Just a quick recap of what I saw in my Sportz Room -- filled with TVs that I can watch all four games going on at the same time.
GAME OF THE DAY: Dayton vs Ohio State. There were several good games that could fit in here, but this one was truly back and forth that featured a game winner with less than 4 seconds left and a missed shot by one of college basketball's best known players. Add in to the fact that this was the only intrastate game on the docket and you have everything you could want.
UPSET OF THE DAY: North Dakota State over Oklahoma. North Dakota State was one of my upset picks, but the way they took the game from Oklahoma was impressive. A lot of times we see an underdog get up to an unexpected lead and hold on for the win. Oklahoma had this game won and the Bison made plays to send the game into overtime and ultimately win and advance in the tournament.
CONFERENCE OF THE DAY: ACC. This wasn't a big "conference" type day, but ACC should have had this locked down. Not only did Pittsburgh destroy Colorado in the biggest margin of victory in a 8-9 game, but Syracuse was also impressive. The trifecta would have been complete had NC State not choked away a late 16-point lead over Saint Louis. Really, no conference had a great day.
CONFERENCE WITH A BAD DAY: Pac-12. The Pac-12 didn't have a great day. Colorado was completely smoked by Pittsburgh while Arizona State lost a heartbreaking buzzer beater to Texas. Oregon was the lone wolf holding the west coast conference's flag with an impressive win over a BYU team many weren't fond of.
DUD OF THE DAY: Florida vs Albany. For the top overall seed, the Gators really didn't look very good. On a day with great games or blowouts, this one really was an EH! Like Albany all you want, but Florida was supposed to stretch their legs on this one.
DOMINANT PERFORMANCE OF THE DAY: Wisconsin. What Pitt did to Colorado was more impressive, Wisconsin just destroyed American University by 40 points. Rarely do you get a blowout like that in the NCAA tournament when the winning team puts up just 75 points.
UNDERLYING STORYLINE OF THE DAY: Seeding. As usual, there were some seeding issues people were all up in arms about. Once the tournament begins, that should go away. Mighty Louisville who received a disgusting No. 4 seed? They were taken to the wire by Manhattan. Despite all the rub, only four better seeds lost on Thursday and one of those was 8-seeded Colorado to Pitt.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
*Ohio, Texas and North Carolina have four schools in the tournament. Ohio only has one left (Dayton), Texas (Texas, Baylor, SF Austin) and North Carolina have three (Duke, UNC, NC Central).
*There were four overtime games on Thursday. That is the most in one day in tournament history. There were two overtime games in the last two tournaments combined.
*While you were watching the tournament, Wake Forest head coach Jeff Bzdelik resigned.
*North Dakota State gave the state of North Dakota their first ever NCAA Tournament history victory.
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