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The NCAA tournament comes in multiple stages. The first is about the underdog. The second is about the big boys. The third is about the true contenders.
Most years, those stages coordinate themselves with the three weekends of the tournament. Chaos and upsets define the first, marquee matchups define the second and a champion ultimately defines the third. We enjoy each for what it is, and have come to expect each to give what it typically gives. We root for the upsets over the first four days,*soak up the quality of the*Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, and cherish the Final Four.
The popular take on the first stage of the 2017 tournament is that it has disappointed.*We picked the upsets, but they didn’t occur. We awaited the chaos, but it never arrived. Thursday was boring. Friday wasn’t much better.
But there’s another way to look at the lack of upsets: The first stage of March Madness has been cut short. The second will begin prematurely. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Teams from the six power conferences went 26-10 in the first round. In games involving one power conference team and one non-power conference team, they went 19-3. In*all three of those losses, the non-power conference team was favored. The Pac-12 went undefeated. The ACC went 6-2. The Big Ten went 5-2. The SEC went 4-1. Only the Big East failed to rise above .500 at 3-3.
The result of the major conference dominance is that we get matchups like Notre Dame-West Virginia, Villanova-Wisconsin, Purdue-Iowa State and Florida-Virginia on Saturday. We get matchups like Louisville-Michigan and Kansas-Michigan State on Sunday. We get the quality typically associated with the second week of the tournament five days early, and in many cases, we get an extra round of it. The disappointment of the first round could translate to more excitement in the long run.
Michigan State turned a 12-point deficit into a 20-point win, and looked capable of giving Kansas a run for its money on Sunday. (Getty) But with all that being said, the first round really wasn’t all that great. Here’s a rundown of the most important takeaways and highlights from Day Two:
STARTING FIVE
1. Fewest upsets in a decade
This year’s first round wasn’t the*worst when it comes to chalk, but it was the worst in a while. Only one team on the bottom five seed lines won a game in 2017, the first time fewer than two teams seeded 12-16 have won in the first round since 2007. That year, the biggest upsets were No. 11 seeds VCU and Winthrop over Duke and Notre Dame, respectively. The 2000 tournament was also barren, with no teams seeded 12 or below winning a game.
This year was similarly bereft. Of the five “upsets,” excluding 9-over-8 games, three weren’t actually upsets in Vegas. A fourth lower-seeded winner, Xavier, was just a two-point underdog. USC, the one underdog of more than two points to win, simply doesn’t feel like an underdog.
2. 11-6 games*come through
The most exciting finish of the day came from Tulsa, where No. 6 seed SMU and No. 11 USC went down to the wire after the Trojans came back from a 12-point deficit. Elijah Stewart’s 3-pointer with 36 seconds remaining gave the Trojans a one-point lead; SMU’s potential buzzer-beater clanged off the front rim. But more on that later. Rhode Island also advanced as a No. 11 seed, taking down Creighton 84-72. But the Rams were favored; they’re the better team. That was not an upset. Kansas State over Cincinnati would have been, but the Bearcats held off the Wildcats, and stood in the way of a clean sweep by the No. 11 seeds — Xavier beat Maryland on Thursday.
3.*Michigan State. Izzo. March. Again.
Michigan State didn’t look like a typical Michigan State team all season. It didn’t look like a typical Michigan State team early in Friday’s first-round game against Miami, either. The ninth-seeded Spartans went down 10-0, then 17-5. The Hurricanes look dominant. Then the Spartans and Tom Izzo did what the Spartans and Tom Izzo do in March: They erased the deficit, jumped out to a double-digit lead of their own by halftime and eventually extended the advantage to 23 in the second half. They won by 20, and looked all kind of dangerous heading into a second-round matchup with top-seeded Kansas on Sunday.
4. Seton Hall*didn’t lose because of the refs
The Pirates were on the wrong end of a questionable call late in their 8-vs.-9 matchup with Arkansas. Desi Rodriguez was hit with*a flagrant 1 after fouling intentionally down one. The decision was debatable at best. But it’s not why Seton Hall ultimately lost to the Razorbacks. It lost because of Khadeen Carrington’s turnover a few possessions earlier that gave Arkansas a layup for the lead. Carrington also traveled on another crucial late possession. That’s why the Pirates won’t be playing on Sunday against North Carolina.
5. Dayton deserved better
Dayton against Wichita State was one of the most competitive games of the day. But it really shouldn’t have been a game at all. The Shockers, who were favored by 6.5 points, pulled out the win after a tight 35 minutes. Scoochie Smith and Dayton gave the Missouri Valley champs a really good fight. But Smith and the Atlantic 10 regular-season winners are going home because the committee’s underseeding of Wichita State — and possible because of the committee’s underseeding of Dayton itself. Wichita State is, by one metric, the sixth-best team in all of college basketball. Dayton, which went 24-6 in the regular season, was somehow playing the sixth-best team in college basketball in the first round.
