NCAA tournament 2018: The best and worst of everything from day 2

It’s rare to know before the end of a day that you’re going to remember that day — or at least something that occurred during that day — for the rest of your life.

Sports fans were privy to that phenomenon on Friday.

Regardless of when or if another 16 seed stuns a 1, nobody is ever going to forget UMBC over Virginia. Nobody is ever going to forget 74-54. Nobody is ever going to forget the Retrievers putting a 20-point beatdown on the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed in game that seemed to grow increasingly improbable with every made basket by the underdog. Nobody is ever going to forget what UMBC stands for. At least not after it’s repeatedly hammered into America’s collective conscious over the next 48 hours.

While Friday, March 16 is always going to be remembered (by most) for one thing and one thing only, there were a number of other big and beautiful first round games that went down too. We’re going to give all of them (read: most of them) the love and respect they deserve.

Here’s the best and worst from day two of the NCAA tournament.

1. (7) Nevada 87, (10) Texas 83 (OT) (South)

The most competitive game of Friday featured two teams that the American public doesn’t seem to have much faith in. That fact didn’t seem to phase Nevada, which rallied from a 14-point second half deficit to top Texas in an overtime thriller.

Five players scored in double figures for the Wolf Pack, led by senior guard Kendall Stephens’ 22 points. In what will almost certainly be his last college game, Texas freshman Mo Bamba notched a double-double with 13 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks.

Bamba picked up a controversial fifth foul in the closing seconds of regulation, which allowed Nevada’s Jordan Caroline to hit one of two free-throws and force overtime. The Wolf Pack’s Caleb Martin went 3 for 3 from beyond the arc in the extra period to help the program score its first NCAA tournament victory since 2007.

2. (13) Marshall 81, (4) Wichita State 75 (East)

For most of Friday, it looked like Marshall taking out Wichita State and making this the first tournament in a decade to see multiple 13 seeds win was going to be the primary takeaway. That didn’t wind up being the case, but what UMBC did to Virginia doesn’t alter the fact that the Thundering Herd are a fantastic story and a hell of a lot of fun to watch.

Just like with UMBC and Buffalo, Marshall looked like the superior team throughout its upset. Wichita State didn’t play an abysmal game, in fact, the Shockers answered the bell and traded blows with the Thundering Herd throughout the second half. But Dan D’Antoni’s bunch kept running its beautiful halfcourt offense, getting solid looks for its lethal outside shooters, and making all the key plays necessary in the game’s most pivotal moments.

Marshall hadn’t played in the NCAA tournament since 1987 and had never won a game in the Big Dance before taking down the Shockers. Now they’ll face West Virginia in a second round game with a spicier backstory than any other in the tournament.

3. (4) Auburn 62, (13) Charleston 58 (Midwest)

This one was ugly as all sin, but it was also more competitive than the Michigan State-Bucknell and Texas A&M-Providence games that finished with misleading four-point final margins of victory.

Jared Harper’s long three-pointer with 1:17 to go wound up being the game’s decisive basket. It was Harper’s first made field goal.

Auburn’s win was sealed via a controversial no-call on what appeared to be a foul on a potential game-tying three-point by Charleston, but we’ll talk more about that in a bit.

1. UMBC

The correct answer to the annual question of, “Will a 16 seed ever beat a No. 1?” was always yes. Assuming the tournament didn’t disappear and stayed in its present form, eventually a 16 seed was destined to pull the stunner to end all stunners. What made UMBC’s toppling of Virginia not both special and mind-boggling was the way in which it went down.

Virginia was the only team in college basketball this season that hadn’t allowed an opponent to score 70 points in a game. UMBC scored 74. The Cavaliers were allowing opponents to score an average of 53.4 ppg, and they had held 16 of those 33 teams to fewer than 53 points. UMBC scored 53 points in the second half. A 20-point underdog, the Retrievers shot 54.2 percent from the field — the best of any UVA opponent this season — and won by 20.

This wasn’t just David toppling Goliath, this was David knocking Goliath unconscious in a split second.

