NCAA March Madness - The Greatest Opening Two Days In Tournament History

We have seen the craziness of the NCAA tournament time and time again. We have witnessed shocking upsets that crush brackets across the nation year after year (I went 10 games into the tourney this year before giving up on my bracket after watching one of my upset picks in North Carolina St. somehow blow a game after leading by 8 points with 1:41 remaining. Never trust Mark Gottfried no matter what you do. Trust him less than Larry Drew, which is saying something. It is, however, longer than I went last year when I gave up on my pool after a whopping two games when Butler beat my upset pick in Bucknell). March Madness has been the home to unthinkable finishes and seemingly implausible moments ever since the field expanded to 64 teams all the way back in 1985. Honestly, the tournament has more twists and turns than an episode of The Walking Dead and everybody, including Rick Grimes, has come to expect the madness.

Just look at last year's tournament as a snapshot of the insanity that is inherent in the big dance. Florida Gulf Coast, a school that was established less than 25 years ago, beat Georgetown, a program that has been to the Final Four 5 times (3 times in a 4-year stretch during the days of Patrick Ewing) and then went on to become the first 15 seed to reach the sweet 16 after beating San Diego St. in the next round. It was the second time in tournament history that a 15 seed (Florida Gulf Coast), a 14 seed (Harvard), a 13 seed (La Salle), at least one 12 seed (Ole Miss, Cal, and Oregon), and at least one 11 seed (Minnesota) all won a game in the big dance (the only other time was in 1991 when Richmond, Xavier, Penn St., Eastern Michigan, UConn/Creighton got the victories as double digit seeds). For just the 4th time ever, there was only one team along the top three seed lines in the Final Four (the other years were 1980 with Louisville, Iowa, Purdue, and UCLA, 2000 with Michigan St., Florida, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, and 2011 with UConn, Kentucky, Butler, and VCU). Wichita St. also became the first 9 seed to reach the Final Four since the field expanded in 1985 and the second 9 seed to reach the National Semifinals since the NCAA began to seed in 1978, joining the Penn team from 1979 that lost to eventual champions Michigan St. and Magic Johnson.

With all this in mind, you know things have to be nothing short of outrageous when the first two days of the tournament can totally surprise fans, even those that have grown accustomed to the madness of march. That is no hyperbole either, as this was the greatest slate of opening games in the history of March Madness.

We saw a little bit of everything from the 2nd round of the tourney. There were shocking upsets all over the place in the four regions. Mercer, a team playing in its third ever NCAA tournament game, beat Duke, a school that has won four National Championships. It was Mercer's first ever win in the big dance, topping a Duke program that has won 99 tournament games, the third most all-time in postseason history, only behind Kentucky's 111 and North Carolina's 109. The Bears won the game despite the fact that the Blue Devils made 15 three pointers (the record for threes in an NCAA tournament game is 21 by Loyola Marymount in 1990 against Michigan). Who would have thought that Duke would lose to a 14 seed or lower in two of the last three NCAA tournaments (Coach K is turning into John Thompson III). Saint Louis was the only 5 seed to move on to the third round, as Harvard beat Cincinnati (nothing like Harvard kids ruining perfect brackets and taking a billion dollars away from others), North Dakota St. topped Oklahoma (the best thing that has probably ever happened in North Dakota), and Stephen F. Austin stunned VCU in 5-12 match-ups. It was the just the fourth time in tournament history that three different 12 seeds won a game in the tourney along with 2002 (Missouri, Tulsa, and Creighton), 2009 (Western Kentucky, Arizona, Wisconsin), and last year (Oregon, California, and Ole Miss).

Upsets were so rampant that there was an extended period of time in the Virginia-Coastal Carolina game where it looked very possible that a 16 seed could finally beat a 1 seed for the first time in 120 attempts before the Cavaliers pulled away in the latter stages of the second half (Virginia was down 5 at half). Mark my words: in the next 10 years a 16 seed will beat a 1 seed. We have already had seven 15 seeds knock off 2 seeds (Richmond in 1991, Santa Clara in 1993, Coppin St. in 1997, Hampton in 2001, Norfolk St. in 2012, Lehigh in the same year, and Florida Gulf Coast last year) and as 16 seeds Princeton and East Tennessee St. got within one point of a victory in 1989 and the next year Murray St. took top seeded Michigan St. to overtime before losing by 4. A 16 seed will win against a 1 seed before the Cubs win the World Series (which isn't saying a lot). Ok, how bout this: it will happen before the Nets get under the salary cap again or before the Cleveland Browns have the same starting quarterback for an entire season.

