Welcome to Happy Confluence on the first Friday of March madness And St. Patrick’s Day.
This promising day of cool and fun features 16 men’s NCAA tournament games in the round of 64. Will there be any other big surprises? On Thursday, No. 15 Princeton stunned No. 2 Arizona and the The 13-man Paladins of Furman anger No. 4 Virginia.
The first game on Friday is at 12:15 p.m. ET between No. 10 USC and No. 7 Michigan State (CBS), and the action doesn’t end until around midnight on the East Coast with No. 11 Arizona State and No. 6 TCU tipping at 10:05 p.m. ET (truTV).
Do you think you have what it takes to beat your friends? Test your college basketball skills (or luck) here. USA TODAY’s Survivor Pool. Bookmark ours brackets side too!
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Winners and losers of Thursday’s promotion
That’s what we want on the first day of Madness: Brackets are breaking across the country and double-digit seeds are shocking everyone (except yourself, at least if you’re Princeton).
But other top seeds looked dominant – that’s how they should look, especially in their first-round games. All of this comes together to offer an intriguing second round. But first we have a full day of first-round matches, which can create even more chaos.
– Lindsay Schnell
Ranking of Friday games
Oddly enough, Day 2 of March Madness features all four #3 seeds in action, and with it all of the often-riveting #6 vs. #11 matches. This is the area of the bracket where chaos often occurs in the first and second rounds.
Here is the list of Friday’s games ranked by how worth seeing they will be in our opinion. But here, too, you should keep the remote control handy in case unexpected situations arise.
No. 6 Kentucky vs. No. 11 Providence
No. 8 Memphis vs. No. 9 Florida Atlantic
No. 5 Saint Mary’s vs. No. 12 Virginia Commonwealth
No. 6 TCU vs. No. 11 Arizona State
#7 Michigan State vs. #10 Southern California
– Eddie Timanos
Houston ruins title hopes by playing Marcus Sasser before he was ready
Just five days after Marcus Sasser pulled his groin in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament, he was back on the Cougars starting lineup Thursday night. For a first round match against a No. 16 team.
To a surprise to almost no one, Sasser didn’t even make it to halftime. Now, top-seeded Houston may not make it to the second weekend, let alone the Final Four in his hometown.
– Nancy armor
Alabama’s greatest adversary may be exhaustion from the endless chaos
The athletics director made a statement at halftime. The most tested 20-year-old in basketball couldn’t get a shot before eventually going to the bench to rest a sore groin. The Walk-On, which no one had heard of before Wednesday night, threatened the New York Times with a lawsuit. And for two hours the coach loses his mind every time he dribbles a game he didn’t even come close to losing.
In other words, It was just another day in Alabama basketball.
– Dan clouds
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: March Madness Live Bracket Updates: USC-Michigan State Tip on Friday
Source : sports.yahoo.com