What a weekend... let me say it again... what a weekend. Going into the first rounds I felt pretty confident about my bracket, I had a good amount of upsets and a few of the clear top teams to make it through this weekend. Some match ups went the way most of the sports world predicted however some upsets, no one really saw coming. Once one upset occurred it seemed like all the other teams saw the light and realized it was their time to shine. Let's go day by day and recap just exactly what happened. Despite what the NCAA and the rest of the t.v stations are saying the first 4 play in games ARE NOT round 1. If there were a full field of games those days then yes, that's round 1 but 4 games does not constitute as round 1 of tournament play. Therefore we begin with Thursday.
Round of 64 Day 1: Thursday 3/17
A common theme of the first 16 games seemed to be "Winning by less that 3 points." 5 of the games were decided within the last minute of regulation. The biggest upset of the day came when Morehead St defeated Louisville 62-61 with a late 3 pointer. Very few people expected Louisville to make it to the championship but to lose in the 1st round, that was a shocker to say the least. The 8/9 match-up of Butler and Old Dominion provided entertainment to say the least with Howard last second layup to win. The Princeton Tigers fought ti'll the end against Kentucky and the Temple Owls flew over the Penn State Nittany Lions in the final seconds of a buzzer beater. UCLA somehow managed to hold off Michigan State in the final seconds to advance. While there were a handful of heart attack games the rest were what was expected. UConn dominated Bucknell, Pitt cruised past UNC Asheville as did San Diego St and Florida over Northern Colorado and U.C Santa Barbara respectively. But the big upsets, other than Morehead St came from Gonzaga over the injured St. John's and Richmond over Vanderbilt.
Round of 64 Day 2: Friday 3/18
Nothing short of exciting from the 2nd day of 16 games. More upsets, more heartbreaks and more domination. Continuing the fall of the Big East, Villanova lost to George Mason and Georgetown lost to VCU, but Syracuse and Notre Dame won as well as Marquette with the upset over Xavier. Top teams Duke, UNC, Ohio State, Kansas and Purdue proved why they were in the tournament. However, Texas narrowly escaped Oakland 85-81 as well as Washington edging out Georgia 68-65. The 30 point domination of Michigan over Tennessee was a shocker but then again Bruce Pearl decided to provide enough distraction for the team to lose their focus on what was important, winning. Arizona narrowly escaped Memphis while Florida State upset the Aggies from Texas A&M. All in all a good day in baseketball. And so we move on to the weekend.
Round of 32 Day 1: Saturday 3/19
First games of the day almost seem like nothing compared to the excitement of the last 4 games. Kentucky while trailing most the game came through to beat West Virginia, Florida escaped UCLA, Richmond ended the Cinderella story of Morehead St, and San Diego St survived Temple in Double OT. All pretty standard, but then came the prime time games. Then came Butler/Pitt, many of which expected a Pitt dominance. You thought wrong. The Bulldogs fought until the end keeping the game from going into OT. Matt Howard rebounded the ball with .8 left on the clock and would take the final heave down the court hoping for a miracle. As he throws up the ball he's fouled by Robinson as he admits "it was all my fault" The ball more than likely was going nowhere near the rim forcing overtime but instead sending one of Butler's best to the free throw line to potentially win the game. Makes the first, misses the 2nd but with .8 on the clock not even the best players could make a shot like that happen. With that our first #1 seed is gone. BYU cruised past Gonzaga and Connecticut lead by who else, Kemba Walker, showed why they deserve to be in this tournament ousting Cincinnati in the last 1:35 of regulation. And then the Badgers can thank Jordan Taylor for blocking Kansas State's last 3 point attempt to tie the game to force overtime.
Round of 32 Day 2: Sunday 3/20
The final day of the opening rounds came upon us and it seemed like an eternity before it was over for some teams at least. #1 seed Duke got a scare from Michigan a game in which everyone expected to be a blowout and #2 UNC barely escaped Isiah Thomas and the Washington Huskies on what many are arguing was the officials fault for not blowing the whistle or reviewing the play clock at the end of the game as well as not calling the goal tending on Thomas' last shot, while it was only a 2, it's the principal of the matter. Ohio State and Kansas sent George Mason and Illinois home packing. However, the rest of the games weren't so easy. Arizona squeaked by Texas as they seemed to completely deteriorate at the end allowing the Cats to capitalize and win 70-69. 11th Big East ranked Marquette took control of the game at the end to close the chapter on Syracuse 66-62. A game most thought was pretty much given to the Orange. No we're not done yet. Cinderella team VCU, who had to play in one of the 4 games just to make it to the tournament was up against Purdue. It's about to strike midnight, oh wait, not just yet. Not only did VCU beat Purdue, they dominated the entire game. Never letting up keeping their game plan and making baskets. Say goodbye to another top team. But it didn't stop there, 10 seeded Florida State man handled 2 seed Notre Dame, a team many thought was headed to the Elite 8 at least.
Thus concludes the opening weekend of the 2011 tournament. We have an 8/4 (Butler/Wisconsin) 11/2 (Marquette/UNC), 12/1 (Richmond/Kansas) and an 11/10 (VCU/Florida St). This is why they call it March Madness. If the top teams always won and there were no upsets it wouldn't be as exciting. No one expected to see a double digit team guaranteed to the elite 8 but either VCU or Florida St will be there. Despite the dismal showing of the 11 Big East teams, 2 remain: UConn and Marquette. No they're not the 1 and 2 teams from the big east, not even in the top 5. They are the 9th and 11th teams from that conference. UConn has won 7 in a row, they're not ready to lose just yet. Marquette has got nothing everything to gain but nothing to lose. If they lose to UNC, it's expected, if they win, it's just yet another bracket buster. Some of the top favorites in Kansas, Duke, Ohio St, UNC, and Kansas are still in the running, but this year more than ever, no one is safe. The only team who seems to be on an unstoppable track is Ohio State, but even their team is vulnerable. Teams now have 3-4 days to travel to their designated regional locations, practice, devise game plans and prepare for the biggest games of the season. You lose, you go home. You win, you advance. It's not just about the skill anymore, it's about who wants it more. Which team can show up and play better for a minimum of 160 more minutes. Who wants to hold that trophy in Houston on April 4th.
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