“I believe Dayton deserved a better draw than this,” Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall said at the end of his postgame news conference.
Dayton coach Archie Miller had his own way of intimating*the same thing: “Kentucky having to play a No. 4 seed in the second round … I don’t know if that’s right,” he said.
WORST FINAL POSSESSION OF THE DAY
After Princeton and Vanderbilt both settled for deep threes when down only one point in the closing seconds of their games Thursday, SMU didn’t settle. Instead, with 10*seconds to work with, it spent seven*of those seconds dallying on the perimeter. With three seconds remaining, Shake Milton finally decided that it would probably be a good idea to get a shot up to, you know, try to win the game. Only then did he drive, but his floater came with a high degree of difficulty:
Rick Pitino apparently thinks his Louisville Cardinals will be playing the greatest team in the history of the sport in the second round on Sunday, which is, uh, factually incorrect. Here’s Pitino: “We’re playing against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday,” Pitino said after his team’s 78-63 win over Jacksonville State. “I’ve never seen shooting like that since I’ve been a coach.”
Michigan looked really good in the first game of the day against Oklahoma State. But it didn’t look*that good.
PLAYER OF THE DAY
Derrick Walton wasn’t just the player of the day. He isn’t just the player of the round. He’s the player of March so far. Walton put 26 points, 11 assists and five rebounds on Oklahoma State. He put up 20.5 points, 6.3 assists and 4.8 rebounds on Michigan’s four-game run to the Big Ten tournament title. Michigan’s offense has risen to fourth nationally in adjusted efficiency on the back of Walton, who has had a special senior season. His March exploits have drawn comparisons to Kemba Walker, Steph Curry and Trey Burke. None seem outlandish.
PLAYER OF THE DAY (IN A LOSING EFFORT)
Michigan vs. Oklahoma State was a cruel first-round game. Both teams, with any other draw, were capable of making the Sweet 16. And on the evidence of Friday, neither deserves to be heading home after one game. Oklahoma State is, but Jawun Evans deserves more March Madness, and March Madness deserves more Jawun Evans. The Pokes’ sophomore point guard went for 23 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists in a loss to Michigan. He navigated the pick-and-roll expertly, manipulated the Wolverines’ defense with his speed and his eyes, and led Oklahoma State’s offense to 1.33 points per possession.*Walton and Michigan just had too much.
MEANINGLE$$ SHOT OF THE DAY
Evans did win in one sense, though: He won Vegas a lot of money. His buzzer-beating 3-pointer turned a four-point final margin into a one-point loss, and covered the 2.5-point betting spread. You better believe that everybody in Vegas knew what was on the line:
DUNK OF THE DAY
Just stare at Semi Ojeleye’s feet, and watch how they spring off the ground. Superhero stuff:
(Yahoo Sports) DUNK OF TH— wait… Oh, no. Oh, dear, no.
LAYUP OF THE DAY
Scoochie Smith was awesome against Wichita State in his ninth and final NCAA tournament game. He had 25 of Dayton’s 58 points. Two of them were as pretty as two points can be:
School is good and important. You should pay attention in school.*
(Photos via Reddit) *On every day other than the first Thursday and Friday of the NCAA tournament.
ROUND OF 32 MATCHUPS
East
Villanova (1) vs. Wisconsin (8)
Florida (4) vs. Virginia (5)
Baylor (3) vs. USC (11)
Duke (2) vs. South Carolina (7)
West
Gonzaga (1) vs. Northwestern (8)
West Virginia (4) vs. Notre Dame (5)
Florida State (3) vs. Xavier (11)
Arizona (2) vs. St. Mary’s (7)
Midwest
Kansas (1) vs. Michigan State (9)
Purdue (4) vs. Iowa State (5)
Oregon (3) vs.*Rhode Island (11)
Louisville (2) vs. Michigan (7)
South
North Carolina (1) vs. Arkansas (8)
Butler (4) vs. Middle Tennessee (12)
UCLA (3) vs. Cincinnati (6)
Kentucky (2) vs. Wichita State (10)
SATURDAY TIP TIMES (Viewing guide here)
SUNDAY TIP TIMES
Most years, those stages coordinate themselves with the three weekends of the tournament. Chaos and upsets define the first, marquee matchups define the second and a champion ultimately defines the third. We enjoy each for what it is, and have come to expect each to give what it typically gives. We root for the upsets over the first four days,*soak up the quality of the*Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, and cherish the Final Four.
The popular take on the first stage of the 2017 tournament is that it has disappointed.*We picked the upsets, but they didn’t occur. We awaited the chaos, but it never arrived. Thursday was boring. Friday wasn’t much better.
