The NCAA Basketball Tournament kicked into high gear on Thursday, with the second round, but the first round where every team plays a game. The first round consists of 4 games where the winners fill in the last 4 spots of the 64-team tournament. With 16 teams in each region, I consider any team seeded 11th or lower beating a 6th seed or higher to be an upset worth mentioning.
The highest seeded team to go down to defeat in their first game, was Duke (26-9). Mercer (27-8) won the Atlantic Sun Conference and entered the Midwest region as a 14th seed. They went on a 20-5 run at the end of the game, with the experience of starting 5 seniors, to eliminate 3rd seeded Duke 78-71. Mercer located in Macon, Georgia will face another upset winner, 11th seeded Tennessee (23-12), in the third round on Sunday. Tennessee beat Iowa (20-13) 78-65 in a first round game, before easily taking down 6th seeded Massachusetts (24-9) 86-67.
In the West region, the only real upset was the Summit League Champions North Dakota State (26-6) who is the 12th seed, beating 5th seeded Oklahoma in overtime 80-75. North Dakota State will face 4th seeded San Diego State (30-4), who is the Mountain West Champions, on Saturday. San Diego State beat 13th seeded New Mexico State (26-10) 73-69 in the second round.
On Thursday in the South region, 11th seeded Dayton (24-10) pulled off the first significant upset of the tournament, defeating 6th seeded Ohio State (25-10) 60-59. Dayton will face 3rd seeded Syracuse (28-5) in the third round, after Syracuse (28-5) stomped on 14th seeded Western Michigan (23-10) 77-53. Stephen F. Austin (32-2) who is the Southland Conference Champion and 12th seed in the region, overcame an 11-point deficit to beat 5th seeded Virginia Commonwealth (26-9) in overtime 77-75. Stephen F. Austin will face 4th seeded UCLA (27-8), who pulled away in the second half from 13th seeded Tulsa (21-12) on Friday 76-59.
The only sizable upset in the East region was 12th seeded Harvard (27-4) ending the short run of 5th seeded Cincinnati (27-7) with a 61-57 victory. Harvard will be rewarded for their win with facing almost everybody’s tournament winner, 4th seeded Michigan State (27-8) in the third round on Saturday. Michigan State’s Adreian Payne scored 41 in an easy win over 13th seeded Delaware (25-10) 93-78, who is the Colonial Athletic Association Champions.
Only 6 teams seeded 11th or lower advanced into the 3rd round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament this year, but as you can see, those are my focus in this article. I’m rooting for the underdogs in almost all of the games. Although I wouldn’t mind seeing top seeded Wichita State (35-0) win the Midwest region, they are the Missouri Valley Conference Champions, and they crushed Cal Poly (14-20) 64-37 on Friday. Wichita State, which made the Final 4 last year, will play 8th seeded Kentucky (25-10) on Sunday, but are still relatively new as a basketball power.
Another high seed that I am rooting for is 3rd seeded Crieghton (27-7), who finished 2nd in their first year in the Big East Conference, and beat 14th seeded Louisiana Lafayette (23-12) 76-66. Last year Creighton beat Wichita State for the Missouri Valley Conference title. If both teams keep winning, they would meet in the Final 4 semifinals, with the winner playing for the National Championship.
If you would like to have future commentaries sent to you, click on the link below, to take you to my website, then just enter your email address:
Sports With Frank Thomas
Pingback: The Sweet 16 Is Set In The NCAA Basketball Tournament | Sports With Frank Thomas