Purdue has taken step one.
The highest-seeded Boilermakers did not lose to No. 16 seed Grambling State on Friday. The 78-50 win over the Tigers would usually stand as an unremarkable NCAA match final result on a busy day of basketball. However that is no unusual No. 1 seed.
The Boilermakers are coming off one of many largest upsets in U.S. sports activities historical past final season, a 63-58 defeat to No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson within the first spherical of the NCAA match. In doing so, they turned simply the second crew within the historical past of the match to lose as a No. 1 seed to a No. 16 seed.
Making a press release right here mattered. The Boilermakers did simply that — as a lot as a superior crew can towards a 16 seed within the NCAA match.
Zach Edey dominated. He tallied 31 factors, 20 rebounds and three blocks whereas taking pictures 11 of 17 from the sector. The 30-20 recreation was the primary within the NCAA match since Maryland’s Joe Smith posted 31 factors and 21 rebounds in 1995.
It was the kind of bully ball followers ought to anticipate from a 7-foot-4 presumptive two-time Nationwide Participant of the 12 months towards an outsized and outmatched Grambling State entrance line.
This time round, Edey received assist from his teammates. After taking pictures 35.8% towards Fairleigh Dickinson final season, the Boilermakers linked at a 47.5% clip towards Grambling State. 4 of Edey’s teammates posted at the very least eight factors.
In brief, that is what Purdue was alleged to do. Now comes the arduous half.
Purdue can look to the primary and solely different No. 1 seed to lose to a 16 seed for inspiration. The 2019 Virginia Cavaliers adopted up the ignominy of their 2018 loss to UMBC with this system’s first nationwide championship.
Matching the Cavs would require 5 extra wins. Up subsequent for Purdue is a matchup with No. 8 Utah State. In the event that they win that recreation, the winner between Gonzaga and Kansas awaits within the Candy 16. No. 2 seed Tennessee and No. 3 seed Creighton lurk on the opposite half of the Midwest bracket.
Issues will clearly get significantly more durable. However the Boilermakers can at the very least flip the web page on final seasons’s historic letdown. How they play transferring ahead will decide how they will really transfer on.
SEC stumbles arduous in first spherical
The SEC is off to an terrible begin within the NCAA match.
After the primary spherical, the convention is simply 3-5 within the occasion up to now, a file that improved solely after a pair of late wins on Friday night time.
That, in fact, generated loads of laughs at SEC commissioner Greg Sankey — who has been calling for the NCAA match to increase lately.
No. 13 Yale rallied within the second half to choose up simply its second-ever NCAA match win on Friday afternoon. The Bulldogs, after closing a 10-point deficit within the second half, held on in a wild remaining sequence to seize the two-point win and go away Auburn shocked.
That despatched Yale into the second spherical, the place it’ll tackle San Diego State subsequent on Sunday.
In Indianapolis, a porous protection did No. 7 seed Florida in. The Gators scored 100 factors towards No. 10 seed Colorado and nonetheless managed to lose. A unit that ranked eighty fifth in KenPom’s adjusted defensive effectivity regarded like an issue coming in. It was.
Colorado shot 63% from the sector and 60% from 3-point distance. It scored on 16 of 18 possessions throughout a second-half span that gave the Buffaloes a 13-point lead within the recreation’s remaining minutes. The Gators rallied to tie the sport, however KJ Simpson buried them with a game-winning jumper within the remaining seconds to safe the 102-100 win.
The 2 losses on Friday adopted a tough begin to the match for the SEC on Thursday. Mississippi State, Kentucky and South Carolina all misplaced their opening spherical video games. Solely Tennessee, which blew out Saint Peter’s, managed to choose up a win. That introduced the convention to a mere 1-5 within the match on the time.
The SEC redeemed itself somewhat bit on Friday night time. No. 9 Texas A&M flew previous No. 8 Nebraska, 98-83, and No. 4 Alabama rolled previous No. 14 Charleston with none concern. However nonetheless, three wins for the convention — particularly after Sankey’s feedback — over two days shouldn’t be an ideal begin in any respect.
James Madison, Grand Canyon seize massive upsets late
A pair of 12 seeds pulled off two nice upsets to shut out the primary spherical on Friday night time.
First, it was James Madison that rolled to a really easy win over No. 5 Wisconsin. The Dukes ran previous the Badgers 72-61 on the Barclays Middle to choose up what was their 14th straight win. It additionally marked this system’s first time within the second spherical of the match since 1983. They compelled Wisconsin to commit a season-high 19 turnovers within the loss and so they led your complete approach by means of.
That arrange a matchup with No. 4 Duke within the second spherical. The Blue Devils pushed previous Vermont within the second half of their opening recreation.
Then, late in Spokane, Grand Canyon shut down No. 5 Saint Mary’s within the second half of their matchup to safe a 75-66 win. The Antelopes opened the second half on an 18-7 tear, and held the Gaels to and not using a discipline objective for a near-seven minute stretch in the course of the interval to interrupt open a double-digit lead. They even had a ridiculous lob off an inbounds move throughout that stretch.
Although Saint Mary’s reduce it to single digits briefly down the stretch, the Gaels could not get all the way in which again in it. Grand Canyon held on to seize the nine-point win. The Antelopes will now transfer on to face No. 4 Alabama within the second spherical. The Crimson Tide beat Charleston 109-96 earlier on Friday.
No extra good brackets
There weren’t many to begin the day, however the dream of an ideal bracket died on Friday afternoon.
All however 116 brackets survived the primary day of the NCAA match after a lot of upsets Thursday knocked most customers out of Yahoo’s bracket recreation. That quantity was reduce nearly in half immediately after Northwestern’s time beyond regulation win over Florida Atlantic to begin the day.
Then it was Colorado and Yale who completed the time off. Colorado beat No. 7 Florida 102-100 on a last-second shot from KJ Simpson. Nearly 73% of customers had picked Florida to make it out of the primary spherical. Then Yale rallied again to knock off No. 4 Auburn 78-76 in what was simply the Bulldogs’ second-ever NCAA match win. Greater than 90% of customers had picked Auburn to win its first recreation.
These two video games knocked out the ultimate good brackets, ending the annual quest.
Whereas there are nonetheless a number of good brackets that survived on the ladies’s aspect — simply 0.3% of brackets survived the opening day — the boys’s match didn’t make it by means of the primary spherical this season. Higher luck subsequent yr.