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From an entertainment stand point, the first day of March Madness delivered exactly what the viewers wanted to see – pure mayhem. But unfortunately for many of us, that also meant our brackets were destroyed before we even saw it coming.
The day kicked off with a close matchup between Norte Dame and no. 14 seed Northeastern, but with the luck of the Irish behind them, the no. 3 seed was able to seal the deal with two final free throws.
The first upset of the tournament followed shortly after when Iowa State, a team many were banking on for a Final Four appearance, fell to no. 14 UAB. This is the third straight year a no. 14 seed has upset a no. 3 seed, and Georgia State followed suit immediately after with a one-point victory over Baylor. Another significant early upset came when no. 11 UCLA claimed a one-point victory over no. 6 SMU.
The game between Arizona and Texas Southern played out like many expected it to with the Wildcats defeating the no. 15 seed 93-71, but the team will need make improvements in their defense game before taking on next opponent, Ohio State. The no. 10 Buckeyes took down no. 7 VCU in an overtime thriller – the first of the tournament and one of only two to take place during this round.
Two match-ups between the 8 and 9- seeds, no. 8 Cincinnati vs. no. 9 Purdue and no. 8 NC State vs. no. 9 LSU, proved to be one-point nail-biters, but in the end, it was the 8-seeds that were able to clinch the wins.
Speaking of close games, all eyes were on no. 4 UNC and no. 13 Harvard in the West region. The Tar Heels narrowly escaped defeat over the Ivy League team with a final score of 67-65. No. 5 seeds Utah and Arkansas were able to pull off wins against their no. 12 counterparts – SFA and Wofford, respectively – but the final scores for both games were tight.
The largest lead of the round goes to no. 1 Villanova who demolished no. 16 Lafayette in a 93-52 victory. Kentucky also earned their first of what’s expected to be many victories in the tournament with a 79-56 win over no. 16 Hampton.
In a round where the single-day record for one-point games was broken, so were the brackets of many Americans. Before the night games event tipped off, the NCAA estimated that less than 1% were still intact.
Let the madness continue.
