March Madness Review: Day 1

Have you caught your breath yet? Has you head stopped spinning? They call it March Madness for a reason, and yesterday's opening day lived up to the reputation. Yes, I know, the "First Four" was technically the start of the Tournament, but let's be honest: the madness started yesterday.

Where do we even begin? The day started out with a BANG with Dayton upsetting Ohio State with a late clutch shot. But that was just the beginning. Four overtime games peppered the evening and night games! St. Louis avoided an upset bid by N.C. State despite being down by 14 points with just four minutes left in the game. A Mark Gottfried team blowing a big lead by missing free throws? Sound familiar Bama fans? While that game was ugly, North Dakota State has to be feeling pretty after knocking off Oklahoma in overtime. It was the first Tournament win for the Bison, whose football team captured another FCS title this year. If you're a big school looking for a new athletic director, you might want to keep NDSU AD Gene Taylor in mind.

Harvard is the premier academic institution in the United States, and one of the most respected universities worldwide. They also play basketball, and they're good. Just ask Cincinnati, who became the latest 5 seed to fall to a 12 seed (never fails to happen). The Crimson will take on Michigan State in the next round. The Spartans defeated Delaware yesterday behind an incredible performance by Adreian Payne, who scored 41 points and went 17/17 on free throws (Tournament record). Sparty's title hopes also began to look up when bracket favorites Florida and Louisville struggled to put away Albany and Manhattan respectively.

Of course, you had some blowouts too. Wisconsin looked like the Indiana Pacers against American. And Pitt looked like the Miami Heat against Colorado! Florida better be careful in the second round because Pitt looks for real.

Well now that the dust has settled, it's time to look at your brackets and see where you stand. Here are Thursday's scores:

(11) Dayton 60
(6) Ohio State 59

(2) Wisconsin 75
(15) American 35

(9) Pittsburgh 77
(8) Colorado 48

(12) Harvard 61
(5) Cincinnati 57

(3) Syracuse 77
(14) Western Michigan 53

(7) Oregon 87
(10) BYU 68

(1) Florida 67
(16) Albany 55

(4) Michigan State 98
(13) Delaware 78

(7) Connecticut 89 OT
(10) Saint Joseph's 81

(2) Michigan 57
(15) Wofford 40

(5) Saint Louis 83 OT
(12) North Carolina State 80