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Breaking Down March Madness

Best First Weekend Ever?

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Breaking Down March Madness
Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

ESPN's Tournament Challenge started with more than 13 million brackets, and after the first day of March Madness only 1.1 percent remained perfect (147,345). Before I try to put the first weekend of March Madness into context, let's just list out all the insane things that happened.

1. Yale, in its first NCAA tournament since 1962, upset No. 5 seed Baylor in one of those weird moments when a group of Ivy League students become lovable underdogs.


2. Wichita State, which nearly didn't make the tournament, crushed No. 6 Arizona and cost coach Sean Miller at least two dress shirts.


3.Arkansas-Little Rock, a team with a first-year coach and almost an entire roster of transfers, upset No. 5 Purdue behind the clutch shooting of Josh Hagins.


4. No. 15 seed Middle Tennessee knocked out No. 2 Michigan State, a popular national championship pick and a team that had a great case to be a No. 1 seed, in arguably the biggest upset in tournament history.

5. Syracuse, a team that shouldn't even have been in the NCAA tournament, crushed Dayton and then MTSU to reach the Sweet 16.

6. Iowa beat Temple in overtime on an airballed shot that was tipped in for the game-winner in the first round.

7. No. 13 seed Hawaii won its first-ever NCAA tournament game by taking down an injury-plagued Cal team.

8. No. 14 seed Stephen F. Austin beat No. 3 West Virginia by pressing, pressuring and basically by out-West Virginia-ing them.

9. Northern Iowa crushed Texas with a half-court buzzer beater by Paul Jesperson.

10. Cincinnati's Octavius Ellis appeared to have a game-tying dunk at the buzzer against St. Joseph's, only to see it waved off in a 78-76 loss.

11. Indiana beat a red-hot Kentucky team for the first time since those two teams stopped scheduling each other in the regular season.

12. Villanova made it out of the first weekend for the first time in seven years.

13. Notre Dame came back to beat Stephen F. Austin on a game-winning tip-in by a freshman who had never scored a point in an NCAA tournament game.

14. Texas A&M used a miraculous 14-2 rally over the final 33 seconds to force overtime, then stun Northern Iowa in 2OTs. It was the largest last-minute deficit overcome in the history of college basketball, according to David Worlock of the NCAA.

15. Wisconsin's Bronson Koenig drilled a game-winning 3-pointer as time expired to beat No. 2 seed Xavier and earn a trip to the Sweet 16.

OK, that's everything. (I think.)

Best and wildest first weekend of the NCAA tournament ever? I think so. With just 16 teams remaining and all #1 Seeds left in the tournament, who will come out on top?

*All material is accredited to http://www.ncaa.com/march-madness

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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