But there’s another way to look at the lack of upsets: The first stage of March Madness has been cut short. The second will begin prematurely. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Teams from the six power conferences went 26-10 in the first round. In games involving one power conference team and one non-power conference team, they went 19-3. In*all three of those losses, the non-power conference team was favored. The Pac-12 went undefeated. The ACC went 6-2. The Big Ten went 5-2. The SEC went 4-1. Only the Big East failed to rise above .500 at 3-3.
The result of the major conference dominance is that we get matchups like Notre Dame-West Virginia, Villanova-Wisconsin, Purdue-Iowa State and Florida-Virginia on Saturday. We get matchups like Louisville-Michigan and Kansas-Michigan State on Sunday. We get the quality typically associated with the second week of the tournament five days early, and in many cases, we get an extra round of it. The disappointment of the first round could translate to more excitement in the long run.
STARTING FIVE
1. Fewest upsets in a decade
This year’s first round wasn’t the*worst when it comes to chalk, but it was the worst in a while. Only one team on the bottom five seed lines won a game in 2017, the first time fewer than two teams seeded 12-16 have won in the first round since 2007. That year, the biggest upsets were No. 11 seeds VCU and Winthrop over Duke and Notre Dame, respectively. The 2000 tournament was also barren, with no teams seeded 12 or below winning a game.
This year was similarly bereft. Of the five “upsets,” excluding 9-over-8 games, three weren’t actually upsets in Vegas. A fourth lower-seeded winner, Xavier, was just a two-point underdog. USC, the one underdog of more than two points to win, simply doesn’t feel like an underdog.
2. 11-6 games*come through
The most exciting finish of the day came from Tulsa, where No. 6 seed SMU and No. 11 USC went down to the wire after the Trojans came back from a 12-point deficit. Elijah Stewart’s 3-pointer with 36 seconds remaining gave the Trojans a one-point lead; SMU’s potential buzzer-beater clanged off the front rim. But more on that later. Rhode Island also advanced as a No. 11 seed, taking down Creighton 84-72. But the Rams were favored; they’re the better team. That was not an upset. Kansas State over Cincinnati would have been, but the Bearcats held off the Wildcats, and stood in the way of a clean sweep by the No. 11 seeds — Xavier beat Maryland on Thursday.
3.*Michigan State. Izzo. March. Again.
Michigan State didn’t look like a typical Michigan State team all season. It didn’t look like a typical Michigan State team early in Friday’s first-round game against Miami, either. The ninth-seeded Spartans went down 10-0, then 17-5. The Hurricanes look dominant. Then the Spartans and Tom Izzo did what the Spartans and Tom Izzo do in March: They erased the deficit, jumped out to a double-digit lead of their own by halftime and eventually extended the advantage to 23 in the second half. They won by 20, and looked all kind of dangerous heading into a second-round matchup with top-seeded Kansas on Sunday.
4. Seton Hall*didn’t lose because of the refs
The Pirates were on the wrong end of a questionable call late in their 8-vs.-9 matchup with Arkansas. Desi Rodriguez was hit with*a flagrant 1 after fouling intentionally down one. The decision was debatable at best. But it’s not why Seton Hall ultimately lost to the Razorbacks. It lost because of Khadeen Carrington’s turnover a few possessions earlier that gave Arkansas a layup for the lead. Carrington also traveled on another crucial late possession. That’s why the Pirates won’t be playing on Sunday against North Carolina.
5. Dayton deserved better
Dayton against Wichita State was one of the most competitive games of the day. But it really shouldn’t have been a game at all. The Shockers, who were favored by 6.5 points, pulled out the win after a tight 35 minutes. Scoochie Smith and Dayton gave the Missouri Valley champs a really good fight. But Smith and the Atlantic 10 regular-season winners are going home because the committee’s underseeding of Wichita State — and possible because of the committee’s underseeding of Dayton itself. Wichita State is, by one metric, the sixth-best team in all of college basketball. Dayton, which went 24-6 in the regular season, was somehow playing the sixth-best team in college basketball in the first round.
“I believe Dayton deserved a better draw than this,” Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall said at the end of his postgame news conference.
Dayton coach Archie Miller had his own way of intimating*the same thing: “Kentucky having to play a No. 4 seed in the second round … I don’t know if that’s right,” he said.
