The Real March Madness: Day 1

Everyone loves the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Four straight days jam-packed with 12 hours of do-or-die college hoops is more than most people can handle.

But for junkies like us, the next 13 days are just as good, for it is when the true Madness takes place. Over the course of these two weeks, we whittle some 347 teams down to 30 conference champions (the Ivy doesn't have a tournament). Auto-bids will be won. Bubbles will be burst. Buzzers will be beaten. And most importantly, a 65 team bracket will be made.

Here is what happened on Tuesday


Game of the Day: Tennessee Tech 68, Austin Peay 65

You could call this one the "upset of the day" as well. The 6-seed Golden Eagles won on a game-winning 3-pointer by Kevin Murphy with six seconds left to edge out the 3-seed Governors. Murphy also led all scorers with 18 points, as he rallied his team back from eight down in midway thru second half. Austin Peay's Anthony Campbell hit a 3-pointer with nine seconds left to tie the game before Murphy sank the dagger. Both teams shot very well in the second half. Tennessee Tech remains the only sub-.500 team left in the OVC tournament with a 15-16 (8-10) record.

They were good too

• Radford 64, Charleston Southern 61 OT: Charleston Southern very nearly made us look, well, very dumb for saying the Highlanders could win a game in the tournament. Down 16 at the half, the Buccaneers got 11 of Jeremy Sexton's 18 points in the second half and forced overtime on a layup by Kelvin Martin. But Radford would score the first six points of OT and hang on despite missing four of five free throws late, three of which were front-ends.
  

Player of the Day: Artsiom Parakhouski, Radford

The "Belarusian Beast" scored 24 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead Radford past Charleston Southern 64-61 in overtime in the Big South conference tournament. The big man was 9-11 from the field and committed only two fouls in his 43 minutes of action. The 6'11 beast will be the difference-maker for Radford this post-season (he has to be). No other Big South roster has a player big enough or skilled enough to stop Parakhouski, who was the Big South Player of the Year for the second year in a row. The OVC's third-seeded Winthrop Eagles will be the next team to try and stop him.

They were good too

• JP Primm, UNC-Asheville: Primm very nearly went all triple-double on High Point. He finished with 23 points, 11 assists, and a measley 7 boards from the point guard spot as he led the Bulldogs to an 84-73 win.
  

Team of the Day: Detroit Titans

The 6-seed Titans out-hustled and out-played the 7-seed Crusaders of Valparaiso 89-82 in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament. Chase Simon led the Titans with 24 points but center Eli Holdman had an even better night, scoring 21 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. Detroit held Valparaiso to 39.7% from the field and out-rebounded the crusaders 44-27. The teams had split home wins during the season, but Detroit was able to get the road win when it mattered most. They advance to play 3-seed Green Bay.

They were good too

• Morehead State Eagles: Morehead State wants to make it back to the tournament. I think thats pretty obvious. The Eagles blasted Jacksonville State in the opening round of the OVC tourney, jumping out to a 37-9 lead before heading into halftime with the score 45-14. Kenneth Faried, who figured he didn't impress enough NBA scouts with his play last March, had 24 points and 19 boards, with 8 coming on the offensive end.
  

Tournament Results

Big South Conference Tournament
First Round (at higher seeds)
#4 UNC-Ashville 84, #5 High Point 73
#3 Winthrop 80, #6 Liberty 72
#2 Radford 64, #7 Charleston Southern 61 OT
#1 Coastal Carolina 82, #8 VMI 73

Ohio Valley Conference Tournament
First Round (at higher seeds)
#4 Eastern Illinois 68, #5 Eastern Kentucky 61
#6 Tennessee Tech 68, #3 Austin Peay 65
#2 Morehead State 87, #7 Jacksonville State 54
#1 Murray State 84, #8 Tennessee State 51

Horizon League Tournament
First Round (at higher seeds)
#7 Detroit 89, #6 Valparaiso 82
#5 Cleveland State 80, #8 Loyola 66
#4 UW-Milwaukee 73, #9 Illinois-Chicago 67
#3 UW-Green Bay 81, #10 Youngstown State 67


Wednesday's Slate of Tournament Games

Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament
First Round (Macon, GA)
2:30PM - #8 Kennesaw State vs. #1 Lipscomb
9:00PM - #7 North Florida vs. #2 Jacksonville

Patriot League Tournament
First Round (at higher seed)
7:00PM - #8 Army at #1 Lehigh
7:00PM - #7 Holy Cross at #2 Bucknell
7:00PM - #6 Colgate at #3 Lafayette
7:30PM - #5 Navy at #4 American