March 19th update

Here at Sportico we are unabashed March Madness Maniacs. During the regular season we treat college basketball like just another sport, but during the tournament (especially the epic first weekend) we treat it like it's the only sport. So with that in mind prepare for our mega-recap of the best of the first 52 games.

2012: The Year of the 15 seed.

• While no 16 seed has ever beaten a 1 seed, coming into this year there had been 4 15 seeds to advance, including Iowa State losing to Hampton after Iowa State PG Jamaal Tinsley barely missed a layup at the buzzer in 2001 and Steve Nash taking his Santa Clara team past Arizona in 1993 (The citizens of Arizona have since come to appreciate Nash).
• That number increased by 50% on Friday as Norfolk State defeated Missouri and Lehigh downed Duke in two of the most shocking tourney upsets this decade. Lehigh's C.J. McCollum took advantage of a subpar Duke defense and could not be stopped, scoring 30 points and Kyle O'Quinn of Norfolk State dominated an agile but small Missouri team for 26 points and 14 rebounds.
• Neither team advanced again, as Norfolk State was obliterated by Florida and Lehigh led for a decent amount of the game but ran out of steam towards the end against a seasoned Xavier squad. While they'll be watching from home for the rest of the tournament, both teams should feel great about their weekends and the history books will reflect as much.


Best of the Rest

• If you thought this year's field was all about 15 seeds, you'd be sorely mistaken. #11 seed NC State made up for ACC brethren Duke's collapse, upsetting #6 San Diego State and #3 seed Georgetown to make the Sweet 16 where they will play Kansas. On the other side of that regional, #13 Ohio beat Michigan and South Florida to become the lowest seed to advance to the Sweet 16 in 6 years. They will play North Carolina next, whose star PG suffered a wrist fracture in their win over Creighton on Sunday. If North Carolina and NC State both win, it would set up an Elite 8 matchup between the in-state "rivals."
• There werent any other upsets really, as very few lower seeds advanced to the Sweet 16. #12 VCU who had a miracle run to make the Final Four last year came tantalizingly close to reaching the second weekend again, losing their second game to Indiana 63-61 on a putback jumper with just seconds left. #6 Cincinnati beat #3 Florida State to become the 4th team from the state of Ohio to make the field of 16 (along with Ohio State, Xavier and Ohio University) and since Cincy plays Ohio State next, there will be definitely be at least one of the teams remaining in the Elite 8. Elsewhere, #1 seeds Syracuse and Kentucky won easily while Michigan State squeaked out a win against St. Louis. The tournament will continue this Thursday with 4 games, followed by 4 more on Friday.