NCAA Tournament 2015: Best and worst of all of Saturday’s madness

But there was more -- like, so much more. You probably need a complete recap.

So here it is:

1. (3) Notre Dame 67, (6) Butler 64 (OT) (Midwest)

The victory capped a remarkably emotional day for Fighting Irish head coach Mike Brey, something we’ll discuss more in a bit.

2. (8) NC State 71, (1) Villanova 68 (East)

Things just got real in the East, which became the tournament’s first region to lose its No. 1 seed following NC State’s 71-68 takedown of Villanova on Saturday night.

There was never any point during this game where it felt like a normal top seed falling in the opening weekend event, because there was never any time where it didn’t appear as though NC State was the superior team. A lot of times in these upsets, the result is the product of an evening or an afternoon where absolutely everything goes wrong for the favorite. While Villanova certainly didn’t play its best game of the season, it also just didn’t look to be as good as the Wolfpack team that simply dominated the game around the rim.

Jay Wright and company must now answer for their third opening weekend exit as a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the last five years. The Wildcats, who were bounced by eventual national champion Connecticut in the Round of 32 a year ago, haven’t been to the Sweet 16 since making it to the Final Four in 2009.

3. (1) Kentucky 64, (8) Cincinnati 51 (Midwest)

It feels wrong including a 13-point game on this list, but there wasn’t another obvious choice for the final spot here, plus Kentucky being involved in an opening weekend contest that wasn’t completely put away by halftime is at least sort of significant.

After trailing by three with 3:43 to go in the first half, Kentucky went into the locker room on a 10-0 run. Still, the Bearcats didn’t whither, and scored the first four points after the break to pull to within 31-28. They would never get any closer, but they would also do enough to stay within striking distance until the Wildcats finally stretched the lead to double digits with around eight minutes to play.

Cincinnati’s game plan was simple: be really physical with Kentucky inside and hope their guards have an off-shooting game. They executed the first part of that plan about as well as they could, winning the battle of the boards, 45-38, and then watched the Cats misfire on 11 of their 15 three-point attempts and shoot just 37.0 percent from the field for the game. They still lost by 13.

The problem for Cincinnati on Saturday was that they didn’t have nearly the offensive firepower to take advantage of Kentucky’s shooting woes or lack of dominance on the glass. The problem for the rest of the field is that the Wildats might not give a performance that leaves them this vulnerable again.

★★★

Wake up! It’s Basketball: ‘Nova falls, UK rolls

★★★

1. Utah

Quietly, Larry Krystowiak’s team has put together one of the tournament’s most impressive opening weekend performances. On Thursday, the Utes took care of trendy 12/5 upset pick Stephen F. Austin in a game they nearly led from start to finish. They followed that effort up on Saturday by digging themselves out of an 11-point hole to eventually win by 11 over the better-seeded Hoyas from Georgetown.

It will be the first Sweet 16 appearance since 2005 for Utah, which is in the tournament for the first time at all since 2009.

2. Arizona

Where Arizona’s guards really got things done was on the other end of the floor, where they frustrated Ohio State star D’Angelo Russell into a 3 -for-19 shooting night, and held the high-scoring Buckeyes to just 58 points, nearly 18 fewer than their average.

Next up for Arizona is a sexy Sweet 16 matchup with Xavier, the program where head coach Sean Miller was the front man from 2004-2009.

3. North Carolina

Paige did the bulk of his damage after halftime, scoring 20 points and making Tar Heel fans forget all about his 1-for-8 shooting in the game’s opening 20 minutes. Paige was also instrumental in dealing with Arkansas’ trademark pressure, which forced just six UNC turnovers and consistently allowed the Tar Heels to score easy fast break baskets.

The impressive Carolina victory was also significant for giving coach Roy Williams his 32nd NCAA Tournament victory with the Tar Heels, tying him with the late Dean Smith for the most in program history.

1. Villanova

There’s not much to be said here that wasn’t already said earlier. You hate to see an entire four months of incredible work thrown out the window thanks to a single 40-minute effort in March, but that’s the hand every team in the country is dealt, and it’s the situation everyone associated with Villanova basketball knew they were dealing with heading into this tournament.

A lot of people compared this Wildcat team to the 2013-14 squad after an embarrassingly one-sided loss to Georgetown back in January. Here’s what we wrote about the eerie similarities at the time.

Consider that perception unchanged.

2. Georgetown

Neither of those things are good.

