored 16 straight against Xavier, a stretch that provided them with a 7-point lead. The Musketeers would have an immediate response though. They went on a 21-2 run and never looked back after that, eclipsing the century mark in a 102-83 victory.
- Bucknell at least made the box score look good by the end of their game. The Bison trailed Michigan State by 18 with 4 minutes left, but they refused to let the Spartans run out the clock. They kept fouling and fouling, trading 1-2 free throws for three-pointers at the other end. Give Bucknell credit: they did their part, knocking down 6 triples, including 4 in the final minute. But it was too little, too late. Michigan State was never in danger of losing, "only" winning by 4.
- If there was a defensive doppelgänger to yesterday's Seton Hall-NC State game, it would have been the 8-9 matchup between Creighton and Kansas State. Kansas State got out to an early lead and the Bluejays never really put together any sort of comeback over the course of the game. This was despite the fact that the Wildcats were playing without their top scorer. 69 points was more than enough for Kansas State to move on with a 10-point victory.
- There had never been a tournament where three 13-seeds had pulled off upsets in round one, but in the final game of the early evening set, the Cougars of Charleston were in position to join Buffalo and Marshall in the round of 32. They were tied with regular season SEC champ Auburn at the break and the two teams were still deadlocked with 2 minutes to go. Auburn hit a three to take the lead, but gave Charleston a bunch of chances from the line to make up the deficit. Poor shooting from the charity stripe doomed the Cougars though. They had one last chance at a tie and appeared to get screwed when the ref swallowed his whistle during a three-point attempt where the Charleston player appeared to get fouled. But let's be honest: he was gonna miss the free throws anyway. Auburn moves on with a 4-point win.
Final set of games:
- Syracuse is good at one thing and one thing only: playing zone. How do you attack the zone? Not the way TCU did. The commentators kept talking about how TCU coach Jamie Dixon had success against Syracuse when he coached Pitt, but he must have lost his notes or something. The Horned Frogs were all too willing to chuck up a bunch of difficult shots and never made the Orange's zone collapse. (For God's sake, put a man at the free throw line already!). As a result, Syracuse lives another day, beating TCU by 5.
- Florida State led by 22 at halftime and never looked back in their demolition of Missouri.
- Clemson also built a large halftime lead in their game against New Mexico State and were never seriously threatened in their 11-point win over the Aggies.
- That meant the ACC was going to sweep all four of the games to end the evening. Because there was no way Virginia, the #1 overall seed, was going to lose to UMBC. UMBC had lost to Albany by 44 two months ago. They needed a buzzer-beating three-pointer to upset Vermont and make the tournament. Virginia had been a defensive force all year long, holding the elite teams in the country to an average of 53 points per game. This might not be a sexy matchup, but the Cavaliers were not expected to sweat much. They were 20-point favorites. Even when the first half ended tied at 21, it was hard to imagine that UMBC would hang in there for 20 more minutes. Penn and Texas Southern had early leads against #1 seeds, so seeing a 16-seed play tough in the first half was not uncommon. What happened in the second half would shock the world. It wasn't a complete surprise that Virginia would put up paltry numbers on offense. What was baffling was how easy the Retrievers were scoring against the best defense in the nation. Over and over again, they would drain threes or slice to the hoop for a layup. UMBC was en fuego. The lead grew to 12. Then 15. Four minutes to go and UMBC led by 17. Was this really happening? The look on the Cavaliers face let you know there would be no comeback. There wasn't even any fouling in the last few minutes in a desperate attempt to close the gap. A 16-seed had finally done the impossible and they did it in a rout. UMBC cracked brackets across the country with a resounding 20-point victory.
If you've never believed that anyone could win in this tournament, you better believe it now.
On to the standings! In the main pool, Luke McLoughlin has taken a one-point lead over John Falco, with Vince Berarducci, Debra Peerenboom, and reigning champ Will Peerenboom another three points behind John in 3rd. In the gamblers pool, Jim O'Connor holds a one-point lead on Luke, with Vince in 3rd there as well.
The full standings can be found here.
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