- The first day of the most exciting tournament in American sports didn't disappoint as the NCAA nearly saw one "smart school" deliver a shocking upset over a #3 seed but Marquette furiously rallied by scoring 13 points in the final 1:33 including a last second layup to edge by #14 Davidson by a score of 59-58. Later that night a different "smart school" did deliver an upset over a #3 seed as Harvard, who is in their third consecutive NCAA tournament, downed New Mexico 68-62 and held UNM superstar Tony Snell to only 9 points on 4-12 shooting.
- Additionally, two #12 seeds from the Pac-12 beat up on their higher ranked counterparts as Oregon beat Oklahoma State fairly easily and Cal held on despite a late rally from UNLV. It was the first time ever that two #12 seeds from the same conference won on the same day, and it justifies the compaints that both Oregon fans and mainstream NCAA fans had made, saying that the Ducks were far better than their #12 seed indicated.
- Potentially the biggest upset of all didn't quite happen though, as #16 Southern had #1 Gonzaga on the ropes, tying the game multiple times in the final few minutes but could only manage two points in the final 3:46 as they ended up losing 64-58 in a very respectable effort that should worry Gonzaga, who only lost two games all season but looks vulnerable if they can be challenged by such a lowly opponent. No #16 seed has ever beaten a #1 seed in 114 total games. The remainder of the opening round concludes today before the round of 32 begins on Saturday.
Reed to Texans
- The Baltimore Ravens loss of players continued on Thursday as future Hall of Famer Ed Reed left for the Houston Texans on what's reportedly a 3 year, $15 million contract. The offseason has seen Baltimore lose fellow future Hall of Famer Ray Lewis, Reed, Dannelle Ellerbe, Paul Kruger, Cary Williams and Bernard Pollard from their 2012 Super Bowl winning defense.
- While they retained the services of star QB Joe Flacco (at a hefty price), their long-vaunted defense now looks unrecognizable and they should struggle to prevent teams from scoring against them unless they find multiple pieces by Opening Day this season. One of those pieces may be sack-master Elvis Dumervil whose mistaken release we covered on Wednesday and who may be looking to leave Denver after the debacle.
- The Texans on the other hand, are looking to make the leap to the Super Bowl themselves after two consecutive losses in the Divisional Round of the playoffs (to the Ravens in 2011 and the Patriots last year) and hope that Reed's expertise can help guide a much-improved defense to that goal.
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