The first round of March Madness was highlighted by the best first day in tournament history.  With upsets and overtime thrillers in each and every region, Thursday was heaven for college basketball fans.  Losses by Marquette, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, and most notably, Georgetown highlighted day one of the madness.

Georgetown went down big to Ohio University, giving up 97 points to a team that finished the regular season in ninth place in the MAC.  Georgetown’s defense was nonexistent throughout the game and the team looked lackadaisical from the opening tip through the final buzzer. The Hoyas’ starters totaled 17 turnovers, with Greg Monroe having seven by himself.  The Bobcats of Ohio, however, did everything right.  Said Armon Basset, “Anytime we’re shooting like that, we can play with a lot of teams.”  Basset scored 32 points and the Bobcats as a team shot over 58% from the field, including 13 of 23 from behind the arc.  It’s no surprise, then, that Ohio was able to score 97 points. Ohio plays Tennessee in the next round, and will have to bring the same shooting to have a chance at staying in the tournament.

The next big upset came from an 11-seeded Washington team that came out of the subpar Pac-10 conference, and therefore was overlooked by many analysts as a higher seed. The Huskies, however, started a run in the Pac-10 tournament, winning the tournament and beating Standford and Cal along the way. They continued their run Thursday night against the Marquette Golden Eagles, winning 80-78 on a leaner from Quincey Pondexter with 1.7 seconds remaining. Lazar Hayward’s halfcourt shot at the buzzer bounced harmlessly off of the backboard, and Washington’s postseason run was extended.  Four Huskies were in double figures on Thursday night, led by Isaiah Thomas with 19 points. The Huskies will face off against New Mexico in the second round, and look to continue their run.

Phase three of the madness came at the hands of Murray State, winners of the Ohio Valley Conference.  The Racers finished 31-4 in the regular season, before shocking fourth-seeded Vanderbilt on Thursday night in a huge victory.  Murray State had the ball out of bounds with 4.7 seconds to play.  Danero Thomas received the pass and buried a 15-foot buzzer-beating jumper to top the Commodores.  Thomas finished with 11 points and a game-high six rebounds.  The Racers look to upset Butler in the second round.

The final shocker on Thursday night came from Old Dominion, who won the Colonial Athletic Association, and received an 11-seed for the tournament.  The Monarchs faced the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the first round, led by Luke Harangody.  The Monarchs stopped the Irish in their tracks with a 51-50 win after Carleton Scott’s three-pointer rimmed out with the Irish down three.  Harangody managed a put-back on the shot, but those two points were not enough to send the game into overtime.  The clock expired and the Monarchs had pulled off a huge upset of the sixth-seeded Notre Dame.  It was their first tournament victory since 1995. The Monarchs will play Baylor in the second round.

Each of these games exemplified the madness that college basketball fans love in March, with brackets being busted and mid-majors coming up with huge victories. The Big East went 1-3 on Thursday night despite being a conference that many expected to dominate the tournament.  The Pac-10, however, looked stronger than ever in the first round, with their two major teams, California and Washington, beating their Big East opponents, Louisville and Marquette repectively.

The second day of madness was not quite as exciting, however, with fewer upsets and more teams from major conferences advancing. The Big East responded to their subpar performance on Thursday, going 3-1 on Friday.  The Big 10 came out strong with a 3-1 performance, and there was only one big upset, with Cornell topping fifth-seed Temple in the first round.

As a whole, the first round was still one of the best in recent memory, with seven games decided by three points or fewer and two overtime thrillers.  There were five huge upsets that busted brackets across the nation.  But there is really only one way to describe the NCAA tournament:  “It’s March Madness, baby!”