Day 1 NCAA Tournament Recap: Upsets Shake the Field

        Day 1 is behind us, but still resonates in our mind as we look at our brackets in disgust. Since the tip-off of the Tournament's first game, fans were left second-guessing their brackets. The first game of the day, BYU-Florida was a double-overtime thrilling, featuring 14 lead changes before BYU pulled away in the final overtime period. A second game, involving a No. 15 seed, Robert Morris, ended in an overtime loss, while a third (Old Dominion-Notre Dame) was decided by Norte Dane losing by one point. The afternoon carnage continued on as a No. 13 seed, Murray State, upset a No. 4 seed, Vanderbilt on a buzzer beater that had the fans in the arena and fans at home and in bars out of their seats. A No. 3, Baylor, couldn't dispose of a No. 14, Sam Houston State until the final seconds ticked down. The evening games brought just as much, if not more pandemonium than the day games. A three-pointer with 4.9 seconds left helped No. 9 Northern Iowa end a 20-year NCAA Tournament win drought, beating No. 8 UNLV 69-66. The Mid-American Conference's Ohio Bobcats were the only NCAA Tournament team with a losing league record and on Thursday, No. 14 Ohio, added to March Madness, knocking off No. 3 Georgetown of the Big East. It was the Bobcat's first tournament win in 27 years. A jump shot with 1.7 seconds left helped No. 11 Washington advance to the 2nd Round by taking down No. 6 Marquette. Another game winning shot, this time with 1.3 seconds remaining in overtime, helped slumping Wake Forest get their second win in more than a month as the No. 9 Demon Deacons beat the nation's former-number one team, Texas in the opening round.

        By the time the last game was completed early Friday morning, seven upsets had occurred, including five seeds ranked No. 10 or lower. The three overtime games yesterday were more overtime games than all of last year's Tournament.

        Enjoy Day 2 and what is left of your bracket.



By Corey Ruff - President - 3-19-10