Anyone who says they saw this coming is a pathological liar who needs to be cut out of your life immediately. Less than two months ago, UMBC lost a pair of America East games to Albany and Vermont by a combined 72 points. Entering the conference tournament championship game last Saturday, the Retrievers had lost 23 straight games to Vermont, which was hosting that game.

Then this happened.

It’s wild to think now about the ripple effect of this one shot from a game the majority the sports world didn’t even know was happening.

Go ahead and win it all, Retrievers. UMBC forever.

2. Marshall

They play fast, they play pretty, they have a coach who will eviscerate you with his knowledge of analytics, and they have like three balding dudes who will rain threes on your head from any spot on the floor.

There is everything to love and nothing to hate about the Thundering Herd.

3. The No. 5 Seeds

Entering the 2018 tournament, 12 seeds owned an impressive 19-21 first round record over the previous 10 years. In 29 of the past 33 years, at least one No. 12 seed had won at least one game in the Big Dance.

The No. 5 seeds defied both of those trends this year, sweeping the 12 seeds, and doing so fairly impressively. Kentucky and Ohio State both controlled and won their games on Thursday, and then West Virginia and Clemson dispatched of Murray State and New Mexico State by a combined 28 points on Friday.

The next step for this quartet is to put an end to the “a five seed has never won the national title” talking point.

1. Virginia

There’s never been an easier choice for this spot and there never will be again. The Cavaliers might be here again in Saturday’s wrap up just out of sheer principle.

2. TCU

The Horned Frogs are lucky that everyone was too focused on UMBC shocking Virginia to notice that they were going 3 of 17 from beyond the arc and 19 of 48 from the field in a listless loss to Syracuse.

3. Arkansas

Wichita State probably belongs in this spot because they lost to a 13 seed, but we’ve talked about that game enough. Let’s talk about Arkansas falling behind 21-2 to start its game against Butler, ripping off a furious 27-6 run to get right back in the game, and then just sort of going through the motions for the rest of a 79-62 loss to the 10th-seeded Bulldogs.

Arkansas went 4 of 18 from three, allowed 10 offensive rebounds in the game’s first 20 minutes, and wound up being out-rebounded by a whopping 45-25.

Butler has now won at least one game in each of the last four NCAA tournaments.

Miles Bridges, Michigan State

Bridges took over a game that was far too close for comfort for Michigan State, scoring 29 points, snagging nine rebounds and dishing out four assists. He’s playing like star the Spartans need him to be if they’re going to do something special this month.

Jarron Cumberland, Cincinnati

A few of Cincinnati’s offensive standouts struggled in the Bearcats’ 68-53 win over Georgia State, but thankfully, Cumberland was there to pick up the slack. The sophomore guard played all 40 minutes, scored 27 points, and grabbed 11 boards.

Jairus Lyles, UMBC

Lyles hit 9 of 11 shots and scored a game-high 28 points in UMBC’s historic win over Virginia. Bonus points for both of Lyles’ parents being Virginia graduates.

Jon Elmore, Marshall

Elmore showed everyone why he was one of the top 10 scorers in the country, hitting shots from ridiculous distances on his way to a 27-point effort in Marshall’s upset of Wichita State.

Conner Frankamp, Wichita State

Frankamp, who like Elmore looks suspiciously like the out of place older gentleman at the Y waiting for the teens to invite him to play in their pickup game, went shot for shot with his counterpart from Marshall. Frankamp finished his final college game with 27 points and went 6 of 10 from deep.

1. Isaac Haas’ season-ending injury

Purdue’s national title hopes were dealt a massive blow when Haas fractured his right elbow during the Boilermakers’ blowout of Cal State Fullerton. The 7’2, 290-pound behemoth was shooting 61.7 percent from the field and averaging 14.9 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.

Haas’ absence likely means an increased role for 7’3 freshman Matt Haarms. Even if Haarms winds up being up to the task, it’s awful to see a senior like Haas who had steadily improved for four years go out like this.

2. The no-call at the end of Auburn-Charleston

Charleston’s Grant Riller got fouled on a potential game-tying three in the closing seconds of his team’s loss to Auburn.

