March Madness is officially underway. Sixteen games are in the books with forty-seven more to go. The two top seeds in the Midwest and West regions, Kansas and UCLA were both in action as well as the popular/hated Duke Blue Devils. Only two out of the sixteen games played yesterday featured upsets as number nine seed Texas A&M defeated number eight seed BYU 67-62 and number eleven seed Kansas State led be freshman sensation Michael Beasley defeated number six seed USC 80-67.
Both number one seeds dominated their weaker sixteenth seeded opponents as Kansas rolled to a 85-61 victory over the vikings of Portland State and UCLA toppled Mississippi Valley State 70-29. Number two seed Duke barely escaped the fifteenth seeded Bruins of Belmont as the Blue Devils blew a ten point second half lead to barely escape with a 71-70 victory. Duke guard Gerald Henderson scored the game winner as he drove down the length of the court and scored on a lay-up with six seconds to go.
Other teams advancing included Xavier, who came back after being down eleven to defeat the SEC champs Georgia Bulldogs. Michigan State, Stanford, Marquette, UNLV, Pitt, Purdue, Washington State, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and West Virginia advanced as well. All of these teams will play their second round games on Saturday.
Highlighting the teams in action today is the number one overall seed North Carolina lead by Player of the Year Tyler Hansborough. Teams also playing their first round game today include Tennessee, Texas, Georgetown, and the Memphis Tigers, the number one seed in the South region. For more information, go to ncaasports.com for all the scores and schedule of play.