WORST FINAL POSSESSION OF THE DAY
After Princeton and Vanderbilt both settled for deep threes when down only one point in the closing seconds of their games Thursday, SMU didn’t settle. Instead, with 10*seconds to work with, it spent seven*of those seconds dallying on the perimeter. With three seconds remaining, Shake Milton finally decided that it would probably be a good idea to get a shot up to, you know, try to win the game. Only then did he drive, but his floater came with a high degree of difficulty:
colleget0wn: SMU misses potential game winning floater at the buzzer Tru TV NCAA Basketball… https://t.co/yG0wz5OSqF pic.twitter.com/o9ybAofs3u
— FanSportsClips (@FanSportsClips) March 17, 2017
HYPERBOLIC STATEMENT OF THE DAY— FanSportsClips (@FanSportsClips) March 17, 2017
Rick Pitino apparently thinks his Louisville Cardinals will be playing the greatest team in the history of the sport in the second round on Sunday, which is, uh, factually incorrect. Here’s Pitino: “We’re playing against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday,” Pitino said after his team’s 78-63 win over Jacksonville State. “I’ve never seen shooting like that since I’ve been a coach.”
Michigan looked really good in the first game of the day against Oklahoma State. But it didn’t look*that good.
PLAYER OF THE DAY
Derrick Walton wasn’t just the player of the day. He isn’t just the player of the round. He’s the player of March so far. Walton put 26 points, 11 assists and five rebounds on Oklahoma State. He put up 20.5 points, 6.3 assists and 4.8 rebounds on Michigan’s four-game run to the Big Ten tournament title. Michigan’s offense has risen to fourth nationally in adjusted efficiency on the back of Walton, who has had a special senior season. His March exploits have drawn comparisons to Kemba Walker, Steph Curry and Trey Burke. None seem outlandish.
PLAYER OF THE DAY (IN A LOSING EFFORT)
Michigan vs. Oklahoma State was a cruel first-round game. Both teams, with any other draw, were capable of making the Sweet 16. And on the evidence of Friday, neither deserves to be heading home after one game. Oklahoma State is, but Jawun Evans deserves more March Madness, and March Madness deserves more Jawun Evans. The Pokes’ sophomore point guard went for 23 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists in a loss to Michigan. He navigated the pick-and-roll expertly, manipulated the Wolverines’ defense with his speed and his eyes, and led Oklahoma State’s offense to 1.33 points per possession.*Walton and Michigan just had too much.
MEANINGLE$$ SHOT OF THE DAY
Evans did win in one sense, though: He won Vegas a lot of money. His buzzer-beating 3-pointer turned a four-point final margin into a one-point loss, and covered the 2.5-point betting spread. You better believe that everybody in Vegas knew what was on the line:
People losing their minds on the backdoor cover #westgate @darrenrovell pic.twitter.com/PDOsSVySl6
— Garrett Rosh (@PAhoosier77) March 17, 2017
With roughly 75 percent of money on Michigan, bookmakers were ecstatic. “That three was a day-changer for us,” Jay Rood,*VP of race and sports at*MGM Resorts International, told Yahoo Sports.*“We would have been pushing the rock uphill all day if he does not make that three.”— Garrett Rosh (@PAhoosier77) March 17, 2017
DUNK OF THE DAY
Just stare at Semi Ojeleye’s feet, and watch how they spring off the ground. Superhero stuff:
douglasbparker: MOSES! TNT NCAA Basketball Tournament: Arkansas vs. Seton Hall https://t.co/hTSd0PGk16 pic.twitter.com/FNh5OINoOZ
— FanSportsClips (@FanSportsClips) March 17, 2017
Moses Kingsley was the Arkansas player who stoned Desi Rodriguez at the rim. Kingsley’s reward for his 23-point, six-rebound, four-block game? A matchup with the four-headed monster that is North Carolina’s front line.— FanSportsClips (@FanSportsClips) March 17, 2017
LAYUP OF THE DAY
Scoochie Smith was awesome against Wichita State in his ninth and final NCAA tournament game. He had 25 of Dayton’s 58 points. Two of them were as pretty as two points can be:
Rock and Roll Scoochie Koo.@DaytonMBB is out in front because of moves like this. pic.twitter.com/1sFAPwXI5i
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 18, 2017
FAN OF THE DAY— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 18, 2017
School is good and important. You should pay attention in school.*
ROUND OF 32 MATCHUPS
East
Villanova (1) vs. Wisconsin (8)
Florida (4) vs. Virginia (5)
Baylor (3) vs. USC (11)
Duke (2) vs. South Carolina (7)
West
Gonzaga (1) vs. Northwestern (8)
West Virginia (4) vs. Notre Dame (5)
Florida State (3) vs. Xavier (11)
Arizona (2) vs. St. Mary’s (7)
Midwest
Kansas (1) vs. Michigan State (9)
Purdue (4) vs. Iowa State (5)
Oregon (3) vs.*Rhode Island (11)
Louisville (2) vs. Michigan (7)
South
North Carolina (1) vs. Arkansas (8)
Butler (4) vs. Middle Tennessee (12)
UCLA (3) vs. Cincinnati (6)
Kentucky (2) vs. Wichita State (10)
SATURDAY TIP TIMES (Viewing guide here)
SUNDAY TIP TIMES