Day 1 in the books
Just like last year, day 1 of the NCAA tournament this year provided little excitement. Memphis was down late against CS Northridge, but there is always a 1 or 2 seed that gets behind or lets a teams stay in the game late before waking up and pulling away.
To me, the biggest surprise was Texas A&M playing as well as they did. I thought it might be a competitive game, but being a revenge game for BYU and their overall improvement this year, I thought that one would come down to the wire. The biggest upsets were that VCU didn’t beat UCLA like everyone thought they would and that an underrated and underseeded Western Kentucky team beat an overrated and underachieving Illinois team, which in my mind wasn’t really an upset, I have Western KY in my Sweet 16.
Since Day 1 was so similar, hopefully day 2 will be too and be full of surprises and upsets.
I did learn one thing yesterday though, that as bad as this sounds and believe me, I want my alma mater to do well and to be respected, but the tournament is a lot less stressful and more fun for me when my alma mater is not in it. I like not having a strong emotional attachment to any of the teams in it so I can enjoy the tournament for what it is, and it’s certainly easier to cross out incorrect picks when they are not a team you care about.