March Madness Day 1

Half of the first round games were played yesterday. There were many close games. What I will do is highlight the upset winners (upset defined as lower seeded team beating a higher seeded team).

Texas A&M (12) beat Syracuse (5).

I saw this one coming. On my brackets every year I put Syracuse to lose in the 1st or 2nd round every year. I am rarely disappointed by them.

Wisconsin-Milwaukee (11) beat Oklahoma (6).

I could be wrong, but it seems that Wisconsin-Milwaukee pulls off this kind of upset every now and then. Still, this was not on my bracket. Damn.

Montana (12) beat Nevada (5).

This one IS on my bracket. I have no idea why this game just screamed at me, but it did.

Alabama (10) beat Marquette (7).

I did not pick this one, but it does not really surprise me at all.

The one non-upset that I want to point out is:
Tennessee (2) barely beat Winthrop (15), 63-61. Tennessee took a basket with less than a second and a bad shot by Winthrop at the buzzer to win this game.

Tonight's long shot game is Monmouth (16) vs Villanova (1).

My bracket's upsets for today:
University of Alabama-Birmingham (9) over Kentucky (8) (though I always pick at least two 9th seeds to beat 8th seeds).

Wisconsin (9) over Arizona (8).

Kent St (12) over Pittsburgh (5). (I always pick at least one 12th seed to beat a 5th seed. If I do not think the 5th seed will go to the Sweet Sixteen I sometimes will have them lose in the first round just for the hope of that extra point in the pool. This year I chose THREE of the 5th seed teams to fall in the first round. Syracuse and Nevada were two of them and they did not fail me.)

NC State (10) over California (7).

You know, I do not watch college basketball at all but March Madness is by far my favorite sporting spectacle of the year. Especially the first four rounds.