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Twelve seed against a five seed. Check. Scrappy Ivy League team. Check. Scott Drew. Check. Baylor, once again, gets mugged by a mid-major and heads home early. The Bears, naturally, weren't the only victims of the 12-5 phenomenon; Purdue also ran afoul of Arkansas-Little Rock, which means that's two years in a row a high-seed Sun Belt conference champ has advanced to the second round.
Yes, last year it was Georgia State. Who beat... Baylor. The circle of life strikes again.
Two eleven seeds also advanced, as Wichita State and Gonzaga did Wichita State and Gonzaga things. The big theme of the day, however, was a reversal of last year's break from form. In 2015, no nine seed beat an eight seed (and bear in mind, historically the eights have a losing record). The only eight left in this year's dance is Saint Joseph's, and that's because they haven't played yet. Texas Tech, Colorado, and USC are all headed home.
If you're counting, that's seven upsets, nine chalks. It's one of the most upside-down days in NCAA Tournament history, but it didn't feel like it because none of them were huge.
Perhaps more interesting, every game that wasn't an upset was miserably dull; only Miami-Buffalo was anywhere close to competitive.
Outside the NCAAs, Valparaiso continued taking out their anger over being snubbed on helpless NIT victims; the Crusaders swatted Florida State away by a dozen. And Grand Canyon, which isn't a real grown-up D-I school for another two years, moved into the quarterfinals of the CIT.
Yesterday's results; SB Nation colleague recaps in green.
NCAA DIVISION I MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT | ||
ROUND | RESULT | HIGH SCORER |
WEST RI | (4) Duke 93, (13) North Carolina-Wilmington 85 | Grayson Allen (DUKE), 24 |
MW R1 | (9) Butler 71, (8) Texas Tech 61 | Kellen Dunham (BUT), 23 |
SOUTH R1 | (9) Connecticut 74, (8) Colorado 67 | Josh Scott (COLO), 23 |
MW R1 | (4) Iowa State 94, (13) Iona 81 | Georges Niang (ISU), 28 A.J. English (IONA), 28 |
WEST RI | (12) Yale 79, (5) Baylor 75 | Makai Mason (YALE), 31 |
MW R1 | (1) Virginia 81, (16) Hampton 48 | Anthony Gill (UVA), 19 |
SOUTH R1 | (1) Kansas 105, (16) Austin Peay 79 | Josh Robinson (APSU), 24 |
MW R1 | (12) Arkansas-Little Rock 85, (5) Purdue 83 (2OT) | Josh Hagins (UALR), 31 |
SOUTH R1 | (3) Miami (FL) 79, (14) Buffalo 72 | Angel Rodriguez (MIA), 24 |
EAST R1 | (5) Indiana 99, (12) Tennessee-Chattanooga 74 | Yogi Ferrell (IND), 20 |
EAST R1 | (1) North Carolina 83, (16) Florida Gulf Coast 67 | Brice Johnson (UNC), 18 |
MW R1 | (3) Utah 80, (14) Fresno State 69 | Marvelle Harris (FSU), 24 |
SOUTH R1 | (11) Wichita State 65, (6) Arizona 55 | Fred VanVleet (WSU), 16 |
EAST R1 | (4) Kentucky 85, (13) Stony Brook 57 | Jameel Warney (SBU), 23 |
EAST R1 | (9) Providence 70, (8) Southern California 69 | Ben Bentil (PC), 19 |
MW R1 | (11) Gonzaga 68, (6) Seton Hall 52 | Domantas Sabonis (ZAG), 21 |
NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT | ||
ROUND | RESULT | HIGH SCORER |
SF | (1) Valparaiso 81, (4) Florida State 69 | Alec Peters (VALPO), 26 |
COLLEGEINSIDER.COM TOURNAMENT | ||
ROUND | RESULT | HIGH SCORER |
R2 | Grand Canyon 64, Jackson State 54 | Joshua Braun (GCU), 18 |
Today's Men's Schedule
The NCAA field cuts down to 32 today, and the schedule's more loaded with 7-10 and 2-15 games than anything else. In the early shift, VCU-Oregon State could be tasty. South Dakota State is a trendy 12-5 pick over Maryland in the afternoon slot. During the dinner hour, we get OUR LUMBERJACKS taking on Press Virginia; more than one talking head has suggested the Mountaineers could be in trouble. And the night flight includes Northern Iowa going up against Texas, which could spell more trouble for the Big 12.
The only men's game today outside the big dance is the BYU-Virginia Tech fight in the NIT.
