March Madness: 8 biggest winners from 1st round of 2024 NCAA Tournament

4. Jermaine Couisnard - Oregon Ducks

The best individual performance from the first round has to go to Couisnard, who dropped a career-high 40 points in the Ducks’ win over 6-seed South Carolina. What makes it more powerful is that the 6th-year senior spent four years with the Gamecocks, averaging double figures in three years as a key piece.

But Couisnard never made the NCAA Tournament with the Gamecocks, with this year being his first trip to the postseason. He made sure his debut was as good as possible. And now, he looks to continue the hot streak, taking on 3-seed Oregon on Saturday.

3. Dayton Flyers

In the 2020 year, Dayton was poised to make a deep run in the Big Dance as a 1-2 seed, before the pandemic shut that tournament down. This year’s group isn’t as good as that one but it’s still the first trip to the NCAAT since. So when they were down by 20+ points in the second half against Nevada, it was trending to be a complete letdown.

But the Flyers were able to make a historic comeback, thanks to some 3s by Koby Brea to lead them back in the game. Dayton got the 63-60 victory to give its fans the joy they were robbed of a few years ago. They have a major opportunity for a big win on Saturday, taking on 2-seed Arizona.