Day one recap: Let the madness begin

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Staff Reporter Kristopher Lodes recaps day one of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament as of 11:30 p.m. Thursday.

The most unpredictable time in sports is now in full swing.

March Madness has begun.

What a crazy day. For the first time in tournament history, you could watch the games on four different channels and it didn’t matter what game you watched because they all had excitement.

One of the most exciting games of the day was between No. 8 Butler and No. 9 Old Dominion. Butler, who was the runner-up last season, beat the Monarchs 60-58 after with a tip-in from senior Matt Howard at the buzzer.

We saw the first major upset when No. 13 Morehead State beat No. 4 Louisville 62-61. Senior Delmonte Harper of Morehead State hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left and Louisville had its last attempt blocked.

No. 7 Temple and No. 10 Penn State battled. Temple’s Juan Fernandez banked in an 18-foot shot to put the Owls up 66-64 and beat the Big Ten runner-ups.

The 13-seed Princeton Tigers gave all No. 4 Kentucky could handle, but the fourth-seeded Wildcats held off the Tigers 59-57 with freshmen Brandon Knight’s only bucket of the game coming at a perfect time.

Another upset came from the 12-seeded Richmond Spiders against No. 5-seeded Vanderbilt 69-66. Richmond’s Kevin Anderson hit the game clinching shot with 18 seconds and Vanderbilt just could not find an answer.

In other action: No. 5 West Virginia beat No. 12 Clemson 84-76, No. 1 Pittsburgh pulled away late and topped No. 16 UNC-Asheville 74-51, No. 2 San Diego State knocked off No. 15 Northern Colorado 68-50, No. 3 Connecticut beat No. 14 Bucknell 81-52, No. 2 Florida beat No. 15 Santa Barbra 79-51, No. 3 BYU beat No. 14 Wofford 74-66 and No. 4 Wisconsin beat No. 13 Belmont 72-58.

The night cap had Michigan State versus UCLA, Kansas State against Utah State, Missouri versus Cincinnati and Gonzaga versus St. John’s.