Riller said after the game that he believed he was fouled, but was diplomatic about the situation. Some of his teammates were less reserved.

“It was a foul, clearly,” Charleston senior Cameron Johnson said. “The defender didn’t hit the ball and the ball was 15 feet short. Grant’s made plenty of those shots. It was a tough shot, but he can get it to the rim. The defender was nowhere to the ball. It was clearly a foul. But like I said, we felt like we were playing five-on-eight, and I’m not going to be shy about that.”

An ugly game could have been saved by an exciting finish. Unfortunately there was no chance for that to happen because the officials swallowed their whistles here. That’s a shame.

BONUS JEER:

At least that no call wasn’t the most egregious officiating error of the night.

I watched this like five times to see why the official ruled the Creighton player out-of-bounds. Could the ball have gone out-of-bounds before it was touched? Nope. Was the player out on the step prior to this one? Not even close.

There was nothing that happened that should have caused a stop in play, and certainly nothing that should have resulted in Kansas State getting the ball back. Somehow an official staring directly at the action from four feet away thought otherwise.

3. The Providence Friar

So long as the Friars are playing in this tournament and my man is still looking like the last face you see before you die, he’s going to be on this list.

4. The CBS Censor Button Guy

Look, I’m not going to sit here and act like I didn’t enjoy this moment as much as the next guy.

There were actually 3-4 F bombs that went down in the moments preceding this when Musselman first entered the locker room.

My problem is that the airing of this adult language forced Greg Gumbel to issue an apology when they came back from break, and that made me sad. Greg Gumbel should never have to apologize for anything.

5. 20K Parlay Bet Person.

I’d say I feel bad for this person, but I only like lying when it’s convenient for me.

The fact of the matter is, if you’re someone who’s in such a financial state that you can afford to lose $20,000 like this, I can’t imagine making $870 would mean all that much to you. So why even do this? It doesn’t make any sense, and quite frankly, I’m happy that it was the last and seemingly surest leg of the trio that let you down.

And you know what? Bonus jeer for the person who placed the $800 moneyline bet on UMBC.

I don’t care how much you won. That’s a bad bet, and it leads me to believe that you’re going to burn through that 16 grand making even worse bets.

Unless you somehow had something to do with Saturday night’s game playing out the way it did, in which case, please don’t kill me. I have every season of The OC on DVD and you can have them.

1. Roy Williams in the first round

North Carolina beating 15 seed Lipscomb 84-66 wasn’t a shock to anyone, but it did add to one of the most impressive coaching stats in college basketball. With the win, UNC head coach Roy Williams improved to 29-0 all-time in first round games. That is ridiculous.

2. Everything about Marshall

I’m torn between thinking we’ve already talked too much about Marshall, and thinking we haven’t talked nearly enough about Marshall.

We haven’t even addressed the fact that Dan D’Antoni was rocking the t-shirt/blazer combo like a mid-level club promoter at a casual coffee meet that’s 95 percent for show.

Or that Jarrod West passed up a wide-open uncontested layup because he knew they could get a better shot.

No layups. No button-ups. No losing.

3. Conference USA

Who said C-USA is an afterthought now that the days of Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis and Marquette are no more? I mean, a lot of people have said that, and all of them are right, but the league is still doing stuff. Namely, the league has produced a double-digit upset in each of the last four years.

Not bad for a league that hasn’t sent multiple teams to the Dance since 2012.

4. The UMBC twitter account

Official team Twitter accounts are extremely hit or miss. Some are genuinely funny, some aren’t, some try way too hard, and with others it’s obvious that not a whole lot of effort has been put into the endeavor because not very many people are paying attention.

You might think that final situation would have been the case for the official UMBC athletics account, but when the account had its ultimate moment to shine Friday night, it absolutely delivered.

There was a thorough roasting of Seth Davis.

There were a ton of tweets about the cookies in the media dining area, even more tweets destroying people asking what UMBC was, and then all the jubilation you’d expect to see from an account representing a program that had just made history.

Kudos.

