COLDWATER (WTVB) NCCA Tournament tipped off yesterday with a couple of bracket busting shockers, a double-overtime thriller along with a pair of single overtime games, not to mention a half dozen other contests that weren’t decided until the closing seconds of play.
First round action continues today with 16 more games, including the state of Michigan’s two teams in the Big Dance, Michigan State and Oakland University, entering the fray with M-S-U playing tonight and Oakland this afternoon. And score one for the Mid American Conference as MAC Tournament winner Ohio pulled off the biggest upset on day one, with the 14th-seeded Bobcats knocking off third-seed Georgetown rather easily 97-to-83.
Ohio played the best when it counted the most as the Bobcats were only 7-and-9 in the MAC in the regular season and were just the ninth seed in their own conference tournament. The Bobcat’s second round opponent Saturday will be Tennessee, which barely escaped with a 62-to-59 win over Steve Fisher’s San Diego State Aztecs.
The two number-one seeds in action yesterday avoided the upset bug as Kansas and Kentucky both scored double digit victories. Higher seeds that are headed home after losing include Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Richmond, Texas, and Marquette.
Meanwhile, second seed Villanova barely escaped by beating 15th seed Robert Morris in overtime 73-to-70. The double overtime game saw 7th seed B-Y-U outlast 10th-seed Florida 99-to-92 with the top individual scoring performance of the day coming from B-Y-U’s sharp-shooter Jimmer Fredette, who poured in 37 points.
