I hope you welcomed the madness with open arms yesterday! I know I did.
I’ve attached the graphics from the NCAA above with the tip-times for Saturday. I have to ask: Why is Michigan/SLU the first game of the day when SLU finished up at 12:15 locally?! It doesn’t make sense to me, and feels like we could’ve been better at preparing for this.
As I mentioned, day one delivered! We saw a couple of upsets, including the largest first round comeback in NCAA tournament history, as well as two teams getting their first ever NCAAT wins! These games are loosely ranked below!
The game of the day was VCU’s shocking upset over UNC. VCU led this one by 19 before VCU came back to win in OT. Hubert Davis’s coaching was horrendous down the stretch, and Terrence Hill poured in 34 to lead the Rams to victory!
The 5-12 upset delivered! High Point stood toe to toe with Wisconsin, beating them by a final of 83-82. Chase Johnson hit his first 2 point bucket of the year to pull HPU ahead for their first ever tournament win! Martin led with 23 for HPU, while Boyd had 27 for the Badgers.
TCU jumped out to a 15 point halftime lead, and despite letting Ohio State back into the game, they were able to pull off the last second victory! Xavier Edmonds hit a layup with 4.3 remaining to give the Frogs the lead.
Louisville holds off a furious comeback from South Florida to take an 83-79 victory over the Bulls. McKneely put up 23, and Fru added 10/10 double double!
Texas jumped out to a big lead over BYU, and despite AJ Dybantsa trying to will the Cougars past the Longhorns, Texas pulled the upset off! AJ had 35/10. However, Vokietatis for Texas continued his impressive postseason, putting up a ridiculous 23/16 and earning my player of the game honors.
Duke survived a legitimate scare from Siena. The Blue Devils ended up winning 71-65, however, it felt like Siena beat themselves more than anything. Boozer had an inefficient 22 points and 13 rebounds. Isaiah Evans had 16 and 10 as well. Duke will need to play better or TCU will knock them out Saturday.
Vanderbilt beat McNeese 78-68. This was actually a close game until the final minutes. Tyler Tanner poured in 26 points to lead the ‘Dores!
Texas A&M controlled the game vs. Saint Mary’s, winning by 13. Rashaun Agee led all scorers with 22, and SMC couldn’t get it going. I’m very curious to see what Bennett does this offseason. Lucky for A&M, they get Houston now.
Gonzaga beat Kennesaw State in the final game of thee day! The Zags struggled out of the gate, but were able to pull away in the 2nd half to win by 9. Ike led the way with 19/8.
Nebraska dominated Troy for their first ever NCAA Tournament victory! The 76-47 victory takes a huge “monkey” off their back and things should settle in as they move forward. Sandfort poured in 23 points.
Saint Louis absolutely destroyed Georgia overnight. I’d put it in the “shocking” category… mainly because of the margin. SLU is legit, and will give Michigan everything they can handle!
Arkansas, Houston, Illinois, and Michigan State all ran out to huge wins over their opponents.
Michigan, despite giving up 46 first half points pulled away and won 101-80.
