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.

NCAA March Madness - South Regional Podcast

Cory's South Regional Bracket:

Round of 64:
1. Florida
16. Albany/Mount St. Mary's
8. Colorado
9. Pittsburgh
5. VCU
12. Stephen F. Austin
4. UCLA
13. Tulsa
6. Ohio St.
11. Dayton
3. Syracuse
14. Western Michigan
7. New Mexico
10. Stanford
2. Kansas
15. Eastern Kentucky

Round of 32: 
1. Florida
9. Pittsburgh
5. VCU
4. UCLA
11. Dayton
3. Syracuse
7. New Mexico
2. Kansas

South Regional Semifinals:
1. Florida
4. UCLA
3. Syracuse
2. Kansas

South Regional Finals:
1. Florida
2. Kansas

Rory's South Regional Bracket:

Round of 64:
1. Florida
16. Albany/Mount St. Mary's
8. Colorado
9. Pittsburgh
5. VCU
12. Stephen F. Austin
4. UCLA
13. Tulsa
6. Ohio St.
11. Dayton
3. Syracuse
14. Western Michigan
7. New Mexico
10. Stanford
2. Kansas
15. Eastern Kentucky

Round of 32: 
1. Florida
9. Pittsburgh
12. Stephen F. Austin
4. UCLA
11. Dayton
3. Syracuse
7. New Mexico
2. Kansas

South Regional Semifinals:
1. Florida
4. UCLA
11. Dayton
2. Kansas

South Regional Finals:
1. Florida
2. Kansas

Bubble Teams Were A Big Winner From Murray State's Victory Over Tennessee St.

For bubble teams throughout college basketball, the two weeks of championship week are long and very strenuous.

Not only do bubbles teams have to worry about winning the difficult and pressure filled games in front of them, but they also have to hope that the teams who are locks to make the NCAA tournament win their conference tournaments. If the locks secure the automatic bid from their conference, other teams who wouldn't have made the NCAA tournament without winning their conference title aren't stealing automatic selections and shrinking the size of the bubbles by stealing bids.

For example, in 2010 Utah St. was a lock to make the tourney, but New Mexico St. won the WAC conference tournament. Therefore, the conference got two bids to the NCAA tournament and stole a bid from another bubble team.

That same year, UTEP was going to the big dance no matter how far they advanced in the Conference USA tournament. Therefore, when Houston beat the Miners in the conference title game, the Cougars stole a bid from another bubble team, as the conference received two bids to the dance.

Thus, teams like Illinois and Virginia Tech, who might have made the tournament if Utah St. and UTEP had won their conference tournaments, were left on the outside looking in because their were two less spots available in the big dance because of the bid stealers.

Aside from their own games of course, all the eyes of the bubbles teams and especially their fans, were on the Ohio Valley Conference Finals in Nashville, Tennessee at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium.

The Murray St. Racers have been one of the darlings of college basketball all season long. The Ohio Valley regular season champs began the season 23-0 with victories over non-conference tournament bound teams like Southern Miss and Memphis on the road. Although the Racers fell at home to Tennessee St. 72-68, all doubt of them not receiving an at-large selection were squashed when they manhandled a very quality Saint Mary's team, who is likely going to be a 6 or 7 seed in the tournament, in BrackBusters 65-51 at home.

Therefore, with Murray St. 29-1 coming into the Ohio Valley Conference finals against Tennessee St., they were a lock for the NCAA tournament. The Racers were still playing for a lot however. They were looking to finish the regular season in the top 10 of both polls, win their 15th Ohio Valley conference tournament and 3rd consecutive, and get a 5 or 6 seed in the big dance.

Despite this, if the Racers lost, they were still secured that they were going to the tournament, but if Tennessee St. got the victory, they would be stealing a bid from a bubble team. The Tigers were 20-11 coming into the OVC title game and were not going to receive a bid unless they won the conference tourney championship game.

Bubble teams, coaches, and fans had to sweat out a tight OVC final and pray that the Racers would come out victorious.