3. UAB/Georgia State

We’re not disappointed in either of their performances, were just disappointed that we don’t get to watch them anymore -- and that we still have to watch UCLA.

Parker dominated the undersized Blazers in the paint, finishing with a game-high 28 points to go with 12 rebounds. He then followed that up with perhaps the most memorable postgame interview moment of the tournament so far.

The Arkansas star scored 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a loss.

Marcus Paige, North Carolina

Paige had a great deal to do with that losing effort from Qualls, as he scored 20 of his team-high 22 points in the second half of the UNC victory.

Hilliard did everything he could to keep the Wildcats from being the first No. 1 seed to bow out of the tournament, scoring a game-high 27 points and hitting three late three-pointers to give Nova a chance to steal a victory.

Roosevelt Jones, Butler

The Butler big man with one of the more interesting skill sets in college basketball did all he could to get the Bulldogs to the Sweet 16, scoring 23 points, grabbing five boards, dishing out three assists and notching a pair of steals.

1. The Kentucky fan dance contest

The team is undefeated. The fan base is not.

2. The lack of multiple games to start the day

I get that there’s a method to the madness of the day three television setup (which has back-to-back single games on from 12:30-5:30 ET before flooding viewers with six games at night), but the risk inherent in the setup was on full display Saturday. For the first four hours or so of the day, viewers had no other option but to watch UCLA and UAB play, hopefully, the lowest overall quality game we’ll see in the round of 32, and then Kentucky and Cincinnati engage in a rock fight whose ultimate destiny was always easily apparent. That’s a pretty extreme transition to make when you’ve gotten accustomed to having no less than three games on simultaneously at all hours of the day.

3. Sad Ron Hunter

Because happy Ron Hunter was so, so much more fun and didn’t make us cry right along with him.

1. Mike Brey

Saturday was supposed to be special for Mike Brey, shedding the opening weekend struggle monkey (that’s a thing) from his back and leading Notre Dame into the Sweet 16 for the first time in 2003. Instead, we found out after the game that the victory was even more special for Brey than we could have ever imagined while it was taking place.

Minutes after the Fighting Irish had wrapped up an already emotional overtime victory over Butler, Brey announced during his postgame press conference that his mother, Betty, had died that morning of a heart attack at the age of 84.

Brey could have had the entire spotlight to himself Saturday night, and he could have used the news to fuel his players. Instead, he chose to keep the news to himself, allowing athletic director Jack Swarbrick to deliver the news to the players after the game. Brey said he planned to address the team himself on Sunday.

Even in the postgame press conference, Brey kept his emotions in check. He spoke of his mother’s competitive spirit -- she was an Olympic swimmer who once held the world record in the butterfly -- and her desire to see him and his team succeed.

“It was kind of a tribute to her,” Brey said of the victory. “It was really a special night. I think she was definitely with us down the stretch.”

The strength it took to show no signs that anything was wrong wasn’t lost on his players.

“The strength he has to go through something like that without mentioning it or acting like it, he hasn’t skipped a beat,” senior Pat Connaughton said. “He’s been here for us countless times, and I hope he knows that this team is with him.”

Pretty special.

2. Wisconsin basketball’s stenographer love

On Saturday, members of the Wisconsin basketball team were introduced to the ASAP Sports stenographer assigned to the West Region’s Omaha pod, and it blew their friggin’ minds.

Just wonderful.

3. D’Angelo Russell

He may have shot just 3-for-19 in what will certainly be his final college game, but this is why we’re still all going to miss D’Angelo Russell so, so much.

I think it’s safe to call this the dunk of the tournament thus far.

Unless you disagree, in which case I agree with you, because you’re awesome and I just don’t feel like arguing right now.

1. Mark Gottfried and Cat Barber

Dancing on.

Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images

2. Villanova flute/piccolo girl and Joe Biden

We had to include at least one of the photoshops.

Don’t tell me ‘cause it hurts.

Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images

1. “I’m looking down at his hair like, ‘This dude really jumped. What is this guy doing?’ It might be worse than ol’ dude’s from Florida. I don’t think they put the kid back in the game. It was nasty.” -- Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein talking about his dunk on Cincinnati’s Quadri Moore

3. “I know we have to answer to the fact that we did not get to the second weekend again. We have to own that. But it’s not going to define us within our program. It’s going to define us outside of our program, and we accept that.” -- Villanova coach Jay Wright

Almost there. Finish strong, bro.