5. Mike McGuirl

The Kansas State freshman was forced into emergency action because of an injury to Wildcats star Dean Wade, and McGuirl responded with 17 points in 22 minutes. That doesn’t sound overly impressive, but consider that McGuirl entered the evening having scored just 13 points all season.

Adding to the story is the fact that McGuirl only played because he performed well when he was forced into emergency action in the team’s Big 12 tournament loss to Kansas. McGuirl was put in the game after K-State’s Barry Brown was poked in the eye by Kansas’ Devonte’ Graham. McGuirl’s performance in that game wasn’t anything spectacular, but it was solid enough for Bruce Weber to put him in the game when a similar situation arose on Friday.

“It’s a dream come true,” McGuirl said after the game. “It’s something I have been thinking about all my life, and it’s happening now.”

BONUS CHEER: Ryan Odom’s Virginia connection

How about the fact that UMBC’s head coach was the Virginia ball boy the last time the Cavaliers were the No. 1 team in the country?

Odom’s father, Dave, was an assistant at UVA from 1982-89.

Time is a flat circle.

1. Robert Williams, Texas A&M

Style points.

2. Miles Bridges, Michigan State

Noted fan of the follow dunk.

3. Cody Martin, Nevada

Bonus points for the setup coming from his twin brother.

1. The first thing that stands out to you about the UMBC celebration pictures is that they don’t look as overly jubilant as the victorious Cinderella pictures you’re used to seeing. Then you remember that most of those wins happened in the final seconds, so the joy on the faces of the players is a mixture of euphoria and surprise. With the Retrievers, they knew for the last five minutes of the game that this was happening.

The smiles are there, but the element of surprise is not.

2. A quick and accurate summary of what Texas A&M did to Providence defensively.

3. Miles Bridges shows off for some spectators.

4. Kansas State’s win over Creighton summed up in one shot.

5. One Marshall cheerleader wasn’t ready to join the celebration circle just yet.

1. “I think everyone is aware of that. Tanks for bringing that up again, but I was aware of it.” — Virginia’s Ty Jerome when asked if he knew that a 16 seed had never defeated a 1 seed before

2. “Dunking.” — Marshall’s Jon Elmore when asked what’s out of his shooting range

3. “I guess switching conferences doesn’t magically make things better. Valley teams advance in the Dance.” — Illinois State head coach Dan Muller throwing some shade at Wichita State

4. “This team has done everything that you could ask them to do. This team has been focused all year. They’ve done really the best, I think, they could do. And that’s unusual. If you’re honest, you really would not say that about every team.’’ — Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim

5. “I told our guys, we had a historic season. A historic season in terms of most wins in the ACC. A week ago we’re cutting down the nets and the confetti is falling. And then we make history by being the first one-seed to lose. I’m sure a lot of people will be happy about that. And it stings. But I tried to tell the guys in there, this is life. It can’t define you. You enjoyed the good times and you gotta be able to take the bad times. When you step into the arena, the consequences can be historic losses, tough losses, great wins, and you have to deal with it. That’s the job.” — Virginia head coach Tony Bennett

The Saturday schedule — where they give us two games on their own during the day and then flood us with six at night — will never make sense to me. But there’s nothing you or I can do about it besides hope that those first two games are stellar.

Here’s the full slate of what we’re working with:

Region: East
Location: PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh
Time: 12:10 p.m.
Channel: CBS

Region: Midwest
Location: PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh
Time: 2:40 p.m.
Channel: CBS

Region: South
Location: Taco Bell Arena, Boise
Time: 5:15 p.m.
Channel: CBS

Region: South
Location: American Airlines Center, Dallas
Time: 6:10 p.m.
Channel: TNT

Region: Midwest
Location: Intrust Bank Arena, Wichita
Time: 7:10 p.m.
Channel: TBS

Region: West
Location: Taco Bell Arena, Boise
Time: 7:45 p.m.
Channel: CBS

Region: East
Location: American Airlines Center, Dallas
Time: 8:40 p.m.
Channel: TNT

Region: West
Location: Intrust Bank Arena, Wichita
Time: 9:40 p.m.
Channel: TBS