Time for the Day 1 recap! It's only fitting that the Madness began with an upset as Minnesota took down Louisville in a 7-10 matchup. The Golden Gophers hit a three right before the half to increase their lead to 5. Even though both teams went to the locker room for intermission, that shot would provide momentum for Minnesota during the first 10 minutes of the second half, as their lead would balloon to 19 points. The final margin would be 10 as the Cardinals became the first team to pack their bags. Yale tried to top that upset by taking down 3rd-seeded LSU, but they missed 29 three-pointers. A few of those would have come in handy as they stayed close despite being awful from long range. But it would be the Tigers moving on after a 5 point victory.
The zaniest game of the day was up next. Auburn seemed to have their game in hand against New Mexico State, up 7 with less than a minute to go and headed to the free throw line. Then they missed the front end of a 1-and-1, gave up a layup, turned the ball over, and fouled immediately. You would have thought they were behind. The Aggies made 1 out of 2 to trim the lead to 4. Another Tigers turnover led to a made 3 and suddenly it was a 1 point game. The free throw game began from there and Auburn made 4 from the line with 1 from New Mexico State sandwiched in between. The Tigers were up 4 with 12 seconds left. Safe again, right? Not remotely. The Aggies came down and hit a 3 to draw within a single point again. Auburn only made 1 of 2, so New Mexico State had six seconds to get a final shot to tie (or win!). Their guard drove the lane and had a wide open layup, but he opted to throw the ball to his teammate on the wing for a game-winning shot. He didn't make it, but he was fouled on the play. If New Mexico State could drain these three free throws, they were moving on. Missed the first, made the second, missed the third. But Auburn knocked it out of bounds with 1 second left. The Aggies somehow got a player open in the corner and he had a wide open 3 for the win, but he threw up an airball. Auburn did everything they could in the final minute to lose, but somehow they advanced. A short time later, they were joined in round 2 by Florida State, who overcame an early deficit to overwhelm Vermont.
The next two games featured huge upset bids that came up short in the end. Michigan State has already suffered the indignity of losing in the first round as a 2 seed and they found themselves down at the half to Missouri Valley champ Bradley. The Spartans still hadn't erased that 1 point deficit with 7 minutes remaining and it looked like history might repeat itself. But the Braves couldn't hold on as Michigan State ended the game on a 22-10 run to ensure an all Big 10 matchup with Minnesota in round two. Speaking of the Big 10, Maryland had their hands full with Belmont, fresh off their win in the First Four on Tuesday night. The Bruins held a 6 point lead at the half, but it was back and forth for most of the final 20 minutes. The Terps led by 1 in the waning seconds, but Belmont possessed the ball. They tried to hit a back door cut to their star Dylan Windler, who had already scored 35 points in the game. The pass was deflected though and when Maryland grabbed the ball with 2 seconds left, it was going to take a miracle for Belmont to move on. The Terps hit the first free throw and missed the second, but Windler couldn't hit from beyond half court at the buzzer. A strong day for the Big 10 continued as Maryland moves on.
The Kansas-Northeastern game was not must see TV (the Jayhawks won by 34), but the Marquette-Murray State battle sure was. Marquette was the 6 seed, coming into the tournament as the regular season runner-up in the Big East. You might be more familiar with them than Murray State, but there is one special player on the Racers roster that you will definitely know after today if you hadn't heard of him already. Ja Morant may not be the imposing physical specimen that Zion Williamson is, but there is no one in college basketball who plays the same game he does. Right from the start, it seemed like Marquette was the underdog as Morant was clearly the best player on the court. Dazzling passes, a pure shot, and he even crashed the boards. Early on in the second half, he had the highlight of the tournament so far. His teammate hit him with a pass as he cut to the hoop. Between Ja and the bucket was a very tall Golden Eagle. Ja rose up and dunked over the big man like he wasn't even there. Nas-tee. With just under 5 minutes left in the game and the outcome no longer in doubt, Morant grabbed a rebound to finish off a rare triple-double in an NCAA Tournament game. He finished with 17 points (on 9 shots!), 11 rebounds, and 16 assists. He completely dominated the game and the Racers pulled off the 12-5 upset with a 19 point victory.
