NCAA Tournament: Purdue, Ja Morant and Virginia among early winners

NCAA Tournament 2019: Purdue, Ja Morant and Virginia among early winners

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA - MARCH 24: Kyle Guy #5 of the Virginia Cavaliers celebrates a layup against the Oklahoma Sooners during the second half in the second round game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Colonial Life Arena on March 24, 2019 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

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HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT – MARCH 23: Carsen Edwards #3 of the Purdue Boilermakers waves to the fans after his teams win over the Villanova Wildcats during the second round of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at XL Center on March 23, 2019 in Hartford, Connecticut. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

In an NCAA Tournament full of chalk, there were still some team and individual winners in the first two rounds.

The first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament are now completed and it is time to reflect on the performances from this past weekend. The most obvious outcome from the weekend is that the remaining bracket is all chalk. The Sweet Sixteen, this year, consists of all four one seeds (Duke, Virginia, UNC, Gonzaga), two seeds (Michigan State, Tennessee, Kentucky, Michigan) and three seeds (LSU, Purdue, Houston, Texas Tech) along with two four seeds (Virginia Tech, Florida State), a five seed (Auburn) and the outlying twelve seed (Oregon).

Additionally, of those sixteen teams, 14 are from power five conferences. This is the first time in my 26 years of life that I can remember a Tournament that played out this predictably in terms of seeding. Outside of the Duke Blue Devils’ scare against the UCF Golden Knights on Sunday night, there was no real shocking upsets as we have seen in years past.

Even though most people reading this had Duke in the Final Four and probably the National Championship, you cannot tell me that you were not cheering for UCF and Aubrey Dawkins to knock the Blue Devils out in the second round. That is what this Tournament and March are all about: the Madness. Can you imagine the media stories all this week being about a team not in the Tournament had Duke lost?

Nonetheless, in the following slides I will present the five biggest winners, be it teams or players, from the first weekend of the tournament play and what it means for them going forward. First up, the Cavaliers of Virginia.

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