FanNation

As you all know (and have more than likely had crammed down your throat), the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament has begun, and is in the midst of completing its second round as I'm writing this. At one location, the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida, all hell broke loose (metaphorically). In the four opening round games, the lower seed won each game. It's not like it was a whole bunch of 8 seed v. 9 seed games or anything where the teams were expected to play close, they were all either 4 v. 13 or 5 v. 12 games, which are expected to be won relatively easily by the higher seed (which is the one with the lower number).

The day got started with an overtime thriller between the 12 seed Western Kentucky and the 5 seed Drake, which was eventually won by Western Kentucky 101-99, even after they tried to blow a 16 point lead in the last 8 minutes of regulation. Neither team's star player played well, with Drake's Adam Emmenecker going 0-10 from the field, and Western Kentucky's Courtney Lee with only 15 points. However, each team was carried by another player, for Drake, Jonathan Cox, who had 29 points and 16 rebounds, and WKU by Tyrone Brazelton, who led all scorers with 33. However, the player of the game was Ty Rogers, who did something no box score can truly capture (besides his line of 11 points): He did this. 

Next in line was 4 seed Connecticut and 13 seed San Diego. Another overtime game, won by another last second shot to complete the upset. In a complete reversal, this game was all about the stars, but both good and bad. UConn lost their star point guard AJ Price halfway through the first half with what eventually turned out to be a torn anterior cruciate ligament. However, the other key players, UConn's Jeff Adrien with 18 points and 12 rebounds, and San Diego's Gyno Pomare with 22 points on 10-12 shooting and Brandon Jackson with 18 points and all four of San Diego's converted three pointers. This game was won by another won by another person who did more than the box score could show (he had just four points), De'Jon Jackson, who nailed this shot at the end of overtime to win it for the Toreros.

After an intermission, the second set of upsets was tipped off with 4 seed Vanderbilt getting annihilated by 13 seed Siena by the score of 83-62. In a game that was never close at all, Siena was led by Kenny Hansbrouck with 30 points and Tay Fisher, who had 19 points with 6 of 6 3 point field goals and missed more free throws (1) than field goals (0). Vanderbilt's failure was led by AJ Ogilvy, who had 18 points and 6 rebounds. However, the most attention grabbing thing from the box score was the lack of scoring by Vanderbilt guard Shan Foster, who had 13, 7 points less than his average on the season. Vanderbilt was done in by there 25% three point shooting and their 16 turnovers and the fact that Siena shot more than two times as many free throws as Vandy.

To wrap up the very upside down day was 12 seed Villanova beating 5 seed Clemson 75-69. In a reversal of all of these games, Clemson controlled the game early, with a 36-18 lead with 5 minutes to go in the first half. Villanova got hot from behind the three point line, and slowly eroded the lead, and at the 12 minute mark of the second half, took a 50-49 lead. Clemson tied the game up with two minutes to go after being down by as much as 7, but Villanova went 9 of 10 at the charity stripe during that period to seal the win. Villanova was led by star guard Scottie Reynolds with 21 and by Corey Fisher who had 17, and in the losing cause, Clemson was led by KC Rivers (Doc's son) with 15 and Demontez Stitt with 14, including 4 of 4 from deep. However, Clemson's true downfall was due to their two talented big men, James Mays and Trevor Booker, fouling out of the game and their lackluster 61% free throw and 27% three point percentages.

These four major upsets have reshuffled the tournament deck, and demolished many a bracket, including Bob Knight himself, who picked UConn for the Final Four. Never before had one site had all four lower seeds upset the seeds above them in the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA defines an upset as a game where a team seeded at least 5 seeds below their opponent is victorious, and this is the first time that even multiple upsets have occured at the same site. Friday March 21st is going to go down in the annals of NCAA history, whether or not there's a name that becomes attached to it.