March Madness: Three reactions from Arizona’s shocking upset loss to Buffalo

The University of Buffalo blew past Arizona in the second half in what was the biggest upset of the first day of the 2018 NCAA Tournament. What were the takeaways from the shocker?

For the first 10 hours of day one of the biggest event in sports, it felt a bit underwhelming. Not because of the games, because many were close and entertaining. It was largely in part due to the lack of a huge upset.

Loyola-Chicago did pull off the buzzer-beating upset as an 11-seed over Miami, but that was an upset favorite pick since the Hurricane’s best player was out for the game. In the recent years, a heavyweight was knocked off in the afternoon slate, causing mayhem on brackets and social media alike.

But Buffalo provided us that major upset we were all craving for, by trouncing a national title favorite in Arizona, 89-68. It was a two-point game at the break before the Bulls dominated the game in all aspects to send the Wildcats home early.

This result was different because of the implications it had on both the present (West Region) and the future (Arizona basketball program). But let’s not forget about the MAC champs, who could be that double-digit seed that makes it to the Sweet Sixteen. Here are implications from this game.