In the first half, neither team was able to create any sort of separation, as the biggest lead of the half was 3 points. The teams exchanged buckets for most of the half and there were 8 lead changes. The Racers led by just two points at half but a concern was that they weren't getting any scoring from players other than guards Donte Poole and Isaiah Canaan. Aside from Poole and Canaan, the rest of the Murray St. team had just 11 points in the first half.

While most fans would have expected the Racers to make some runs in the second half, the Tigers were the team that almost pulled away. They came out of halftime in the first 5 minutes on a 11-4 run and went ahead 38-31. After Murray St. pulled the game back, Tennessee St. went on another run. After trailing 43-42 with 8:06 remaining, the Tigers went on another impressive 8-0 run to take the lead 50-43 with just 5:38 remaining.

Although things looked gleam for bubbles teams around the country, Murray St. would give them a sigh of relief. The Racers didn't allow Tennessee St. to score in the final 3:48 of the game and were able to escape with a 54-52 victory.

With 40 seconds left, Patrick Miller had a costly turnover for the Tigers. He picked up his dribble and got trapped in the corner and when he tried to force a pass to Robert Covington who was coming off of a screen, he threw an errant pass and the ball went into the backcourt and out of bounds. With 12 seconds left, Tennessee St. double teamed Isaiah Canaan and wouldn't let the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year and 19 point per game scorer take the final shot. He dished the ball off to Jewuan Long, who drove into the lane and banked in a floater for his second field goal of the entire game. The Tigers had one last chance, but to the pleasure of bubble teams throughout the country, Robert Covington missed a desperation three as time expired.

Although bubble teams escaped with a "victory" with Murray State's win over Tennessee St., the work for them has only begun. Not only do they have to focus and win critical games down the stretch but they also have to hope that some other conference tournaments go their way.

Bubble teams are now going to be very intrigued with the outcome of the Missouri Conference finals at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. If Wichita St. had beaten Illinois St. in the semifinals, the MVC championship game would only have been for seeding in the NCAA tournament. However, the Red Birds pulled off the major upset and knocked off the Shockers and dealt them their first loss since January.

Now, they will take on Creighton, who like Wichita St., is going to be in the NCAA tournament, as they are 27-5 with wins over UAB on the road, San Diego St. on the road, Northwestern, Wichita St, on the road, and Long Beach St. Illinois St. is not going to make the tournament unless they pull off another major upset and stun the Bluejays to win their first conference tourney crown since 1998. With a Red Birds win, the bubble field would shrink and cause a lot of stress teams like South Florida, Texas, Colorado St., Northwestern, Xavier, and VCU.

Since South Florida finished 6th in the Big East, they will receive a first round bye in the Big East tournament. They also avoided having to play tournament bound teams like UConn and Seton Hall in the second round unlike the 7th seeded Louisville Cardinals, who could play Seton Hall, and the 8th seeded West Virginia Mountaineers, who could played UConn. South Florida will play the winner of the #14 Villanova and #11 Rutgers game. If the Bulls advance to the quarterfinals, they would take on #3 Notre Dame. South Florida beat Villanova twice during the regular season and also knocked off Rutgers at home. However, they lost to Notre Dame by 11 on the road in South Bend.

Since the Big 12 now only has 10 teams, 6 teams receive a bye to the quarterfinals and the 6th seeded team is the Texas Longhorns. They will take on the 3rd seeded Iowa St. Cyclones in the quarters with the winner likely playing #2 Missouri in one semifinal. Texas played Iowa St. tough on the road and lost by just 6 points and then beat the Cyclones at home in Austin by 7. In order to beat Iowa St., the Longhorns front-court will have to contain Royce White, who averaged 14.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, and shot 45 percent from the field in the two games against Texas.