The evening games started out with a couple of blowouts (Gonzaga by 38, Kentucky by 35), but there were also two interesting games with teams that did well in last year's tournament. Nevada was a 7 seed for the second year in a row, but that was fine by them. In the 2018 tournament, they made it to the Sweet 16, where they came up 1 point short in their quest for the regional finals. Most of the players from that squad returned this year and, as a result, the Wolf Pack found themselves ranked in the Top 10 for most of 2019. They started to lose their swagger towards the end of the year, which is why they were ranked so low. You could see that this was no longer that Top 10 for most of their game vs Florida, as the Gators opened up a 17 point margin with 11 minutes to go. Nevada would find their pride though and with 2 minutes to play, they were only down a bucket. Try as they might, they couldn't get over the hump and reclaim the lead. In fact, they wouldn't score at all in the last 2 minutes, falling to Florida by a score of 70-61.
The other team featured in the early evening block did slightly better than Nevada last year. Villanova crushed everyone they faced in last year's tourney, cutting down the nets for the 2nd time in 3 years. It's been much more of a struggle this year. They lost to Furman. They lost to Penn. Late in the season, they lost 4 out of 5 games. But they found a way to end up both regular season and conference tournament champs of the Big East. That only got them a 6 seed though, so they will have a much tougher road to the title this year. Their first test was against St. Mary's, who got in the tournament after shutting down high-powered Gonzaga in the WCC championship. This would not be the prettiest game to watch. It was low-scoring and neither team could put together much of a run. But the Wildcats kept the Gaels at bay for most of the second half, consistently holding an 8 point lead for much of the final 20 minutes. St. Mary's would trim it to 4 late, but that's as close as they would get. The champs are still alive as Villanova moves on.
The late evening session followed the same format as the early evening session, with two winners (Michigan and Purdue) never having to break much of a sweat. Like Villanova, Syracuse is another dangerous tournament team as no one ever seems to know how to handle their zone defense even though they play the same defense every game, every season. Is there no film of Syracuse anywhere? I've never understood why this is so confusing to their opponents. It wasn't all that confusing to Baylor. They knew how important it was to hit 3-pointers against the 2-3 zone and they were very efficient from downtown. The Bears hit 16 of 34 from beyond the arc. The Orange never backed down despite Baylor's long range barrage, but Syracuse didn't have enough firepower to hang with the Bears late. There would be no deep run for the Orange in 2019 after a 9 point loss to Baylor in round one.
There were several nominees for game of the afternoon, but the game of the night pitted Wofford against Seton Hall. You might not know the Terriers very well or the conference they come from (the Southern Conference), but that league was very solid this year. Remember how Villanova lost to a team called Furman? They're from the Southern Conference. If it wasn't for some conference tournament upsets, UNC Greensboro (from the Southern Conference) would have gotten an at-large bid. Instead, they're a #1 seed in the NIT. Despite the depth of that conference, Wofford went 18-0 in league play and won the conference tournament. They were ranked 19th in the country before the tournament. Yet they were given a 7 seed because mid-majors continue to get no respect. That respect has to be earned by beating teams like Seton Hall. The Pirates lost the Big East Championship game by 2 to Villanova and were getting better as the season went along. This game would be a shootout. Wofford's Fletcher Magee has some Steph Curry in him, willing to shoot from just about anywhere without even being fully set. That is how he's made 509 three-pointers in his career, an NCAA record. The Terriers were hot early, leading to a 10 point halftime advantage. In the second half, Seton Hall's Myles Powell showed he was no slouch with the rock. He took the game over after the intermission, single-handedly bringing the Pirates back into the game. It was 67-66 with just over 4 minutes left when Wofford kicked it into another gear. Before Seton Hall knew what hit them, the Terriers had scored 17 in a row and the outcome had been decided. After a 16-point victory over one of the Big East's best, Wofford will continue their quest for respect on Saturday afternoon when they meet Kentucky.
That wraps up Day 1. In terms of the pool standings, we have mirror images in the two pools, as the 1-2-3 players sit with 20 points, 19 points, and 18 points, respectively. Here are the top three:
Safety School:
- Mark Grimes - 20 points
- John Baxindine - 19 points
- Paulie - 18 points
Paid For My Kids SATs:
- Belden - 20 points
- Chubbs - 19 points
- John Falco - 18 points
Not in the top 3? Well you can see where you stand after Day 1 by clicking here.
Day 2 is nearly complete. There will be an update available early tomorrow afternoon. Till then, get some sleep!
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