Sportz' NCAA Tournament Recap - Second Round, Day 1

 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: North Carolina vs Baylor. What a game! North Carolina was stunning the world when they ran up a 25 point lead on the defending national champions and the East Region's top seed. Then Brady Manek's elbow got him tossed and the Bears ended regulation on a 38-13 run. The Tar Heels tried everything they could to give Baylor the game, but UNC regrouped in overtime and were able to reassert themselves and pull off the win.

UPSET OF THE DAY: St. Peter's vs Murray State.  Sure, beating Murray State seems to be light work after dispatching Kentucky, but the fact that this tiny school from New Jersey will be playing in the Sweet 16 next week in Philly (alongside blue bloods UCLA and North Carolina) is amazing. Murray State was 31-2 heading into this game and hadn't lost since before Christmas ... and that was to Auburn. Looking forward to seeing more Peacocks next week.  

CONFERENCE OF THE DAY: MAAC. Eight winners from eight different conferences. So let's celebrate the MAAC's St. Peter's. They looked dominant for most of their game against a really, really good Murray State team on Saturday. With a lot of power leagues (and the WCC) moving teams along, it's cool to see a team from the MAAC playing on.

CONFERENCE WITH A BAD DAY: SEC. Arkansas held on for dear life to beat New Mexico State, but the SEC's bad moment came when their conference tournament champion lost to Michigan. In a tough, back and forth battle, the Volunteers once again come up short in the NCAA tournament. With Kentucky already out, the SEC's best title shot comes from Auburn (no offense Razorbacks fans).   

DUD OF THE DAY: Providence vs Richmond. Of the eight games on Saturday, this was the only one that wasn't competitive.

DOMINANT PERFORMANCE OF THE DAY: Providence vs Richmond. I know that I'm guilty of overlooking Providence even though they were Big East regular season champs, and I'm wrong for that. The Friars tossed aside Cinderella favorite South Dakota State in the first round and routed Richmond, 79-51, on Saturday.

UNDERLYING STORYLINE OF THE DAY: East region is broken. #1 Baylor is gone. #2 Kentucky is gone. There is a #15 seed still playing. Two blue bloods will face off in one Sweet 16 matchup and we could see a big surprise reaching the Final Four. .  .