The First Day Of March Madness Features A Few Scares

One of the most highly anticipated days of the sporting year has come and gone.

The start of the 2009 NCAA Tournament featured a number of intense, edge-of-your-seat finishes, but there were no bracket-ruining upsets to speak of.

West region

No. 1 Connecticut defeated No. 16 Chattanooga, 103-47.

No Calhoun, no problem.

With Coach Jim Calhoun not in attendance due to health problems, UConn made sure there was no chance of an upset midway through the first half when it began a 46-5 run to put the Mocs away.

Chattanooga was held to 26 percent shooting. Stanley Robinson led the Huskies with 27.

No. 9 Texas A&M defeated No. 8 BYU, 79-66.

The Aggies controlled the game from the start, taking an early 13-point lead and not letting go en route to their minor upset victory over the Cougars.

Texas A&M shot 57 percent compared to BYU's 39 percent.

Bryan Davis had 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting to lead A&M, who will go on to face UConn in the second round.

No. 5 Purdue defeated No. 12 Northern Iowa, 61-56.

The Boilermakers survived a potential comeback after taking an early 20-8 lead over the Panthers and dominating for most of the second half.

Purdue made its free throws in the final minute to ensure there was no major upset to start the day. Standout Robbie Hummell had nine points and 10 rebounds.

No. 4 Washington defeated No. 13 Mississippi State, 71-58.

There was a lot of talk of an upset in this game, but the Huskies didn't care.

Washington controlled the tempo the entire game and made sure there was no chance of a comeback as they held a double-digit lead for most of the game.

Quincy Pondexter led the Huskies with 23 points and eight rebounds while Mississippi State only had one double digit scorer in Barry Stewart, who finished with 14.

Washington will play Purdue next round.

No. 10 Maryland defeated No. 7 California, 84-71.

Greivis Vasquez continued his stand-out season with a 27-point outing against the Golden Bears and led the Terps to victory.

Maryland had a huge second half, outscoring California by 10.

Cal entered the game as the nation's leading 3-point shooting team at 43 percent, but ended the game shooting 29 percent on 7-of-24 shooting.

No. 2 Memphis defeated No. 15 Cal State Northridge, 81-70.

The score really doesn't reflect how close this game was.

The little known Matadors held a slim lead late into the second half against the heavily favored Tigers before Memphis got desperate and eventually made the necessary shots to avoid disaster.

The Tigers' Roburt Sallie hit an unbelievable 10 three-pointers, finishing with 35 points to lead Memphis to a second round matchup with Maryland.

South Region

No. 1 North Carolina defeated No. 16 Radford, 101-58.

Tyler Hansbrough broke the ACC all-time scoring record, as well as Radford's spirits, as the Tar Heels made quick work of the Highlanders.

No surprises were expected here as North Carolina took a 19-point lead going into the second half and never pulled up.

Wayne Ellington led the Heels with 25 points and eight rebounds.

No. 8 LSU defeated No. 9 Butler, 75-71.

The game to tip-off the tournament certainly was an exciting one as it was back-and-forth until the Tigers finally pulled away toward the end.

Butler made a slew of three's to cut the lead late in the second half, but LSU sank its free throws to put away the Bulldogs.

Marcus Thornton of LSU had a stand-out game, scoring 30 points. LSU will play North Carolina next round.

No. 12 Western Kentucky defeated No. 5 Illinois, 76-72.

Western Kentucky nearly gave up an 18-point lead in the second half, but managed to pull away and win an expected upset.

It's hard to call this game an upset when the Hilltoppers were favored in many brackets to win the game and have been known to pull off first-round upsets.

Western Kentucky had five players score in double figures.

No. 4 Gonzaga defeated No. 13 Akron, 77-64.

The game was close for the most part, but nearing the final 10 minutes, Gonzaga pulled away and sent the Zips home.

The West Coast Conference Champion Bulldogs were trailing at the end of the first half, but outscored Akron by 16 in the second to put the game away.

Josh Heytvelt led the Bulldogs with 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting.

Gonzaga will face an upset-minded Western Kentucky team in the second round.

No. 10 Michigan defeated No. 7 Clemson, 72-69.

Michigan watched its second-half lead crumble, allowing Clemson to crawl back with crucial of three-pointers, before finally putting the game away on a great defensive stand on Clemson's final possession.

Manny Harris led the Wolverines with 22 points while making a number of critical shots, including an "and 1" to allow Michigan some breathing room.

No. 2 Oklahoma defeated No. 15 Morgan St., 82-54.

Blake Griffin was flipped, probably out of frustration, by a Morgan St. player as he led the Sooners with 28 points and 13 rebounds, missing only one shot.

Morgan St. produced upsets this season, including winning at Maryland, but Oklahoma made sure that wasn't happening here.

Oklahoma will face Michigan in the second round.

East Region

No. 6 UCLA defeated No. 11 VCU, 65-64.

UCLA had many chances to put the game out of reach, gaining several 10-point leads throughout the game, but couldn't put VCU away.

The Bruins' failure almost led to defeat before a late defensive stand saved the team and ended the Rams hopes of an upset.

Eric Maynor led the Rams with 21 points. UCLA had five scorers in double digits, with Josh Shipp leading the way for the Bruins with 16.

Standout Darren Collison only shot 3-of-10 for 10 points.

No. 3 Villanova defeated No. 14 American, 80-67.

This was yet another game where the score doesn't reflect how close it was to being one of the biggest upsets in tournament history.

American built a 45-31 lead early in the second half, before Villanova pulled off a frantic comeback to put away the Eagles.

Villanova was playing in it's own backyard as this was basically a home game for the heavily favored Wildcats.

Garrison Carr led American with six three-pointers before cooling off. Dwayne Anderson and Dante Cunningham led Villanova with 25 points each

Villanova will face UCLA in the next round.

No. 7 Texas defeated No. 10 Minnesota, 76-62.

A.J. Abrams made sure there was no chance of a comeback in this game.

Abrams, at one point, made three three-pointers on consecutive possessions, going on to lead the Longhorns with 26 points and eight three-pointers in the victory.

Texas led for most of the game, shooting 55 percent from behind the arc.

No. 2 Duke defeated No. 15 Binghamton, 86-62.

The Blue Devils made short work of the Bearcats en route to a big win.

Duke had six scorers in double digits, with Jon Scheyer leading the way with 15.

The Bearcats actually shot better from the field, but Duke made 21-of-25 from the free throw line while Binghamton shot only 1-of-5.

The Blue Devils will face Texas in the next round.

Day 2 is upon us and it features a number of probable upsets and close games.

Games of Interest

No. 4 Wake Forest vs. No. 13 Cleveland State.

No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 9 Siena.

No. 5 Florida State vs. No. 12 Wisconsin.