The Colorado St. Rams are the 4th seed in the Mountain West tournament and will take on 5th seeded TCU in the quarterfinals. The Horn Frogs caused the Rams a lot of trouble in the regular season, as TCU took Colorado St. to double overtime on the road, and then beat them by 4 at home. In both games, TCU killed Colorado St. from three point range. They made 12 threes in the two matchups and hit on more than 41 percent of their attempts. The Rams will have to get out on TCU's shooters, especially Hank Thorns, who made 7 threes in the two games combined. If Colorado St. can get past the tricky Horn Frogs, they will likely play a rubber game with #1 seeded San Diego St. Aztecs, who they beat by 17 at home in the regular season.

With a 10-6 record in conference play and a victory over St. Bonaventure, Xavier is the 3rd seed in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament. The Musketeers will play the #6 Dayton and #11 George Washington winner in the quarterfinals. If the Flyers win, they will be a difficult matchup for Xavier as they beat them by 15 at home and then lost to them in a tight overtime game in Cincinnati. If Xavier is able to get by that test in the quarters, they would likely play 2nd seeded St. Louis, who is a lock to be in the NCAA tournament and has a 24-6 record.

A Key to Florida St. vs VCU

Florida State continuing to score on the offensive end: Florida St. scores 69.3 points per game, which ranks 154th in the country. The Seminoles field goal percentage ranks 174th at .436. It isn't a secret that the Seminoles greatly struggle on the offensive end. All season Florida State has been able to defend and stifle teams with their length and athleticism. The Seminoles lead the nation in field goal defense at .360, which is better than last season when they lead the nation at .377. It was even more difficult for the Seminoles to score though when their leading scorer Chris Singleton missed 6 games with a foot fracture. He has only recently returned to play limited minutes in the Seminoles two NCAA tournament games. In their third round game against second seeded Notre Dame, the Seminoles used a balanced attack on the offensive end to score 71 points. As always, their defense was spectacular. Notre Dame only scored 23 points in the first half and 57 in the whole game. The Seminoles frustrated the Big East player of the year Ben Hansbrough the entire night. He only made 4 of the 10 threes he attempted during the game. Thus far in the NCAA tournament, Florida St. has limited Texas A and M and Notre Dame to .310 shooting from the field. Derwin Kitchen, who had 10 points and six rebounds said, "If we can stay consistent on the offensive end, I like our chances. We've just been so up and down and inconsistent on the offensive end, it allowed us to stumble at times and lose a few games. If we can stay consistent and execute on the offensive end, I like our chances because we play so well on the defensive end." The Seminoles should also get a boost in the sweet sixteen because Chris Singleton looks like he will be getting more minutes against the Rams. Leonard Hamilton, the coach of Florida St. said, "He's getting closer to kind of looking like his old self," Hamilton said. "I think it's just taking him a week or so just to gain his confidence back, starting and stopping and changing direction, things of that nature. So I want him being a little bit more involved in this game than he was the other games because I think he's feeling more comfortable."

Top Seeds Going Down in the Third Round of the NCAA Tournament

In the last two NCAA tournaments there were only four double digit seeds to reach the sweet sixteen. This year alone there are four double digit seeds in the sweet sixteen including three in the southwest region. When 11th seeded VCU plays 10th seeded Florida St. in the regional semifinals on Thursday, it will be the first time ever that an eleven seed will be playing a ten seed in the tournament. Thus far, there has been a one seed eliminated, a two seed eliminated, and two three seeds eliminated. In not one of the four regions did all of the top four seeds advance to the sweet sixteen.

After Pittsburgh feel to Butler by one point, all the buzz surrounding the game was the bizarre finish that resulted in the first top seed being bounced from the tourney. Even Jim Calhoun couldn't believe the ending to the wacky game. After his teams’ third round win over Cincinnati he commented on the game by saying, "I watched the end of the Pitt game and I haven't ever seen anything like that in 39 years of coaching, both plays." Shelvin Mack had his best game of the season scoring 30 points on 7 of 12 shooting from behind the arc. However, his great game looked to be ruined when he committed an inexplicable foul on Gilbert Brown near midcourt with 1.4 seconds remaining in the game with his team up by one point. Brown also was having a great game with 24 points on 8 of 11 shooting from the field. On the season he was a 79 percent shooter from the line and was 3 for 3 in the game from the strike. Brown made the first free throw but then missed the second one. The game appeared to be going into overtime until the ref blew a whistle for a foul on Nasir Robinson of Pittsburgh. Matt Howard described the play when he said, "I felt his arm come across mine, so I just threw the ball to the rim." With 0.8 seconds left in the game Matt Howard of Butler went to the line and made one of two free throws to secure the upset for Butler. After the game, the focus was obviously on the crazy finish. Robinson said, "I take the blame, man. I take the blame for the loss... I've been playing basketball my whole life and I know I shouldn't have done that. It was a stupid play." The win sets up a Butler-Wisconsin sweet sixteen matchup.

