Stanford, Dayton and Tennessee Headline NCAA Tournament after Week 1

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Chris Angolia, Sports Editor

The first weekend of the NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament is one of the most anticipated weekends in sports. It marks the start of a journey to a national championship for 68 of College Basketball’s best.

As one would expect, the first weekend was filled with surprise and it was the double digit seeded teams that led the way. Perhaps the biggest upset of the round of 64 was when 14th seeded Mercer took down Jabari Parker and the Duke Blue Devils.

Not only was it Mercer who surprised, but Harvard, North Dakota State, and Stephen F Austin all pulled the upset in their games. These teams would later fall in the round of 32 to Michigan State, San Diego State and UCLA respectively. The one seeds, Florida, Arizona, Virginia and Wichita St also extended the streak to 29 straight years without any of the four one seeds losing to a sixteen seed.

The top-seeded Wichita State Shockers came in with a record 34-0 regular season record and after defeating Cal-Poly in the round of 64, the Shockers matched up against the talent filled Kentucky Wildcats. An early preaseason favorite, the Wildcats did not live up to expectations losing 9 of their regular season games. The Wildcats went on to upset the undefeated Shockers 78-76 and end their dreams of a perfect season.

One of the three big surprises was the 13th seeded Tennessee Volunteers who finished week one 3-0 after playing in the First-Four against Iowa which they defeated 78-65 to advance to the round of 64 where they faced the six seeded Massachusetts Minutemen. The Vols defeated UMass in blowout fashion beating the 6th seed in the Midwest region 86-67 moving on to the round of 32 where they would face upset-minded Mercer, who they would go on to defeat 83-63 to advance to the Sweet 16, the school’s first since 2010. The Vols will face second seeded Michigan in their Sweet 16 matchup on Thursday in Indianapolis.

The Stanford Cardinals out of the PAC-12 came in to the tournament as a number ten seed who matched up against the seven seed in the South Region the New Mexico Lobos which they would go on to defeat 58-53. After defeating New Mexico, they matched up against the second seeded Kansas Jayhawks.

The Jayhawks were a team who many considered to be a national title contender with the likes of star freshmen Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid. Stanford made Wiggins look almost invisible finishing with only 4 points.  The tenth seeded Cardinals were able to stop the Jayhawks from doing what they do best, and that played ultimately the biggest role in defeating Kansas 60-57. For Stanford Coach Johnny Dawkins, a former national champion at Duke, it is his first Sweet 16 appearance as coach and the school’s first since 2008.

The team that made the most noise on week one of the NCAA tournament was the Dayton Flyers. Coming into the tournament with a record of 23-10 and a number 13 seed, the Flyers just barely slipped in being one of the final at-large teams to receive a bid. In the round of 64 the Flyers faced the sixth seeded Ohio State Buckeyes led by senior point guard Aaron Craft. The Flyers overcame the Buckeyes late surge and after Vee Sanford put the Flyers up one for good ending the Buckeyes season.

After defeating the Buckeyes in the round of 64, the Flyers took on the third seeded Syracuse Orange and Jim Boeheim. With its potent 2-3 zone the Orange cause problems for even the best of teams; however on this past Saturday night, Dayton was the team causing problems.

The Orange took ten threes and missed all ten and that left Dayton hanging around. And up six with 48 seconds left the Flyers were feeling the upset and after Syracuse could not capitalize on their final possession the buzzer sounded and Dayton had pulled off the upset. For coach Archie Miller it is his first ever appearance in the sweet 16 and the school’s first in 20 years.

On Thursday March 27 the 11th seeded Flyers will matchup with other surprise Stanford in an 11-10 matchup with the winner advancing to the Elite 8 of the South region in Memphis Tennessee.