2010 NCAA Tournament: Day 1 recap

Well, now.

Wasn't that fun?

Let me do the math for you. 16 games on the day. Three went to overtime. Five others were decided by one possession. Four were won on shots made in the final five seconds. Five double digit seeds advanced, and both nine seeds won. Eight of the teams that advanced are from a mid-major conference (nine if you count Washington in the Pac-10), and four of those mid-majors beat major conference teams.

And I'm supposed to break all that down into one post? Yeesh.


GAME OF THE DAY: Washington 80, Marquette 78

There is not right answer here, but I have to go with the Huskies dramatic win over Marquette here. This game was about as entertaining as you are going to find in the first half. An uber-glorified AAU game, there was never a big man to be found on the court today. Both teams spread the floor, allowed their players a chance to show off what they can do, and us viewers reaped the benefits. Washington went 9-14 from three, shooting 54.5% from the floor and assisting on 21 of their 30 baskets. Marquette was 12-19 from deep, hitting on 52.9% of their shots and assisting on 16 out of 27 field goals. Hell, Washington was so hot, Isaiah Thomas was knocking down 65 footers.

Offensive clinic, yes, but for a while it looked like the Golden Eagles were going to pull away with this one. They used a 17-3 run to open the second half and take a 60-45 lead, but Washington wasn't going away. A 20-6 run brought them back into the game, and a three from Elston Turner put Washington ahead 72-71 with about five minutes to go. The two teams would trade buckets back and forth, eventually setting up this:



They were good too

• BYU 99, Florida 92 2OT: Great game. BYU took a 13 point second half lead, but Kenny Boynton went bonkers in the second half to lead the Gators back. Florida missed on two chances to win the game on a final possession, Michael Loyd led the Cougars back at the end of the first overtime, and Jimmer Fredette took over in the second OT. Got all that?


• ODU 51, Notre Dame 50: The Irish let a 30-22 lead slip away in the second half, as the Monarchs and Irish played a tightily contested game. A 6-0 spurt gave the Monarchs a 46-43 lead, and after trading threes, Notre Dame had two chances at a game-tying three, but Tory Jackson and Carleton Scott both missed.


• Murray State 66, Vandy 65: After Vandy was finally able to mount a comeback and take the lead on two Jermaine Beal free throws, Murray State was able to win this one in dramatic fashion.


• Northern Iowa 69, UNLV 66: UNLV overcame a late nine point deficit, tying the game at 66 after cutting the lead to a single possession with four straight baskets. It set up this:

• Wake Forest 81, Texas 80 OT: Wake and Texas went back and forth for 45 minutes, as Texas twice rallied back from double digit deficits, before Ish Smith put a cap on what was an insane day of hoops:

PLAYER OF THE DAY: Omar Samhan, St. Mary's

The big fella came to play today, going for 29 points and 12 boards in an 80-71 win over Richmond. Samhan dominated the first half of play in this one, scoring 12 of the first 14 Gael points and finished with 17 in the first half. He was unstoppable. He scored off of offensive rebounds. He scored on drop-steps. He scored on little turn-arounds in the lane. There was nothing Samhan couldn't do tonight.

Samhan scored seven of the first nine second half points for the Gaels, and it forced Richmond to really start focusing on him inside. As a result, the perimeter opened up, and the Gaels caught fire. They pushed their lead as big as 15 in the second half. The Gaels will get Villanova on Saturday, and without a big man to match him once again, don't be surprised to see another performance like this against.

They were good too

• Jimmer Fredette and Michael Loyd, BYU: The two combined for 63 points (Jimmer had 37, Loyd 26) and took turns taking the game over. The first overtime belonged to Loyd, as he was unstoppable in transition to bring BYU back from a early deficit. Fredette owned the second OT, as his two deep threes sealed a BYU win. Also deserving credit in this game was Kenny Boynton, who scored 14 straight at one point in the second half, bringing Florida back from 13 down. He had 27 on the afternoon.


• Shelvin Mack, Butler: Mack had 25 points and 4 assists to lead Butler, but it was the second half that earned Mack mention. He hit 6-7 from three in the second half, scoring 18 of his 25 points. Four of those threes came in the first six minutes, sparking a 28-6 run that put away the Rebels.


• Ishmael Smith, Wake Forest: While he did have some turnovers in this one, Smith looked like an all-american, finishing with 19 points, 12 boards, and 7 assists. The biggest shot he hit today was an overtime game-winner, pulling up from 17 feet on the wing and burying a shot with a ton of arc.
  


• Armon Bassett and DJ Cooper, Ohio: See below.
  

TEAM OF THE DAY: Ohio Bobcats

Ohio came into this game playing well, having won 12 of their last 17 games, including four straight to win the MAC tournament, but I don't think anyone expected this. Georgetown, while maddeningly inconsistent, is still a team with Final Four caliber talent that came into this game having made a run to the finals of the Big East Tournament. But today, Ohio went Hoya clubbin'. Georgetown simply had no answer for the Bobcat's back court duo of Armon Bassett and DJ Cooper, who combined to go for 55 points and 11 assists while hitting 10-18 from deep in a 97-83 win.

This game was really never all that close. Ohio took their final lead with 9:33 left in the first half, got up by 12 at halftime, and pushed that lead to as much as 19 in the second half. They hit 13-23 from deep and shot 58.2% from the floor. As poorly as Georgetown played defensively, they can probably rest assured that Ohio might have beaten the Clippers tonight. As JT III said after the game, "sometimes players just makes plays."

They were good too

• Murray State: The Racers have to be mad at Ohio. If it wasn't for the Bobcats, Murray State would be the upset of the day, and their thrilling, buzzer-beating upset of Vanderbilt would be the talk of tomorrow's water cooler. As it is, they'll have to settle for playing second fiddle, which isn't all that bad considering they're still playing.


• Butler, Washington, and Tennessee: The Bulldogs, the Huskies, and the Vols all came into today knowing that most "experts" thought that they were going to lose. Well, so much for that. Butler blew out UTEP, Washington beat Marquette on a late basket by Quincy Pondexter, and Tennessee survived San Diego State.
  

SCORES

East Region:

• #1 Kentucky 100, #16 ETSU 71
• #9 Wake Forest 81, #8 Texas 80 OT
• #11 Washington 80, #6 Marquette 78
• #3 New Mexico 62, #14 Montana
  

South Region:

• #11 Old Dominion, #6 Notre Dame 50
• #2 Villanova 73, #15 Robert Morris 70 OT
• #3 Baylor 68, #14 Sam Houston State 59
• #10 St. Mary's 80, #7 Richmond 71
  

Midwest Region:

• #9 Northern Iowa 69, #8 UNLV 66
• #14 Ohio 97, #3 Georgetown 83
• #1 Kansas 90, #16 Lehigh 74
• #6 Tennessee 62, #11 SDSU 59
  

West Region:

• #7 BYU 99, #10 Florida 92 2OT
• #13 Murray State 66, #4 Vanderbilt 65
• #2 Kansas State 82, #15 North Texas 62
• #5 Butler 77, #12 UTEP 59