Open Thread: NCAA Tournament First Round, Day 2

Day 1 was highlighted by Kentucky losing to a 15-seed whose official men’s basketball Twitter account (a) is unverified and (b) had about 4000 fewer Twitter followers than the Anchor of Gold Twitter account prior to last night.

Anyway, this is probably the tournament’s attitude going into the second day:

Today’s schedule:

(10) Loyola-Chicago vs. (7) Ohio State (11:15 AM, CBS)

And we get started with what should be a good game; in fact, the oddsmakers have this as a pick ‘em. As such, one of these teams will win by 20. It’s probably going to be Loyola.

(15) Jacksonville State vs. (2) Auburn (11:40 AM, truTV)

Somewhere in the last couple of weeks, we all decided that Auburn is Bad, Actually. That said, Jacksonville State is quite likely the first 15-seed in history that did not win its conference tournament, which feels like more of a fun tidbit than anything else.

(14) Montana State vs. (3) Texas Tech (12:45 PM, TNT)

Yep, they let us out of witness protection sometimes.

(14) Yale vs. (3) Purdue (1:00 PM, TBS)

Purdue ranks #2 in offensive efficiency and #102 in defensive efficiency, which is exactly the kind of team that will probably struggle to put away a 14-seed.

(15) Delaware vs. (2) Villanova (1:45 PM, CBS)

Like the Auburn-Jacksonville State game, this 2-15 game is two teams that are basically neighbors, but are being thrown a few hundred miles away to play a game.

(10) Miami vs. (7) USC (2:10 PM, truTV)

Actually, this mid-afternoon kick seems weirdly compelling and also weirdly football-school-happy. See also...

(11) Notre Dame vs. (6) Alabama (3:15 PM, TNT)

As a football national championship game, this is bad; as a basketball first-round game, this should actually be wild. I remain convinced that Alabama will either make the Final Four or get bounced in the first round.

(11) Virginia Tech vs. (6) Texas (3:30 PM, TBS)

Our future SEC brethren (for some reason) take on Virginia Tech, the ACC Tournament champs. Also, remember that Dylan Disu plays for Texas? I’ve watched them several times this season and don’t remember actually seeing him. It’s very weird and unsettling.

(13) Chattanooga vs. (4) Illinois (5:50 PM, TNT)

The state of Tennessee is somewhat unfortunately 2-0 in the tournament so far, and now, the least offensive of the three teams in the tournament gets a shot at upsetting Illinois.

(15) CS Fullerton vs. (2) Duke (6:10 PM, CBS)

Look, universe, you already had Kentucky lose to a 15-seed and if you could do us all a solid and do it to Duke too...

(11) Iowa State vs. (6) LSU (6:20 PM, TBS)

It’s a very weird look to have an interim coach in the NCAA Tournament and yet this is the second time LSU has done it in the last four years.

(16) Wright State vs. (1) Arizona (6:27 PM, truTV)

Yawn.

(12) UAB vs. (5) Houston (8:20 PM, TNT)

Ten years ago, this was a Conference USA game. In a couple of years, it will be an AAC game (gets handed note from Pinman) what do you MEAN Houston got invited to the Big 12?

(10) Davidson vs. (7) Michigan State (8:40 PM, CBS)

Davidson’s leading scorer was a scrub for Michigan State last season, and if you think the committee doesn’t care about these kind of storylines, you’d be right because I doubt any of them know who the fuck Davidson’s leading scorer is.

(14) Colgate vs. (3) Wisconsin (8:50 PM, TBS)

It was funnier when you matched Colgate against Tennessee or Arkansas.

(9) TCU vs. (8) Seton Hall (8:57 PM, truTV)

For the record, Max Evans played four games for TCU this season before getting hurt.