I think I have to start with Northwestern and Vanderbilt considering how it ended. Six lead changes in the last 90 seconds capped off with a catastrophic Mathew Fisher-Davis foul gave Northwestern their first ever tournament victory. Obviously it's great for Northwestern, but for Vanderbilt's Fisher-Davis, that has to freaking suck. He fouled Northwestern's Bryant McIntosh with 14 seconds left when Vanderbilt had the lead by one. McIntosh made both, and Northwestern won.
That was definitely the best game of the day, but there were a few other contenders too. Wisconsin vs Zach LeDay (Virginia Tech) was back-and-forth throughout, but Wisconsin pulled away and won. They will play Villanova, who scared many bracketers by only taking a one-point lead into halftime against Mount Saint Mary's. They got their act together and won by 20.
Notre Dame survived a last second attempt from Princeton to advance to the round of 32, and they will play West Virginia who outlasted a decent Bucknell team. As for the rest of the West, Gonzaga beat up South Dakota State, Xavier technically upset Maryland, but I don't see it that way, Arizona handled business against North Dakota and Saint Mary's survived a huge VCU comeback to win. Oh yeah, and Florida State won the battle of Orlando as they took out Florida Gulf Coast. Here are the matchups in the West:
1 Gonzaga vs 8 Northwestern
4 West Virginia vs 5 Notre Dame
11 Xavier vs 3 Florida State
2 Arizona vs 7 Saint Mary's
The team I was most impressed with was Middle Tennessee. They didn't rattle as they knocked off 5th-seeded Minnesota, and they showed their Elite Eight potential. I'm dead serious. This team does not allow offensive rebounds..ever. That could be crucial in a potential matchup with North Carolina in the Sweet 16. I don't have it, I'm just putting it out there. They have to get by a Butler team that looked pretty darn good in their win against Winthrop today though.
In the Midwest we had Purdue and Vermont. I didn't catch much of this game, but I knew Vermont gave the Boilermakers all they could handle. This sets up an intriguing round of 32 matchup with Iowa State, who got by Nevada with relative ease. Based on the way Iowa State is playing, I have to roll with them to get to the Sweet 16.
Going back to the East, Florida and Virginia survived two upset-minded squads to meet up in the second round. Florida looked solid against East Tennessee State, but Virginia waved a bit against UNC Wilmington (who have the coolest uniforms in the tournament by the way). That being said, I still like Virginia because of their experience and London Perrantes.
That'll wrap it up from Day 1. Sorry for any typos. It's been a looooooong day.
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