March Madness: Top takeaways from 2019 NCAA Tournament Round of 64
By Brian Rauf
1) Finally, some upsets!
We only saw one true upset on Thursday as No. 12 Murray State blasted Marquette. Yes, there were four lower-seeded teams that advanced, but one was a No. 9 seed and two were No. 10 seeds – and all were power conference schools.
Thankfully, Friday provided us with a bit more madness.
The slipper fit for No. 13 seed UC Irvine as they knocked off a Kansas State team that really struggled without star big man Dean Wade, who missed the game with a foot injury. UC Irvine hasn’t lost since Jan. 16 largely thanks to their defense, which came up big again as they limited K-State to just 37.3 percent shooting.
They will face another double-digit seed in the second round in Oregon, who blew out Wisconsin in one of the most popular 12-5 upset picks of the tournament.
Liberty provided another 12-5 upset as they picked up their first ever tournament victory in a double-digit comeback win over Mississippi State.
In total, three No. 12 seeds won and advanced to the second round, marking the third time in seven years that happened. It’s a nice change from last year when there were no 12-5 upsets.
Lower seeds finished the day with a 7-9 record, which was big change from their 4-12 mark yesterday.