Of the 32 advancing teams, 3 come from the state of Ohio (Cleveland State, Dayton, and Xavier). There are 11 states which boast two teams. These states are…California, Washington, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Michigan, Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and New York.
There were 10 upsets in the first round, 5 of which were in the Midwest Region. Midwest Region at CBS Sports, {click here}.
The biggest upset involved second-time tournament entrants the Cleveland State Vikings, who were the #13 seed in the Midwest Region. Cleveland State stunned #4 seed Wake Forest 84-69, in Miami late Friday night {see this (ESPN)}; {see this (CBS)}. Cleveland State’s first appearance in the NCAA tournamernt was 23 years ago, when they also advanced to the second round.
Also very late Friday night, in the East Region, #12 seed Wisconsin Badgers took #5 seed Florida State to OT, winning 61-59.
Another big upset was the #12 seed Western Kentucky Hilltoppers defeating the #5 seed Illinois, in the South Region.
Another #12/ #5 upset was in the Midwest region, with the Arizona Wildcats over Utah.
A giant upset was #11 Dayton Flyers beating #6 West Virginia, in the Midwest Region. West Virginia had won at least two games in each of their last 4 tournament appearances (in 1998, 2005, 2006, and 2008). Dayton had not won a game in the NCAA tournament since 1990. Here’s an article from CBS Sports {click here}.
There were three games where the #10 beat the #7 seed… in the South Region, with the Michigan Wolverines beating Clemson; in the Midwest Region, where the USC Trojans eliminated Boston College; and in the West Region, where the Maryland Terrapins (who were a last-minute selection to the tournament) defeated California.
There were two #9 seeds winning over the #8 seeds. In the West, the Texas A&M Aggies made it an 0 for 3 showing by Utah-based entrants by beating Brigham Young University.
And in the Midwest, there was an epic double-overtime thriller in Dayton, Ohio late Friday night. The Siena Saints trailed the Ohio State Buckeyes through almost the entire game, before tying it late. Then Siena sent it to the second overtime courtesy of a Ronald Moore 3-point shot at the buzzer. The second OT went to the wire as well, and the junior guard Moore sunk another three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left (from almost the identical spot on the floor), to give Siena a 2 point lead that held up, 74-72 {see this, from ESPN)}. Siena played with a swarming defense that kept the Buckeyes unsettled throughout the game, and featured a stand-out performance by Staten Island, NY-born sophmore forward Ryan Rossiter (16 pts., 15 rebounds), and clutch shooting by senior guard Kenny Hasbrouck and Poughkeepsie, NY-born junior Edwin Ubiles. Sienas is an independant Catholic Liberal Arts school with an enrollment of only 2,900. And their men’s basketball team, coached by Fran McCaffery, is going to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the second straight season.
Thanks to CBS Sports/ College BK {click here}. Thanks to Chris Creamer’s Sports Logos Page {click here (set at Siena Saints)}. Thanks to the contributors to the pages at Wikipedia {click here}.
