Ladies and gentlemen, hoop fanatics, and bracketologists of all stripes, welcome back to the grandest spectacle in college basketball – the March Madness Tournament! Can you believe it? This year marks the 85th anniversary of madness, mayhem, and memorable moments that have come to define this electrifying event. As we gather once again to revel in the thrill of buzzer-beaters and Cinderella stories, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you for showing up, year after year, to make this tournament a true slam dunk. Now, before we dive headfirst into the fray, let’s take a moment to acknowledge last year’s pool champion, Bob. While he may have reigned supreme in 2023, rumor has it his bracket is looking about as sturdy as a house of cards this time around. Who knows maybe your luck is running thin! With that said, let’s buckle up, lace up those sneakers, and get ready to witness history in the making. The stage is set, the teams are primed, and the madness awaits. Let’s get this show on the road!
We’re just going to jump right into the games because it always feels like an infinite number of games on the first day! 16 total games played yesterday and we’re going to break it down into chunks and slightly biased to the games I was able to catch. Lots of writing in the first couple days so stick with me!
Michigan State (9) vs Mississippi State (8): Despite this being a close matchup in terms of tournament ranking, Michigan took an early lead in the first half with a 10-0 run. Mississippi was just on chase the rest of the game, closing the gap one time to 6 points at one point but just couldn’t get it rolling. Final Score 69-51.
Long Beach St (15) vs Arizona (2): This was a sweet game up until half time! So much back and forth and you could tell that Long Beach wanted this one! Long Beach was staying in the game at first by getting offensive rebounds after missed threes (3/17 3pt). That half time peptalk from Arizona’s coach must have been enough because they came out firing and blew it out in the second half! Final score 85-65.
Akron (14) vs Creighton (3): Again! Another great game… Until half… Why? Creighton can shoot, again. 10/17 from 3 point land, but something to look at would be who is getting these points. Creighton has no points off the bench so we’ll see how this fairs as many of you have them deep… Final score 77-60.
Drake (10) vs WA State (7): Great matchup here, and a fun game to watch. Both teams kind of took a bit to get settled in and assess each others play style. The fans were into this game, love watching players interact with fans, M.Rice (PG) from WA is high energy and not afraid to let the Drake fans know what’s up! This game was another back and forth all game! WA was able to go on a nice run at the end to secure it.. Final score 66-61.
Samford (13) vs Kansas (4): One of those games you were rewarded for sticking around until the end. This was almost the upset of the night in my opinion. Kansas lead by 22 points at one point in the second half. Samford almost pulling of an amazing comeback with some wild threes and huge at the rim plays in the final 5 minutes. Just those damn turnovers and lost easy points causing them to have to start fouling in the end. Final score 93-89 for Kansas.
Wagner (16) vs UNC (1): Poor Wagener with only 7 players to work with lose 90-62
NC State (11) vs Texas tech (6): Even with Dave Smart, our old CU Ravens head coach on the bench, Texas Tech couldn’t pull it off ultimately losing 80-67
McNeese State (12) vs Gonzaga (5): Even with a very different team makeup this year, Gonzaga is able to steamroll through round 1. Will be interesting to see how far they can go. Final score 86-65.
Oregon (11) vs South Carolina (6): I didn’t get to watch this game but from the highlights it seemed like a lot of three’s and a lot of one sided runs by Oregon, and taking it in the end. Final score 87-73.
Morehead St (14) vs Illinois (3): As expected Illinois takes this one pretty handedly. Final score 85-69
CO State (10) vs Texas (7): They must have had a bigger ball or a smaller rim because this was a battle of the misses and turnovers.. Glad that’s over, Texas wins but needs to clean that up to go any further. Final score 56-44.
Saint Peter’s (15) vs Tennessee (2): This was a sad game to watch for St Peter’s. 46-20 at the half. Tennessee wins 83-49.
SD State (15) vs Iowa St (2): A matchup that everyone expected to have an easy outcome, and it did. Iowa St take it 82-65.
The UPSETS!
Duquesne (11) vs BYU (6): This game seemed like it was a 1 seed vs a 16 seed going into it, not sure why but that’s how it felt. The Dukes came out hot with a 12-2 run for the first 7 minutes. BYU would then tie back up 20-20, then The Dukes would go on another crazy run… BUT 1:45 left and we’re tied back at 60 ALL! To bad that was pretty much it for excitement because The Dukes would nail another three, a two, and then the fouls started and it was all over. Final score 71-67.
Nevada (10) vs Dayton (7): Great game here and not really a matchup upset but more of a comeback story. The starting 10min looked like Dayton would just carry the game out in the lead and all was good. No no no… Nevada takes the lead late in the first half and holds it… Until… Dayton, has a 17-0 run for five very long minutes. With 2 minutes left this game is now a dog fight which ends up in Dayton being up by one point, and Nevada have to start fouling. Game ends on free throws, Dayton winning 63-60
And for the main event of the evening!
Oakland (14) vs Kentucky (3): What a wild game this was and I hope some of you caught it. A true battle of new young talent vs experience. Kentucky, this year is made up of a lot of freshmen recruits that are NBA prospects but lack the experience that some of the vets on Oakland have. This was shown… His name is Jack Gohlke (Goal-Key), the man of the night and talk of the town today. He loves his threes, like so much that he just rarely takes shots inside the arch (just 8 two point attempts this whole season). Jack took 20 threes, making 10 and some of them were just incredible that he was able to cash it! Oakland just stayed in it the whole time never letting up, and Jack just kept letting them FLY!! He was automatic, great shot selection and elite at creating space for himself knowing he was a crucial part of a victory with 32 points total. Team defence was impeccable as Kentucky have big time ball players over there. Final score here was 80-76. Will Gohlke be able to stay this hot? Or will teams simply shut him down next round?
So that’s it… Day one is in the books and day two is underway as I write this.
Just going to keep this as a game update and I’ll give some score updates for the pool tomorrow once we wrap up with the first round. Some games have already ended by the time I make this so my active score sheet has already updated and it just wont make sense.
Onward we go! Hope you guys like the new style for the updates, makes it easier for me to add highlight clips or player highlights once we start having our standout players! Trash talks and other assorted messages will still go through email.
Good luck on day two!