However, there are always upsets in the big dance, and the opening two days of this tournament had a whole lot more than that.

We had a buzzer-beater from Texas, courtesy of Cameron Ridley, in their 87-85 victory over Arizona St. in the Midwest Region, which is always a much needed necessity. Although it will certainly not go in video montages forever like the Laettner shot against Kentucky from 1992, the 1983 Lorenzo Charles dunk against Houston, or the Bryce Drew jumper vs Ole Miss from 1988, it was the first loose ball, scramble on the floor, layup buzzer-beater I've ever seen in my life. It was also the first ever buzzer beater from somebody that is as big as Prince Fielder.

There were five overtime games in the first two days of the tournament with UConn and Saint Joseph's, North Dakota St. and Oklahoma, NCST and Saint Louis, San Diego St. and New Mexico St., and VCU and Stephen. F Austin, which set the record for the most overtime games in the round of 64 (Iowa and Tennessee also played a overtime game in their first four game). It makes up for the last two years, each of which only had one nail-biting, overtime game (North Carolina vs Ohio in 2012 in the sweet 16 and Kansas vs Michigan in 2013 in the regional semifinals as well).

The first two days of the tournament also featured one of the wildest endings to a basketball game that you will ever see (I'm talking USA-USSR 1972 Olympic Gold Medal game crazy). It had everything a great comeback needs (ask the 2007 Phillies or the 2011 Rays): an impressive resurgence (1992 Bills like), a terrible collapse (Jean Van de Velde 1999 British Open bad), and a crazy sequence of events at the end of the game (think fifth down game) that made people question if this is real life or if this is actually a dream state where Leonardo DiCaprio is coming to save us all (if that joke didn't make sense it goes perfectly with the plot of Inception). I'm referring to the madness that was the VCU-Stephen F. Austin game, which broke twitter much more than any Ellen DeGeneres selfie. After staying close for the majority of the game despite coughing the ball up 17 times against a VCU defense that was the best in the nation in forcing turnovers during the regular season, Stephen F. Austin had to come back from 10 down with 3 minutes to go, and they did just that. Although the Lumberjacks got some help from VCU's very poor shooting from the free throw, they still remained down by 4 points with 10 seconds left and Jordan Burgress on the foul line for VCU. What occured next was so crazy that it made Project X look docile. Not only did Burgress, nearly a 70 percent free throw shooter, miss both free throws, but Desmond Haymond for Stephen F. Austin then nailed a three and got fouled. Why JaQuan Lewis got anywhere near a Stephen F. Austin player taking a three when the Rams were up four will be one of sport's biggest mysteries along with if the immaculate reception was really a legal catch, did Michael Jordan retire because of gambling in 1993, did Geoff Hurst goal really go in against West Germany in 1966, and did David Stern fix the 1985 NBA draft so that the Knicks could get Patrick Ewing (so I guess it's not as big of a question as those, but still, why did he get anywhere near a shooter up by four points in the waning seconds of the game). The Lumberjacks went on to win the crazy game in overtime, in a much better finish than the ending of The Sopranos.

You know the first two days are just something else when I haven't even mentioned Kansas escaping against 15th seeded Eastern Kentucky (the game was tied with 8 minutes to go), Louisville likewise narrowly beating Manhattan (the Cardinals needed two Luke Hancock threes to top the Jaspers by 6), Bryce Cotton breaking his back from nearly carrying Providence over North Carolina (the First Team All-Big East guard had 36 points, 8 assists, and 5 rebounds in the two point loss), or Adreian Payne setting a Michigan St. postseason record of 41 points against Delaware (he was 17 for 17 from the charity strike, breaking Bill Bradley and Fennis Dembo's free throw record without a miss). It wasn't an oversight on my part that I didn't mention the Gonzaga-Oklahoma St. because in a great two days of basketball that game had more whistles than the theme song of The Andy Griffith Show.

