March Madness: Takeaways from Day One of the 2018 NCAA Tournament

The first full-day of the 2018 NCAA Tournament has been completed, and plenty went on. What were the biggest takeaways from Thursday’s action?

The very first game of the 16 game slate was as great an opener as we could’ve asked. It was between Trae Young and Oklahoma versus a talented Rhode Island squad. There were some shots hit from deep – from both teams that caused this game to go into overtime before the Rams pulling away.

There were other nailbiters, like Gonzaga needing a clutch shot from a freshman to beat UNC-Greensboro and Ohio State benefitted from a foul-prone South Dakota State to move on to the next round. Besides, that and the Loyola-Chicago upset over Miami (which was a popular pick) there wasn’t that huge upset that got everyone screaming on social media.

Then came Buffalo. Who decisively beat an Arizona team that was favored by many to win the South Region (including myself). That loss officially leaves the Pac-12 with approximately zero teams left in the Big Dance, an embarrassing mark for a program who had some positive press after the Big 3 (UCLA, Oregon, and Arizona) had national coverage year-round.

But the top three seeds that played survived, using different tactics to win. Some teams looked very impressive from the get-go (Villanova), while others needed some time to get it going (Kansas).

There were some takeaways from the first day of games that could be an indicator of what might happen on day two, including a couple of trends that might benefit a mid-major or two.