A record-setting opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament gave us the highest sum of seeds among teams in the Sweet 16 ever after the likes of Oral Roberts, Oregon State and Syracuse all pulled off upsets as double-digit seeds. But as it turns out, the madness may just be beginning.
Saturday's Sweet 16 action saw the 12th-seeded Oregon State Beavers stun No. 8 seed Loyola Chicago 65-58 in the opening game to start off the second weekend with a bang. After the Beavers were picked to finish last in the Pac-12 in the preseason just months ago, they've resurrected their season and now won six-straight elimination games dating back to the start of the conference tournament -- where at the time they were nowhere near the NCAA Tournament picture.
"All I want to say is 'Can we cut in?'" Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle said postgame with a chuckle. "There's so much trust in that locker room. Their minds are clear, they're playing hard, they have each other's back."
Oregon State's win marks the first time the program has advanced to the Elite Eight since 1982 and the seventh time in program history. It also puts the team in rarefied air, as it ties for the lowest seed ever to make it to the Elite Eight, joining Missouri, which did so in 2002.
For as wild as the Loyola-OSU game was, however, Oral Roberts and Arkansas' showdown might've been more dramatic. The third-seeded Razorbacks eked out a win over ORU 72-70, but it was a hard-earned victory after having to dig out of a twelve point deficit in the second half. It's the first time since 1995 that Arkansas is in the Elite Eight, made possible by a missed buzzer-beater from ORU that would've sent the Hogs packing.
To close the night, No. 2 seed Houston cracked Syracuse's zone defense in a ho-hum 62-46 win, giving the program its first Elite Eight appearance since 1984 in the Phi Slama Jama era.
Best of all? We're not even halfway finished with Sweet 16 action. So to break all of day one's action down, we've divvied out winners and losers from the first day below.
Winner: Oregon State's underdog story
Picked to finish last in the Pac-12 in the preseason, Oregon State did Saturday what it's done for more than two weeks straight in ousting Loyola Chicago as an underdog: survive and advance. It certainly wasn't pretty, but the Beavers' 65-58 win over the eighth-seeded Ramblers was their sixth consecutive win in an elimination game. What started in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament with an OT win has now turned into one of the most historic runs in program history, and Oregon State isn't done yet.
"Our guys don't want to stop playing," said Oregon State star Ethan Thompson.
Thompson scored 22 points against Loyola after scoring 26 in a second round game against Oklahoma State, with arguably his most impressive highlight coming in the second half when he converted briefly from devastating scoring guard to WR1.
Winner: Houston puts on show to end Syracuse's run
A commendable postseason effort by No. 11 seed Syracuse ended in the Sweet 16 thanks to the second-seeded Houston Cougars, who saw Syracuse's zone defense and raised the stakes -- holding the Orange to a season-low 46 points and limiting them to 14-of-50 shooting. Houston's defense won the game. The Cougars as a team shot 23-of-60 from the field and 7-of-26 from 3-point range, but capitalizing off turnovers, forcing Buddy Boeheim into tough looks and winning the glass did the job.
Loser: Turnover takes out Porter Moser
In 2015, Georgia State coach Ron Hunter -- with a torn Achilles -- infamously flopped off his chair onto the raw hardwood after his son R.J. Hunter hit a clutch shot late in a first-round game against Baylor. On Saturday, Loyola Chicago coach Porter Moser gave us the much less enthused Sweet 16 version of that. After an unforced turnover by his Ramblers at the top of the key, Moser promptly fell flat on his rear end either in disbelief or as an accident -- either of which makes this gaffe perfectly acceptable. My guess: Seeing his team go 18-of-54 from the field and 5-of-23 from the 3-point line finally took it out of him and his knees just buckled in dissatisfaction.
Winner: Schools with head coaching vacancies
With what Porter Moser has done at Loyola Chicago and what Paul Mills has done at Oral Roberts, both enter the offseason as hot candidates with their stock on the rise. So with both bowing out in the Sweet 16 on Saturday, it's a considerable boon to places looking to fill vacancies at their head coaching position. Now, whether Mills or Moser ultimately take other jobs this offseason or in the future is unclear for now. But as their teams exit the tournament, it gives the unofficial go-ahead to the likes of Texas, Indiana and Oklahoma that contact with a pool of candidates -- of which Mills and Moser are likely to be included -- can formally commence.
Loser: Baylor's brilliant 3-point shooting attack
Baylor this season has the best 3-point shooting attack in college basketball. Baylor on Saturday had its worst performance from 3-point range all season, finishing a dreadful 3-of-19.
And yet Baylor still won by 11 points.
"When we were 2-for-12 [from 3] at half we were like 'we gotta get inside,'" Scott Drew said after the Bears beat the Wildcats 62-51. "We had decent looks, they weren't great looks. I thought our guards did a great job of not settling and probing more [in the second half]."
This was against a wounded Villanova team that was missing its scoring leader, Collin Gillespie, so that must be factored in. And look, the Bears simply have to shoot better moving forward to have a shot at taking the title. But it's extremely encouraging that they were able to overcome such an anomalous outing and still win. Now we wait to see if this dry spell from distance is a one-off, or if they've got some real problems. The answer likely determines if they can make their first Final Four appearance since 1950.
Winner: Arkansas overcomes huge deficit (again)
Arkansas this season has won 11 games this season when trailing by nine or more points. It's an absurd stat that highlights the team's resiliency, and one that has also translated to postseason play. The Razorbacks' tourney wins over Colgate and Oral Roberts both fall into that statistic.
"We've been down now in three games and found a way to come back," said Arkansas coach Eric Musselman. "We weren't great offensively, but found a way to win."
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