11-seed Xavier took down 6-seed Maryland 76-65 to set up a second-round matchup with 3-seed FSU.
Okay. Take a minute, catch your breath. We’re about to do that all over again.
The first day: 1 seeds cruised, low seeds survived, and Middle Tennessee played Cinderella… again
Opening days of the Round of 64 don't get much more chalk than that.
Play opened as 5-seed Notre Dame survived 12-seed Princeton and 5-seed Virginia pulled out a win over 12-seed UNCW. No. 1 seed Gonzaga took its first lead of the game vs. 16-seed South Dakota State with 1:41 left in the first half, then cruised to a 66-46 win.
View the updated interactive bracket | Print the bracket
Then Middle Tennessee happened. Again.
A year after taking down 2-seed Michigan State as a 15-seed, Reggie Upshaw and company again pulled off the biggest upset of the opening round (so far) with an 81-72 win over 5-seed Minnesota.
But really, was anyone surprised? You shouldn’t have been. The Blue Raiders are definitely not underdogs anymore.
Elsewhere, 8-seed Northwestern topped Vanderbilt to claim its first NCAA tournament win in school history, thanks to a couple of go-ahead free throws with just seconds left.
Later on, Xavier knocked out 6-seed Maryland.
To keep tabs on all upsets throughout the tournament, head to our Upset Journal, where we record every upset and how it happened.
And if your team played Thursday, check out the schedule for Saturday's games here.
We tracked all perfect brackets through the first 16 games
And yeah, there aren’t that many left. Middle Tennessee got rid of more than its fair share with the first major upset of the tournament, but there were still more than 100,000 perfect brackets left standing overnight. Keep track of all of them here.
The First Round continues today with 16 more games
12:15 — (7) Michigan vs. (10) Oklahoma State (CBS) WATCH LIVE
12:40 — (3) Baylor vs. (14) New Mexico State (truTV) WATCH LIVE
1:30 — (9) Arkansas vs. (9) Seton Hall (TNT) WATCH LIVE
2:00 — (3) Oregon vs. (14) Iona (TBS) WATCH LIVE
2:45 — (2) Louisville vs. (15) Jacksonville St. (CBS) WATCH LIVE
3:10 — (6) SMU vs. (11) USC (truTV) WATCH LIVE
4:00 — (1) UNC vs. (16) Texas Southern (TNT) WATCH LIVE
4:30 — (6) Creighton vs. (11) Rhode Island (TBS) WATCH LIVE
6:50 — (1) Kansas vs. (16) UC Davis (TNT) WATCH LIVE
7:10 — (7) Dayton vs. (10) Wichita State (CBS) WATCH LIVE
7:20 — (2) Duke vs. (15) Troy (TBS) WATCH LIVE
7:27 — (6) Cincinnati vs. (11) Kansas State (truTV) WATCH LIVE
9:20 — (8) Miami vs. (9) Michigan State (TNT) WATCH LIVE
9:40 — (2) Kentucky vs. (15) N. Kentucky (CBS) WATCH LIVE
9:50 — (7) South Carolina vs. (10) Marquette (TBS) WATCH LIVE
9:57 — (3) UCLA vs. (14) Kent State (truTV) WATCH LIVE
The nation's March Madness predictions are in: Who we picked to win it all
Our brackets locked yesterday at noon, and the top choice to win it all? That’d be UNC. The last-place team? Iona, the Midwest’s 14 seed. Check out the rest of the leaderboard.
In second place was Kansas, who plays its first game today against 16-seed UC Davis. Beforehand, we've got the A1 scoop we know you've been waiting for:
Ever wonder what it’s like to be a mascot at March Madness?
Big Jay and Baby Jay, the Kansas mascots, give college basketball fans insight to the world of March Madness from mascots' eyes, from the packed travel schedule, to interacting with fans, to hanging out with other mascots.
Mark your calendar
Round of 32 begins: March 18
Sweet 16 begins: March 23
Elite Eight begins: March 25
Final Four in Phoenix: April 1-3
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