With the Sweet 16 currently in action, and the Elite Eight coming up on Saturday and Sunday, March Madness is officially in full swing. The NCAA tournament, which began on March 18, has been a whirlwind of overtime thrillers, upset specials and for some teams, devastating losses. True to its aforementioned nickname, the tournament has been true madness. With only 12 teams left standing from the original 64, the Daily is here to help break down what has happened in the first week of the tournament.
Overtime thrillers
The theme of the tournament this year has been teams needing more than 40 minutes to complete their games -- and nobody is complaining. On the first day of the round of 64, four games went to overtime, setting the record for number of overtime games in one day. The very next day, the tournament saw its fifth overtime game, which set the record for overtime games in the round of 64. Several games were instant classics: the fifth-seeded St. Louis Billikens furious comeback against the 12th-seeded North Carolina State Wolfpack on Thursday, and 12th-seeded Stephen F. Austin States miracle 4-point shot with 10 seconds in regulation to tie its game with fifth-seeded Virginia Commonwealth. Although there were no overtimes in the round of 32, if the first two days are any indication, this tournament is shaping up to be one of the most exciting in years.
Busted brackets galore
It is never truly March Madness without upsets, and this tournament has been no exception. The biggest first round shock was 14th-seeded Mercer toppling college basketball-behemoth third-seeded Duke. The Blue Devils, who were 13.5-point favorites according to Bovada, were unable to handle a pesky Bears team that featured a starting lineup of all seniors. Although the 12-seed over five-seed upset is always a trendy pick, a shocking three 12-seeds lived to play in the round of 32, the most surprising of which was previously unheard of North Dakota State. No. 7-seed UConn and No. 10-seed Stanford were also giant killers, taking down No. 2-seeds Villanova and Kansas in the round of 32, respectively. Finally, as of press time, one of the last Cinderella teams dancing was 11th-seeded Dayton, who took down sixth-seeded Ohio State 60-59 in the round of 64, and then toppled third-seeded Syracuse in the round of 32, 55-53. Although the games were entertaining, most people were left cursing their mangled brackets by the end of last weekend.
The disappearance of the Diaper Dandies
One of the biggest themes of the 2014 college basketball season was the freshmen class: Kanas Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid, Dukes Jabari Parker and Kentuckys Julius Randle. Of those four freshmen, only one -- Randle -- remains. Although Dick Vitale is surely sick to his stomach that he cant talk about Duke or Diaper Dandies for the rest of the tournament, the rest of the country will be treated to fundamental basketball from teams that have been playing together for several years now. Mercers upset win over Duke, and tenth-seeded Stanfords victory over second-seeded Kansas solidified the fact that having a few very talented players does not necessarily trump having a talented team. Eighth-seeded Kentucky has been the one exception to that rule this tournament, as it started all freshmen on its way to being the first team to beat first-seeded, and previously undefeated, Wichita State. Regardless, the tournament this year has been a national showcase for how far a team of one-and-doners can get a team in March.
The best of the rest
In only five days of gameplay, a tournament of 64 teams has been reduced to 12 teams. So who is left? Although the results of the Florida-UCLA game were unavailable as of press time, the Gators thus far have lived up to their billing as the top team in the tournament, behind the guard play of senior Scottie Wilbekin and inside presence of classmate Patric Young. Fourth-seeded Michigan State was everybodys favorite pick for the title before the tournament began, and has given people no reason to change their pick. The Spartans feature a well-balanced attack, with four players averaging double figures, and two, sophomore guard Gary Harris and senior forward Adreian Payne, averaging over 16 points per game. Lastly, Kentucky remains an exciting sleeper pick. Despite starting the season as the No. 1 team in the nation, the Wildcats faltered during the year and slipped in the tournament as an eight seed. Now though, with Randle dominating the paint and freshmen Aaron and Andrew Harrison beginning to play to their potential, Kentucky has become one of the most dangerous teams in the tournament. But then again, nobody ever knows what will happen during March Madness, so youll just have to watch to find out.