NCAA DIVISION I MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT | ||||||
ROUND | TIME (CT) | TEAM | - | TEAM | LOCATION | NETWORK |
MW R1 | 11:15am | (10) Syracuse | (7) Dayton | Saint Louis MO | CBS | |
WEST R1 | 11:40am | (15) North Carolina-Asheville | (2) Villanova | Brooklyn NY | truTV | |
WEST R1 | 12:30pm | (10) Virginia Commonwealth | (7) Oregon State | Oklahoma City OK | TNT | |
SOUTH R1 | 1:00pm | (13) Hawai'i | (4) California | Spokane WA | TBS | |
MW R1 | 1:45pm | (15) Middle Tennessee State | (2) Michigan State | Saint Louis MO | CBS | |
WEST R1 | 2:10pm | (10) Temple | (7) Iowa | Brooklyn NY | truTV | |
WEST R1 | 3:00pm | (15) Cal State-Bakersfield | (2) Oklahoma | Oklahoma City OK | TNT | |
SOUTH R1 | 3:30pm | (12) South Dakota State | (5) Maryland | Spokane WA | TBS | |
EAST R1 | 5:50pm | (10) Pittsburgh | (7) Wisconsin | Saint Louis MO | TNT | |
EAST R1 | 6:10pm | (14) Stephen F. Austin | (3) West Virginia | Brooklyn NY | CBS | |
WEST R1 | 6:20pm | (14) Wisconsin-Green Bay | (3) Texas A&M | Oklahoma City OK | TBS | |
WEST R1 | 6:27pm | (16) Holy Cross | (1) Oregon | Spokane WA | truTV | |
EAST R1 | 8:20pm | (15) Weber State | (2) Xavier | Saint Louis MO | TNT | |
EAST R1 | 8:40pm | (11) Michigan | (6) Notre Dame | Brooklyn NY | CBS | |
WEST R1 | 8:50pm | (11) Northern Iowa | (6) Texas | Oklahoma City OK | TBS | |
WEST R1 | 8:57pm | (9) Cincinnati | (8) Saint Joseph's (PA) | Spokane WA | truTV | |
NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT | ||||||
ROUND | TIME (CT) | TEAM | - | TEAM | LOCATION | NETWORK |
SBU SF | 8:30pm | (3) Virginia Tech | (2) Brigham Young | Provo UT | ESPNU |
Thursday's Women's Results
Power 5 teams were safe from mid-majors last night in the WNIT, so long as those Power five teams aren't members of the Big Ten. Nebraska, Iowa, and Northwestern were all knocked off at home; Rutgers was the only B1G school to survive, and they had to play an actual major opponent in Georgetown.
The most interesting game, though, was in the WBI. Four players scored 25 or more points, and Mallory Boyle plopped a three at the buzzer in overtime to give Western Illinois a 99-97 win over Southern Illinois.
WOMEN'S NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT | ||
ROUND | RESULT | HIGH SCORER |
R1 | IUPU-Indianapolis 63, Central Michigan 55 | Akilah Sims (IUPUI), 24 |
R1 | Bucknell 74, Bucknell 70 | Jacquie Klotz (BUCK), 21 |
R1 | Ohio 76, Marshall 68 | Kiyanna Black (OHIO), 30 |
R1 | Virginia Tech 68, Elon 59 | Rachel Camp (VT), 29 |
R1 | Villanova 67, Liberty 51 | Megan Quinn (NOVA), 21 |
R1 | Hofstra 76, Harvard 50 | Darius Faulk (HOF), 19 |
R1 | Rutgers 57, Georgetown 55 | Rachel Hollivay (RUTG), 22 |
R1 | Virginia 52, Virginia Commonwealth 50 | Faith Randolph (UVA), 21 |
R1 | Georgia Tech 73, Mercer 56 | Kahlia Lawrence (MERC), 22 |
R1 | Wake Forest 72, North Carolina-Charlotte 69 | Alexis Alexander (UNCC), 21 |
R1 | Texas Christian 97, Texas-Rio Grande Valley 73 | Zahna Medley (TCU), 21 |
R1 | Arkansas State 68, Southern 45 | Khadija Brown-Haywood (ASU), 19 |
R1 | Northern Iowa 64, Nebraska 62 | Madison Weekly (UNI), 22 |
R1 | Ball State 77, Iowa 72 | Nathalie Fontaine (BSU), 24 |
R1 | Saint Louis 70, Arkansas-Little Rock | Shanity James (UALR), 25 |
R1 | Drake 95, Sacred Heart 59 | Lizzy Wendell (DRK), 24 |
R1 | Tennessee-Martin 79, Memphis 73 | Katie Schubert (UTM), 19 Asianna Fuqua-Bey (MEM) 19 (), |
R1 | Western Kentucky 89, Dayton 72 | Kendall Noble (WKU), 27 |
R1 | San Diego 69, Northwestern 65 | Ashley Deary (NW), 23 |
