March Madness Round 2: No. 1 seeds, we see you

All four number one seeds are still in the NCAA Tournament. Did we forget about the top four seeds? Upsets galore is the theme of the tournament to this point, but while the games have been exciting, and surprising, the four best-seeded teams have managed to scrape through and remain in the tournament.

Kansas, considered the best team in the tournament, Oregon, North Carolina and Virginia all still have a shot at the National Championship. This year is actually the first time since 2012 that all four No. 1 seeds are headed to the Sweet Sixteen. 

The same luck can't be said about all of the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, though. So, who will be joining the top teams in the Sweet Sixteen? 

SOUTH

No. 1 Kansas beat No. No. 9 UConn
The best team in the tournament stayed perfect to advance to the next round. They led most of the game aside from a tied score of 5-5 at the start of the game. 

No. 5 Maryland beat No. 13 Hawaii
Hawaii managed to keep the game close and the teams actually went back and forth up until the 10 minute mark in the 2nd half. From there, Maryland managed to pull away. 

  • INSANE STAT ALERT: Maryland shot a horrendous 5.6 percent from behind the 3-point line, that's 1 three-pointer in 18 shot attempts. That's actually the worst 3-point field goal percentage by a winning team in the NCAA Tournament since the 3-point line was first created in 1987, according to ESPN.

No. 3 Miami beat No. 11 Wichita St. 
Wichita St. was actually the 2-point favorite in this game - yes, you read that right, the lower seed was supposed to win. But Miami took the lead against the Wichita team, who was playing their third game in five days, at one point led by 21 points, but as we've come to know - and you'll see a pattern in this round - 20+ point leads apparently don't mean much. Because Wichita came back and took the lead with 10:29 remaining in the second half. But that lead didn't last long and Miami came out on top.

No. 2 Villanova beat No. 7 Iowa
Villanova ran away with this one. Iowa didn't have a chance, at halftime the score was already 54-29. No major comeback here.

WEST

No. 1 Oregon beat No. 9 St. Joseph's
With five minutes remaining in the game, the underdog, St. Joseph's, was up by 7 points - then they didn't score again for another 3:18. And Oregon took advantage, they went on a 7-0 run in that time period to close the gap, then extended their lead and St. Joseph's couldn't overcome Oregon's momentum. 

No. 4 Duke beat No. 12 Yale
The highest seed won, but Yale didn't go easy. At the start of the second half, Duke led by 23 points. Game over? Nope, Yale's not going down that easy. With 41 seconds left in the game, Yale pulled within 3 points. Despite Yale's mighty almost-comeback, Duke's young roster prevailed.

"When you have three 18 year olds out there, sometimes they get lost in the amusement park. " - Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski told CBS Sports about his young roster.

No. 3 Texas A & M beat No. 11 Northern Iowa
This pretty much explains it: 

Looking for a bit more detail about the largest deficit overcome in the final minute in DIVISION I HISTORY? 

Breakin' it down:

Texas A & M made 6 field goals in the last 40 seconds of the game to force overtime. In 2OT, they came out on top. And celebrated: 

No. 2 Oklahoma beat No. 10 VCU
Buddy Hield - one of the best players in the tournament and the nation's second best scorer - scored 36 points in the win and 19 of those came in the final 8 minutes to solidify the W for his team. 

WEST

No. 1 UNC beat No. 9 Providence
85-66. It was a nice run, Providence. 

No. 4 Indiana beat No. 5 Kentucky
This was the closest match-up in this entire round seed-wise. The game was pretty close throughout, but Indiana controlled the game late with a 17-4 run. Kentucky managed to come back and keep the score within two points, but they didn't have enough at the end.  

Tournament notes: 

  • Kentucky reached the Final Four in its last four appearances.

  • With Coach John Calipari leading the team, Kentucky has reached the tournament six times - all those other times they at least made the Elite Eight.

  • This year marks the third time in five seasons that Indiana has reached the Sweet Sixteen.

No. 6 Notre Dame beat No. 14 S.F. Austin
These two teams went shot-for-shot and the lead was never more than 7 points in either team's favor. It was a Notre Dame tip-in with 1.5 seconds remaining that put the Irish ahead by a point to win the game. 

No. 7 Wisconsin beat No. 2 Xavier
BUZZER-BEATER! Two 3-pointers in the final 15 seconds secured the victory for Wisconsin. This game actually marks the first time since 1992 that a No. 2 seed has lost on a buzzer-beater. 

It's worth a video replay too:

MIDWEST

No. 1 Virginia beat No. 9 Butler
Virginia scored 54 points in the second half to advance to the third round. 

No. 4 Iowa St. beat No. 12 Little Rock
78-61. I'll echo my sentiment to Providence: It was a nice run, Little Rock. 

No. 11 Gonzaga beat No. 3 Utah
Which team was the No. 3 seed here? Nice goin' Gonzaga. 

Tournament Notes

  • Gonzaga heads to the Sweet Sixteen as a double-digit seed for the fourth time - that's the most ever. As a double-digit seed, they've actually won 10 Tournament games (tied for most all-time).

No. 10 Syracuse beat No. 15 Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee, I had such high hopes after your incredible first round win over what was supposed to be the second best team in the tourney. 


Unfortunately, we all have to wait three days for the Sweet Sixteen to actually start as the next games don't pick up until Thursday, March 24. While it'll be good for the players to get some rest, the rest of us are going to have to deal with basketball withdrawal for a whole 72+ hours. Good luck!

SportsEmily BrownComment