We can only hope that the rest of the tournament can come somewhere close to the greatest of the first two days and it certainly has the potential to do so. Every big tourney needs its fair share of giants, and this one is no different with Florida, Syracuse, Kansas, Michigan St., Arizona, Louisville, and Michigan amongst the favorites for the National Championship. We also have the storyline of Kentucky trying to bring all of their ridiculous talent together for a deep run in the dance (I don't see it because I just don't think they will get consistent enough guard play from the Harrison brothers). Not to mention the fact that Wichita St. is trying to become the 8th team to finish a season undefeated with a National Championship at the end of it (they would join Bill Russell's 1956 San Francisco team, Lennie Rosenbluth's 1957 North Carolina club, Gail Goodrich's 1964 UCLA squad, Lew Alcindor's 1967 UCLA club, Bill Walton's 1972 and 1973 UCLA teams, and Scott May's 1976 Indiana squad to have a perfect, title winning season).

I think it is safe to say that even the Russian judge loves March Madness.

Under the Radar College Basketball Teams To Watch

It doesn't take a brain surgeon or an ESPN expert to predict most of the top college basketball teams by the end of the season. As evidenced by the last few years, most, if not all of the teams that are ranked inside the preseason top 15, remain a legitimate National Championship contender throughout the college basketball campaign. Last season, all the Elite Eight teams were ranked in the preseason top 13 (North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio St., Syracuse, Florida, Louisville, Baylor, and Kansas) and Pittsburgh, UCLA, Arizona, and Texas A&M were the only preseason top 25 teams that failed to make the Big Dance.

Although the top teams at the onset of the season are almost always in contention to make a run at the title, there are always a few teams that fly under the radar and surprise everybody during March Madness. While the common examples of the shocking NCAA tourney runs include George Mason in 2006 and VCU in 2011, there are often teams from major conferences that aren't expected to have a great season and perform well above expectations. Last year two Big East teams, Marquette and Cincinnati, were not expected to be one of the top five teams in their own league, but both made runs to the Sweet Sixteen. Xavier and North Carolina St., despite both finishing their respective seasons with 12 losses, also made surprising trips to the Regional Semifinals as double digit seeds.

In opposition to how the BCS and chaos go hand in hand, you can expect the same stability at the top of college basketball once again this year, as top clubs like Indiana, Louisville, Michigan, Duke, and Florida should all wind-up with top seeds in the tournament. However, as always, you can expect a bevy of overlooked teams to fare far better than expected.

Oklahoma St. Cowboys:

Since Eddie Sutton resigned as head coach of Oklahoma St. due to his alcohol related medical issues, the Cowboys have not been relevant in college basketball. The program, which has a storied tradition that goes back to the days of coaching legend Henry Iba, have been waiting to restore themselves in the increasingly friendly Big 12, especially with the departure of Missouri and Texas A&M. Despite getting just a handful of votes in the preseason polls, the Cowboys should be in contention for their second Big 12 title since they joined the conference 16 years ago in 1996.

The job that Cowboys head coach Travis Ford has done in recruiting has given the fans in Stillwater their biggest hope for a successful season since they reached the Sweet Sixteen in 2005. Ford, who played in college at Missouri and then Kentucky, has been able to lure two straight top ten recruits down to Stillwater. Two years ago, small forward Le'Bryan Nash, who was rated #10 by the ESPN recruiting rankings, picked Oklahoma St. over Kansas and Baylor. Last year, shooting guard Marcus Smart, who like Nash was rated #10 by ESPN, picked Oklahoma St. over Oklahoma and Texas. The combination of Nash and Smart has proved to be lethal in the early season for the Cowboys.

Le'Bryan Nash, who shared Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors with Baylor's Quincy Miller last year, is one of the most athletic players in the country and is a big time scorer, especially when he can get into the lane. Nash is complimented by the all around game of Marcus Smart. Not only is Smart a terrific shooter, but he can also see the floor exceptionally well. The two playmakers have combined for an average of nearly 34 points, 15 rebounds, and 8 assists through the team's first four wins over UC Davis, Akron, Tennessee, and North Carolina State.

