March Madness off to a wild start

COLLEGE BASKETBALL: MAR 05 Cal at Arizona

TUCSON, AZ – MARCH 05: Arizona Wildcats guard Bennedict Mathurin #0 dribbles to the basket during a Pac-12 basketball game between the Cal Golden Bears and the Arizona Wildcats on March 05, 2022 at McKale Center in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Christopher Hook/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

March Madness has arrived, and the first two rounds did not disappoint. Upsets, comebacks and overtime finishes were everywhere to be found. And, of course, no perfect brackets were left after the first round.

Notre Dame, Indiana, Wright State and Texas Southern got things started with their play-in games this week as the last four in.

In the first round, seven games ended in an upset. 12 Richmond beat 5 Iowa 67-63, 11 Iowa State beat 6 LSU 59-54, 10 Miami beat 7 USC 68-66, 11 Michigan beat 6 Colorado State 75-63, 15 St. Peters beat 2 Kentucky 85-79, 11 Notre Dame beat 6 Alabama 78-64, and 12 New Mexico State beat 5 Connecticut 70-63.

The second round was even crazier. Reigning champions Baylor were upset by eight seed North Carolina. After doing almost nothing offensively in the first half, Gonzaga’s Drew Timme came alive after halftime to lead the team to a comeback win against Memphis. 11 seed Michigan is the only big ten team remaining after taking down three seed Tennessee 76-68.

Photo by Lance King/Getty Images. Paolo Banchero #5 of the Duke Blue Devils blocks a shot by Joey Hauser #10 of the Michigan State Spartans during the second half in the second round game of the 2022 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena on March 20, 2022, in Greenville, South Carolina.

Nine seed TCU took Arizona to overtime and lost 85-80. 11 seed Iowa State and ten seed Miami upset 2 Auburn and 3 Wisconsin to advance to an improbable 11-10 seed matchup in the sweet 16.

After two upsets, 15 seed St Mary’s is still alive. The peacocks will face three-seed Purdue on Friday as they try to shock the world and advance to the elite 8.

So far, Baylor has been the only 1 seed eliminated. Gonzaga, Arizona and Kansas are all still in it. Duke and Villanova are the only 2’s left after St Peter’s took down Kentucky and Miami beat Auburn. Purdue and Texas Tech are the only 3’s, and Providence, UCLA and Arkansas are the remaining seeds. Four double-digit seeds are still alive, and because of Iowa State and Miami’s matchup, at least one is guaranteed to move on.

The next round starts on Thursday, March 23, with four games, and the remaining four will be on Friday.