With 5:54 remaining in the first half, VCU guard Brandon Rozzell made a layup to put the Rams up on the Purdue Boilermakers 25 to 24. From that point on in the game, Purdue never took back the lead. All Big-Ten performer E'Twaun Moore struggled from the field only making 5 of his 15 shots and only scoring 10 points. However, the real problem for the Boilermakers was on the defensive end. They couldn't stop the Rams allowing them to shot nearly 57 percent from the field. The 94 points that VCU scored was the most points allowed all season by the Boilermakers. Purdue had difficulty guarding the quick backcourt of the Rams. Joey Rodriguez dished out 11 assists and Bradford Burgess had 23 points and only missed one of the four threes he attempted. The selection committed was ridiculed for their decision to take VCU into the tournament as one of the final four teams. After three wins in the tourney, point guard Joey Rodriguez said, "I'd say to the committee, Thank you for believing in us... Hopefully they'd say something back to us, like, Thank you for proving us right." VCU guard Brandon Rozell said, "I think the committee is sitting back smiling now." VCU will get to continue its magical run in the tourney when they meet 10th seeded Florida St. in the sweet sixteen.

In their only meeting during the season, Marquette beat Syracuse at home by 6 points. Marquette was able to penetrate, so they could get inside of Syracuse's two-three zone and not have to knock down a ton of threes to knock off the Orange. They got the ball behind Syracuse's zone to Jae Crowder, who scored his second highest point total all season with 25. In their third round matchup in the tourney, Marquette used the same formula to knock off the Orange 66 to 62. They only shot 11 threes but were able to get inside of Syracuse's zone. Marquette shot 23 free throws in the game. Jae Crowder alone shot one more free throw than the whole Syracuse team, who took 15 threes and only made five. Marquette was able to get behind the zone and get the ball to Crowder who had 16 points. When they needed a three pointer, Darius Johnson-Odom wasn't afraid to fire. He hit a huge three pointer with 27 seconds left in the game to give Marquette a three point lead. Syracuse had 18 turnovers in the game including a huge one by Dion Waiters with 52 seconds remaining when the game was tied at 59 to give the ball back to the Golden Eagles. Marquette moves on to face the North Carolina Tar Heels in Newark in the regional semifinals.


Nobody has ever denied Florida State's ability to defend and stifle teams when they are on defense. However, their problems during the season has been their inability to score especially since their leading scoring Chris Singleton went out with an injury and has been playing limited minutes in his return during the tourney. Their second leading scoring isn't even averaging 10 points a game. The Seminoles got a balanced attack from their starting five with each of them scoring at least 8 points in the third round game against the Fighting Irish. As always, their defense was spectacular. Notre Dame only scored 23 points in the first half and 57 in the whole game. The Seminoles frustrated the Big East player of the year Ben Hansbrough the entire night. He only made 4 of the 10 threes he attempted during the game. Derwin Kitchen, who had 10 points and six rebounds said, "If we can stay consistent on the offensive end, I like our chances. We've just been so up and down and inconsistent on the offensive end, it allowed us to stumble at times and lose a few games. If we can stay consistent and execute on the offensive end, I like our chances because we play so well on the defensive end." For the Seminole fans, they hope their team will continue to be consistent on the offensive end when they play the 11th seeded VCU Rams in the regional semifinals.