Anybody who watched Oklahoma St. manhandle #6 NCST in the Puerto Rico Tipoff Final saw the threat that the Cowboys pose to any team they play. Nash and Smart are two of the best players in the country and will be the catalysts for the Cowboys very underrated squad all season long.

Maryland Terrapins:

In ESPN The Magazine's "College Hoops Tip-Off" issue, the Maryland Terps preseason ranking was 111th overall, which slotted them behind schools like North Dakota State, Middle Tennessee, Wagner, and Tennessee State. The same magazine projected Maryland to finish 9th in the ACC, only ahead of Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, and Boston College. Despite losing their top two scorers, Terrell Stoglin and Sean Mosley, the Terps will far exceed their low preseason expectations.

Not only does Maryland have a consistent distributor at point guard with Pe'Shon Howard, who is averaging nearly 8 assists through the team's first four games, but the Terps also have one of the best players in the country that very few people have even heard about. Alex Len, a 7-1 center from Ukraine, is a dominant force in the post for the Terps and he is already showing dramatic improvements from last season. The future NBA lottery pick is one of the most skilled big men in the country and he showed in his performance against #3 Kentucky, where he had 23 points and 12 rebounds in a tight 3-point Maryland loss, that he is dealing with the physicality of playing down low much better than he did last year.

The NCAA's decision to grant former Xavier small forward Dezmine Wells immediate eligibility has been a huge bonus for Mark Turgeon and his team. Wells, who was a top 50 ESPN recruit last year and has immense potential, can do everything on the floor and provides a toughness that Maryland has lacked the past couple of years. Wells, along with talented shooting guards Nick Faust and Seth Allen and highly touted freshmen Jake Layman and Shaquille Cleare, will be the key components for a Maryland team that failed to make the tourney last season.

If the Terps can get some solid contributions from their supporting cast, they have a great chance of rounding out the top 4 of the ACC behind the highly ranked Duke Blue Devils, North Carolina Tar Heels, and North Carolina State Wolfpack.

Pittsburgh Panthers:

Pitt has been a mainstay at the top of college basketball and the Big East ever since Jamie Dixon took over the program in 2003. In his first 8 years as head coach of the Panthers, Dixon led the team to at least 24 wins every season except for 2004, and the club reached the Big East tournament championship game four times. Dixon's incredible record of 214-58 in his first eight years as the program's head coach, is evidence of Pitt's ascension to the top of college basketball.

Despite being a preseason top 10 team in 2011, the Panthers had a very uncharacteristic season last year, as they finished 5-13 in the Big East, their worst conference record since 1999. Although the Panthers were unranked in the preseason polls following their disappointing 2011 campaign, Pitt should return to their dominant Big East ways this season.

While Pittsburgh will miss the three point shooting of point guard Ashton Gibbs, who led the team in scoring the last three seasons, Tray Woodall now has the opportunity to run the show for the Panthers. Woodall is a very unselfish guard and when he does decide to pull up, he is a very effective mid-range and three point shooter. Along with Woodall, veteran big men Talib Zanna and J.J. Moore will provide consistent scoring for the Panthers.

So many people, like myself, are looking at Pittsburgh as a surprise club this season due their key additions of Trey Zeigler and Steven Adams, who should fit nicely with the other veteran pieces on the team. Zeigler, who played at Central Michigan last year and averaged 15.8 points and 6.7 rebounds, chose to transfer to Pitt rather than Duke or UCLA and was granted an NCAA waiver to play right away because his dad was fired as head coach of the Chippewas in March. Although Zeigler is still fitting in with the Panthers and could improve his jump shot, he is one of the most versatile guards in the country. Adams, who was the #6 overall recruit in this year's class according to ESPN, is a big seven foot body and can rebound with the best in the country. Although it may be a little early to expect Adams to shine offensively, he will be a big presence on the defensive side of the floor for the Panthers, especially with his ability to block shots.