First Round Wrap-Up

Higher seeds won out on the first day of March Madness, the lone exceptions were Kansas State's take down of sixth-seeded Southern California and ninth-seeded Texas A&M's 67-62 win over eighth-seeded BYU.

But the day was not without its excitement or scares for the top teams. Second seeded Duke survived 15th seeded Belmont's bid to be only the fifth team to take down a two seed, winning 71-70 when the Bruin's Justin Hare's 35-footer hit back iron at the buzzer. Duke sophomore guard Gerald Henderson led the Blue Devils' attack with 21 points, none bigger than his game-winning layup with 11 seconds left. Bruin junior Alex Renfroe scored 15 to lead a balanced Belmont attack that had five players score at least seven points. Duke advances to face West Virginia, who beat Arizona in the evening game 75-65.
In Thursday's only major upset, freshman Michael Beasley led Kansas State over OJ Mayo's Trojans in the battle of the hyped freshmen. The two did not disappoint; Beasley scored 23 and added 11 rebounds to Mayo's 20 points and 5 assists. But lesser-known freshman Bill Walker's 22 provided the difference for the Wildcats, who will face third-seeded Wisconsin after they dispatched CSU Fullerton 71-56 earlier in the day.

In the final competitive game of the day, Texas A&M fought off BYU's comeback from 11-0 to beat the higher seeded Cougars. Aggie forward Josh Carter tied a career high with 26 points, including a 6-10 mark from beyond the arc and senior Dominique Kirk hit a three with 25 seconds left to put the game on ice. The Aggies earned the right to play top-seeded UCLA, who crushed Mississippi Valley State 70-29.

In South Regional action yesterday Marquette survived a 35-point explosion by Kentucky's Joe Crawford to win 74-64. Powered by 20 points from junior Jerel McNeal and 8 free throws from Wesley Matthews in the final minute the Golden Eagles advanced to face Stanford, who handled Cornell 77-53 behind 18 points from junior Kenny Brown.

March 21, 2008 features the second half of round one. Mississippi State takes on Oregon and Indiana will play Arkansas in the 8-9 match up, but they promise to be more close games. Who knows? Anything can happen. This is March Madness.

Results so far:
• WASHINGTON, D.C.
3 Xavier 73, 14 Georgia 61
6 Purdue 90, 11 Baylor 79
2 Duke 71, 15 Belmont 70
7 West Virginia 75, 10 Arizona 65

• OMAHA
1 Kansas 85, 16 Portland State 61
8 UNLV 71, 9 Kent State 58
11 Kansas State 80, 6 USC 67
3 Wisconsin 71, 14 Cal State Fullerton 56

• DENVER
5 Michigan State 72, 12 Temple 61
4 Pitt 82, 13 Oral Roberts 63
4 Washington State 71, 13 Winthrop 40
6 Notre Dame 68, 12 George Mason 50

• ANAHEIM
6 Marquette 74, 11 Kentucky 66
3 Stanford 77, 14 Cornell 53
9 Texas A&M 67, 8 BYU 62
1 UCLA 70, 16 Mississippi Valley State 29