It wouldn’t be March without a little madness.
The NCAA basketball tournament got underway Thursday, and like every year, the upsets followed.
Perennial powerhouse Kentucky went down to Oakland in Pittsburgh, 80-76. The Wildcats went in with a 3 seed but couldn’t get past No. 14 Oakland University, which hails from Oakland County, Michigan.
Oakland's Jack Gohlke was on fire from the arc. He sank 10 3-pointers, falling just one short of a tournament record.
Duquesne 71, BYU 67: Earlier in the day, Duquesne busted some brackets when it outscored Brigham Young. The 11th-seeded Dukes from Pittsburgh and their retiring coach, Keith Dambrot, sent BYU back to Utah with a 71-67 win in the East Region.
Oregon 87, South Carolina 73: In another 6-11 matchup, the underdog again came out victorious, with Oregon's Jermaine Couisnard putting up a career high of 40 points against his former team, South Carolina. The Ducks are cruising to the second round after they beat the Gamecocks 87-73 in Pittsburgh.
Michigan State 69, Mississippi State 51: A matchup between 8 and 9 seeds could have gone either way, but technically Mississippi State, with its higher seeding, had a slight advantage over Michigan State. But the Spartans didn't let that stop them from doing what they went to do in Charlotte, North Carolina: get to the second round. They live to see another game with a 69-51 win over Mississippi State.
N.C. State 80, Texas Tech 67: The 11th-seeded Wolfpack’s victory over No. 6 Texas Tech was the fifth win for a double-digit seed on the tournament’s first full day. N.C. State won 80-67.
Moving on to Round 2: No surprises here — these teams came in as the favorite and will be playing again this weekend: Creighton, Arizona, North Carolina, Illinois, Dayton, Texas, Gonzaga, Iowa State, Tennessee, Washington State and — with a nail-biter of a finish — Kansas.
