SEC’s poor outing headlines first day
Just five days ago, the SEC was touting itself for getting eight teams into the NCAA Tournament, tied for the most with the Big 12.
Nothing to gloat about now. The opening day of the first round was disastrous for the conference, with three teams upset before half of the firstround games were completed.
It started with No. 9 seed Michigan State dominating No. 8 seed Mississippi State and No. 11 seed Oregon thrashing No. 6 South Carolina for a double-digit win. But it reached a new low when No. 3 seed Kentucky, the best 3-point shooting team in the country, got beat by its own game with No. 14 seed Oakland pulling off the biggest upset of the day.
Guess those automatic qualifiers SEC commissioner Greg Sankey wants to get rid of are worth keeping.
Now just 12 games into the first round, the SEC has five teams left. There is still a chance for a team from the conference to make a Final Four run, including Tennessee, Auburn and Alabama. But the losses mean more.
The SEC didn’t have the best day, but there were plenty of other squads who did and can look forward to playing into the weekend. Here are the winners and losers from the first day of the NCAA men’s tournament first round.
WINNERS Oakland
The No. 14 seed Oakland Golden Grizzlies used a memorable 3-point shooting performance by Jack Gohlke to stun No. 3 seed Kentucky, 80-76, in the biggest upset of the tournament so far.
Oakland got off to a bad start after it missed its first seven shots of the day. But it shook it off with an outstanding
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