First Two Rounds Live Up To Hype

They don't call it March Madness for nothing. So far, the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament has lived up to its billing. By definition, an upset is an unexpected result or situation, especially in a sports competition. You have them all the time in this tournament, and this year was no exception. Seeing a #9 beat a #8 seed doesn't really count in my mind, because those seeds are so close to each other it can't REALLY be counted as such. With that being said, here's a look at some of the upsets that took place during the first two rounds of the tournament.

No. 12 Middle Tennessee 81, No. 5 Minnesota 72
This was the same team, Middle Tennessee, that pulled off the first upset of last years tournament as well. Last year, as a #15, Middle Tennessee knocked off #2 Michigan State. This year, they did it again to a Big Ten school, this time it was Minnesota. Reggie Upshaw and Giddy Potts, of Middle Tennessee, had 21 and 19 points, respectively to lead the charge for the Blue Raiders. All this happening after Minnesota jumped out to an early 7-0 lead. But Middle Tennessee stayed the course, and came back with a balanced, efficient offense. I was still a little surprised that Middle Tennessee was even a 12 seed, considering the fact that they won 40 games during the regular seaosn, but still they pulled out that big first round win.

No. 11 Xavier 76, No. 6 Maryland 65
Xavier has been down this road before. They have been in the tournament 11 times in the last 12 seasons and made the sweet sixteen now four times in nine years. They know what they're doing. Sure, they came in slipping, as they closed out the regular season on a six game losing streak. That didn't matter once the tournament started. They had hit the reset button at the start of the tournament. Xavier was down 50-47 with 13 minutes left when they rattled off a huge 14-0 run. Maryland had trouble adjusting to Xavier’s variety of man-to-man and zone defenses, and lost their tournament opener for the first time since 1997. Among the pertinent numbers were Xavier’s 34-24 dominance in rebounding and 30-13 gap in bench points. Trevon Bluiett was a big reason for the turnaround. HE went 1 for 8 in the first half, but closed out the game with 18 points. He was a big reason why Maryland got bounced and Xavier is moving on.

No. 11 USC 66, No. 6 SMU 65
It was a repeat of November all over again. USC beat SMU 78-73 back in November. But between then and now, USC had slipped and SMU had been on a roll, winning 26 of their final 27 games. That didn't matter once the tournament got started. USC trailed by 12 points in the first half, but for them, that’s only a minor convenience. They had rallied from double-digit deficits to win 12 games this season, so clearly this is nothing new. USC shot 58 percent the second half and slowed down SMU with the zone to pull even, and Elijah Stewart’s 3-pointer with 36 seconds left ended up being the game-winner. Stewart finished the game with 22 points, but none bigger then the three with time running down. The Mustangs’ Shake Milton missed a floater in the final seconds. SMU, using only six players, lost after leading for nearly 36 minutes.

No. 11 Rhode Island 84, No. 6 Creighton 72
Rhode Island had been ranked 23rd in the AP polls, but due to a rash of injuries, they looked like they might miss the tournament. That all changed thanks to a little eight game winning streak to close out the regular season. It helped punch their ticket to the big dance for the first time in 18 years. Rhode Island lead this game wire to wire, but that's not the only real surprise in this game. There were actually two surprises in this contest. Rhode Island had shut down Creighton's Justin Patton. Patton had come into the game ranked 2nd in the country in field goal precentage. Thanks to the defense of Hassan Martin, Patton missed nine of his 12 shots. Rhode Island Freshman guard Jeff Dowtin came in averaging 4.9 points a game, and scored 23. This is just one perfect example of anything can happen come playoff time.

No. 8 Wisconsin 65, No. 1 Villanova 62
Some had Villanova possibly repeating as champs. Either that or at least getting back to the final four. You now scrap those plans altogether. They were the defending champs, so in theory it should have been a cake walk. Somebody forgot to tell the Badgers that. The Badgers hit 53 percent Saturday. This, while Villanova was at 41 percent. With the score tied and the game on the line, Wisconsin had the vets to finish the job. igel Hayes and Bronson Koenig knew what to do and were a forced to be reckoned with in this game. First, Koenig’s 3-pointer pushed them ahead with two minutes left. Then, with the scored tied again at 62 and the clock dipping below 20 seconds, Hayes feinted his way to open space on the baseline, and made the layup that ended Villanova’s repeat run. The Wildcats’ star Josh Hart had two turnovers trying to score in heavy lane traffic in the final minute. Wisconsin pulled it off despite missing nine of 16 free throws, making six more turnovers and trailing late 57-50.

No. 7 Michigan 73, No. 2 Louisville 69
Go back to the Big East tournament, where Michigan was an 8th seed ins aid tournament. But they've managed to win seven straight games and now find themselves in the sweet sixteen. By getting there, they've knocked off one of the heavy favorites to get to at least the final four if not a national title game. They are now watching the rest of the tournament on TV like everybody else. Michigan got by on the strength of the three pointer in their opening game against Oklahoma State to start the tournament. It wasn't the three in this game, it was the inside game that did the work for Michigan. Moritz Wagner, the sophomore from Germany, went bonkers in this basaketball game. He finished the day with 26 points, which is off the charts. Hell the fact that Michigan shot 63% in the 2nd half and pulled away in this game says a lot. Nobody really expected Michigan to do that, but they did.

No. 7 South Carolina 88, No. 2 Duke 81
Duke was another one of those teams that was expected to be a heavy favorite in this tournament. Nobody told that to South Carolina. South Carolina outscored Duke in the second half and hung 65 points on them. Think about that for a moment. They hung 65 points in a half on Duke. South Carolina had five players score in double figures, four with at least 15 points. Part of what killed Duke in this game was the fact that they turned the ball over 18 times and Luke Kanard and Grayson Allen both went cold in the 2nd half. Duke had a ten point lead in this basketball game and blew it. Duke had been to five Sweet 16s in seven years, South Carolina never, in its current format.