First Day of NCAA Basketball Tournament

What a first day of the NCAA basketball tournament! It got off to a bang - in the first four games, there was an overtime game, a double-overtime game, and two one-point games in regulation.

In total, there were 3 games that went into at least one overtime and 6 other games decided by 5 points or less. We had a #2 seed needing overtime to beat a #15 seed, a #14 seed beating a #3 seed, a #13 seed beating a #4 seed, and two #11 seeds beating #6 seeds.

The "little guys" fared really well - BYU beat Florida, Murray St beat Vanderbilt, Old Dominion beat Notre Dame, and Ohio beating Georgetown. That's not to mention games between non-BCS conferences, like Northern Iowa beating UNLV, Butler beating UTEP, St Mary's beating Richmond, and New Mexico beating Montana. So that's 8 teams from outside the BCS conferences that won yesterday, and 8 from BCS schools that won.

My bracket went well - I picked the first 10 games right and ended up 14-2 for the day. Probably my best single-day showing in the first round ever.

From a gambling perspective, the favorites were 5-10-1 (so betting the underdogs would have been a good choice) and the "overs" (in the total points scored) were 9-7.

The big shocker from a gambling perspective was the Georgetown/Ohio game. Georgetown was a 13 point favorite and ended up losing by 14 - a 27-point swing! Villanova was an 18.5 point favorite and won by 3 in OT. (If you had bet the +2500 Money Line on Robert Morris, you were "thisclose" to having a big pay day).

Let's hope the tournament continues to be a good one.

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