March Madness Round 1: Perfect brackets remaining - Null
Zip, zero, none, nada. Whichever special word you'd like to use, no perfect brackets in the NCAA men's basketball tournament remain. NCAA, CBS, ESPN, Yahoo and Bleacher Report all reported March 18 that day two's upsets left no error-less brackets.
Maybe there's a perfect bracket out there somewhere, the picks scribbled in pencil by an old-schooler who still prints out their bracket. It could have never entered one of the major online bracket contests. It's possible and if that person's out there (with proof it hasn't been altered) please step forward! But if not, at least we can all take refuge in our collective state of doom.
According to Mitch Goldich, a writer for Sports Illustrated, the number of games won by lower seeded teams this year - 13 - actually ties 2001 for the most ever in (what's now known as) the first round of the tournament.
So what exactly happened in the first round to cause all of this March madness/magic? (What to call it really depends on who you were rooting for.) Did your alma mater make it one jeté closer to being this year's Cinderella? Who's dancing to the ball aka the round of 32?
SOUTH
No. 9 Connecticut beat No. 8 Colorado
It's UConn - don't underestimate them in March. Ever.
No. 13 Hawaii beat No. 4 California
One warm, beach state beat another. California was without a few key players in the game and it overall the score was never very close. Hawaii won their first ever NCAA Tournament game, 77-66.
No. 11 Wichita St. beat No. 6 Arizona
Wichita State had to play in the First Four just to make it to this game since they were an at-large bid, but they won that first game... and their second.
According to ESPN, Wichita State's Head Coach, Gregg Marshall, said, "We can’t make you respect us... But we can certainly not allow you to disrespect us."
The Shockers shocked Arizona and they were sweating this one.
WEST
No. 8 St. Joseph's beat No. 9 Cincinnati
OK, this isn't an upset since St. Joseph's team had the higher seed, but it ended in an almost-buzzer beater dunk. Cincinnati, down most of the second half, led by one with less than a minute remaining - St. Joseph's then retook the lead by two points. So Cincinnati dribbled the length of the court and dunked to tie the game and send it into overtime - except the dunk was waived off since it hadn't left the player's hands before time expired and St. Joseph's won the game.
No. 12 Yale beat No. 5 Baylor
Another team grabbing their first-ever win in the NCAA Tournament, Yale took down the Baylor Bulldogs in their first appearance since 1962. Baylor forward Taurean Prince explained just how Yale managed to out-rebound his team:
No. 11 Northern Iowa beat No. 6 Texas
It was a tie game (72-72) with 2.7 seconds remaining until the final buzzer. Texas had just scored to make it even. Northern Iowa inbounded the ball to senior Paul Jesperson and he threw up the ball from the half court mark. "It's not real, it's what you see in the movies," my roommate told me when I showed her the replay. But this wasn't a movie, it was the NCAA Tournament, it was a game-winning buzzer beater to advance Northern Iowa over Texas.
No. 10 VCU beat No. 7 Oregon St.
In VCU's sixth straight trip to the tourney, they found their first win since 2013. A few may have heard of a certain Oregon State player though, Gary Payton II, who happens to be the son of Basketball Hall of Famer Gary Payton.
EAST
No. 9 Providence beat No. 8 USC
With 1.5 seconds left in the game and a 69-68 USC lead, Providence had the ball on an inbound pass and with a layup under the basket, beat USC to advance.
No. 14 S.F. Austin beat No. 3 West Virginia
With this win, S.F. Austin can now boast the longest win streak in the nation with 21 straight wins.
West Virginia forward Devin Williams said of the underdog team postgame according to USA Today, "Their play showed how focused and prepared they were, and we just didn't take it serious. ... That's what happens in this tournament when you don't take people serious. They just scouted well and soaked in what the coaching staff was giving."
MIDWEST
No. 9 Butler beat No. 8 Texas Tech
Final: Butler 71, Texas Tech 61
No. 12 Little Rock beat No. 5 Purdue
It's bracketology: a 12 seed knocking off a five seed; it happens and it happens quite often. Twice in this year's tournament, in fact. But Purdue held a 14 point lead with less than five minutes left in the game. Two overtimes later, Little Rock won the game. How'd they manage to do that?
To top it all off, Little Rock's Head Coach broke his hand during their conference title game last weekend from punching a whiteboard out of frustration, but he coached anyway (without his cast). This seems to be a pattern for Little Rock, as their post game celebrations get a bit violent as well..
No. 11 Gonzaga beat No. 6 Seton Hall
Not much went right for Seton Hall in the first round as they fell to Gonzaga 68-52.
No. 10 Syracuse beat No. 7 Dayton
Syracuse's entrance in the tournament this year was pretty controversial. Few people thought Syracuse even deserved a spot, but they showed up and they proved the haters wrong. 'Cuse will actually play a lower seed in the next round because they're matched up with the winner of the biggest upset in the whole tournament (thus far):
No. 15 Middle Tennessee St. beat No. 2 Michigan St.
As a number two seed, Coach Tom Izzo was expected to take his Michigan State team to the National Championship and many, many, many brackets had them winning it all. The Spartans were considered the second-best team in the tournament behind Kansas according to experts. Middle Tennessee's victory over Michigan St, is only the eighth time in tournament history a 15 seed has routed a 2 seed.