R1 | Gonzaga 88, Cal-Riverside 54 | Jill Barta (ZAG), 20 |
R1 | Oregon 84, Long Beach State 76 | Lexi Petersen (ORE), 22 Raven Benton (LBSU), 22 |
R1 | Texas-El Paso 66, Abilene Christian 62 | Suzzy Dimba (ASU), 17 |
R1 | Eastern Michigan 74, Saint Mary's (CA) 73 | Devyn Galland (SMC), 25 |
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL INVITATIONAL | ||
ROUND | RESULT | HIGH SCORER |
R1 | (8) South Carolina-Upstate 71, (1) Northern Kentucky 69 | Raven Jefferson (USCU), 17 |
R1 | (3) Maryland-Baltimore County 61, (6) Fairfield 49 | Pandora Wilson (UMBC), 26 |
R1 | (4) Stetson 89, (5) McNeese State 54 | Brianti Saunders (STET), 20 |
R1 | (3) North Dakota 57, (6) Grand Canyon 51 | Cheyenne Hedrington (GCU), 16 |
R1 | (4) Western Illinois 99, (5) Southern Illinois 97 (OT) | Rishonda Napier (SIU), 33 |
Today's Women's Schedule
It's time. The NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament begins today, with four groups of games which don't have staggered start times. ESPN2 will provide regional lock feeds (in other words, folks in Kansas will actually see most of the K-State/George Washington game), and will otherwise whiparound in the manner the CBS coverage of the men's tournament used to back in the days before TBS got involved.
Interesting things: in the morning group, West Virginia takes on Princeton, who had an undefeated regular season last year. DePaul-James Madison could be interesting too. The afternoon group doesn't have any truly promising upset potential. Late afternoon, there's only one game you should care about, as the Cats take one GWU. In the evening, Oklahoma needs to watch out for Saint Bonaventure.
In other action, the first round of the WNIT concludes today.
NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT | ||||||
ROUND | TIME (CT) | TEAM | - | TEAM | LOCATION | NETWORK |
DAL QF | 11:00am | (11) James Madison | (6) DePaul | Louisville KY | all games on ESPN2 regional feeds and ESPN3 |
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SXF QF | 11:00am | (12) Albany | (5) Florida | Syracuse NY | ||
SXF QF | 11:00am | (11) Princeton | (6) West Virginia | Columbus OH | ||
BRP QF | 11:00am | (13) Belmont | (4) Michigan State | Starkville MS | ||
DAL QF | 1:30pm | (14) Central Arkansas | (3) Louisville | Louisville KY | ||
SXF QF | 1:30pm | (13) Army | (4) Syracuse | Syracuse NY | ||
SXF QF | 1:30pm | (14) Buffalo | (3) Ohio State | Columbus OH | ||
BRP QF | 1:30pm | (12) Tennessee-Chattanooga | (5) Mississippi State | Starkville MS | ||
DAL QF | 4:00pm | (16) Idaho | (1) Baylor | Waco TX | ||
DAL QF | 4:00pm | (15) Troy | (2) Oregon State | Corvallis OR | ||
SXF QF | 4:00pm | (9) Kansas State | (8) George Washington | Columbia SC | ||
SXF QF | 4:00pm | (10) Wisconsin-Green Bay | (7) Tennessee | Tempe AZ | ||
DAL QF | 6:30pm | (9) Auburn | (8) Saint John's (NY) | Waco TX | ||
DAL QF | 6:30pm | (10) Saint Bonaventure | (7) Oklahoma State | Corvallis OR | ||
SXF QF | 6:30pm | (16) Jacksonville | (1) South Carolina | Columbia SC | ||
SXF QF | 6:30pm | (15) New Mexico State | (2) Arizona State | Tempe AZ | ||
WOMEN'S NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT | ||||||
ROUND | TIME (CT) | TEAM | - | TEAM | LOCATION | NETWORK |
R1 | 6:00pm | Maine | at | Quinnipiac | Hamden CT | Quinnipiac |
R1 | 6:00pm | Temple | at | Drexel | Philadelphia PA | Stretch |
R1 | 6:05pm | Bethune-Cookman | at | Florida Gulf Coast | Fort Myers FL | ESPN3 |
R1 | 8:00pm | Montana State | at | Utah | Salt Lake City UT | Pac-12 Live |
R1 | 9:00pm | Santa Clara | at | Fresno State | Fresno CA | The MW |