NCAA Tournament 2015: Winners and Losers of Day 1

Day 1 of the NCAA tournament is officially in the books. Is your bracket busted yet?

The First Four officially got underway in Dayton on Tuesday night, with the Hampton Pirates taking out the Manhattan Jaspers to advance to play No. 1 Kentucky on Thursday and the Ole Miss Rebels erasing a huge halftime deficit to send the BYU Cougars back to Utah. Ole Miss now goes on to face Xavier.

Overall, it was a great way to kick off the NCAA tournament. There was exhilarating offense, head-scratching foul trouble and some celebrations that we won't soon forget. 

Here are the winners and losers from the first day of the Big Dance.

Loser: Coach Steve Masiello

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Heading into this batch of First Four games, one of the biggest stories was Manhattan coach Steve Masiello. That's because last year, Masiello was being considered for a job at the University of South Florida before it was discovered that he lied on his resume—he had not, in fact, finished his degree at Kentucky like the former Wildcat claimed he had.

Of course, this was relevant because the winner of the Manhattan-Hampton game would go on to face Kentucky.

Masiello made it known that he was not happy with this particular draw, and he was fully convinced that the seeding committee set this up in order to generate storylines, as Josh Newman of Asbury Park Press reported:

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The unfortunate thing is they love story lines, and they've done it for years," Masiello said. "They've always done it. And that's what they do. Unfortunately, I have zero say. I wish I did. But I'm not in a position to change that. So I'm part of it and I have to -- my opinion, again, doesn't matter. I just have to move along and try to stick to the meat and potatoes, so to speak, of what we're here for.

"

Well, Masiello won't even have to worry about that now. Manhattan was outplayed from the start, with Hampton's energy and aggression leaving the Jaspers in the dust from the get-go.

Manhattan kept it close but never was able to grab the lead. There was early foul trouble, mismanaged timeouts and just a lack of a sense of urgency from Manhattan in the 74-64 loss. Coach Masiello managed to avoid the headlines, but it comes at a price.

Winner: Quinton Chievous

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The star of the game for the Hampton Pirates was undoubtedly Quinton Chievous, who had a double-double before halftime and finished the game with 15 points and 13 rebounds.

Unfortunately, the senior turned his ankle toward the end of the game, and his health will certainly be in question against Kentucky, but that doesn't take away from his prime-time performance on Tuesday night.

Austin Ward of ESPN.com wrote about Chievous' journey to this NCAA tournament win:

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The plan initially was for Chievous to face Kentucky with a different program, but after his stint with Tennessee failed to work out, he's clearly found a home with Hampton and a role that suits his versatile game. Chievous was relentless on the glass and a force on the inside despite his size at 6-foot-6. 

"

Chievous was on Tennessee's Sweet 16 team last year but barely got any playing time. Now, he looks to be making up for lost time.

Loser: Ashton Pankey

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Ashton Pankey was the MAAC tournament's Most Outstanding Player, but the Manhattan Jasper was pretty much a non-factor in the NCAA tournament play-in game.

The former Maryland Terrapin got into foul trouble early, nabbing his fourth with just under 13 minutes to play. He finished the game with a mere nine points and seven rebounds, far from the game-changing performance the Jaspers needed.

“We’re not where we are today without Ashton Pankey,” Manhattan coach Steve Masiello said before the NCAA tournament began, as Ari Kramer of One-Bid Wonders reported. 

Unfortunately, since Pankey just couldn't get his game going on Tuesday, the Jaspers are now going home before most tournament teams even begin.

Winner: Hampton

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Look, Hampton is going on to face Kentucky, and while a No. 16 seed will beat a No. 1 seed one of these days, it's not likely to happen in that game.

But does that diminish what this Hampton team did on Tuesday, winning its second NCAA tournament game in school history? Absolutely not.

As you can tell by Hampton's amazing synchronized bench celebration and emotional embraces after the win, this meant a lot to the Pirates, who were a mere 12-17 on the year before storming through the MEAC tournament to earn the school's fourth trip to the Big Dance.

Hampton became just the eighth school in NCAA tournament history to enter with a losing record and get a win, via ESPN Stats and Info.

Loser: The Scoreboard Operator's Finger in the Ole Miss vs. BYU Game

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Someone get that man or woman some ice, please!

The 94-90 Ole Miss win over BYU, a combined 184 points, was higher scoring than any of the games in the 2014 NCAA tournament.

This game was a welcome change of pace for everyone except for the scoreboard operator. After one of the lowest-scoring college basketball seasons in recent history, it was refreshing to see a fast-paced game filled with dunks, alley-oops and three-pointers.

In this game, there were nine players who scored in double figures, including all five of Ole Miss' starters. For BYU, Tyler Haws and Chase Fischer combined to score 56 points...in a loss.

Hopefully this game isn't an aberration, but rather a sign of the exciting things to come this March Madness.

Winner: Stefan Moody

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In a game filled with great offensive performances, Stefan Moody's 26-point showcase for Ole Miss still stood out from the crowd. 

Moody was on such a roll Tuesday night that he abruptly stopped behind the arc in transition and hit nothing but net. He was the catalyst behind Ole Miss' second-half comeback for the ages and was able to come up with a big play every time BYU threatened to regain the momentum.

"Definitely a sense of urgency," Moody told reporters after the game regarding the Rebels' second-half attitude. "We could have went in the locker room, sulked about it and come back out, and it would have just got worse."

The junior-college transfer's lone season at Ole Miss has been stellar, averaging over 15 points per game. He's the type of electrifying player that could spur the Rebels to an NCAA tournament run.

Loser: BYU

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In the very building where BYU made the biggest comeback in NCAA tournament history three years ago in this same round, the Cougars found themselves on the wrong end of a comeback. 

Despite leading by 17 at the half, BYU ended up falling to Ole Miss by four.

The biggest difference came from the three-point line. BYU was 10-of-15 from behind the arc in the first half but only 5-of-14 in the final 20 minutes.

And, of course, despite scoring 90 points on offense, the team gave absolutely nothing on defense late in the game, allowing Ole Miss to score 62 points in the second half, more than many teams in the tournament give up in an entire game.

BYU will be lamenting that lack of defense for many months to come.

Winner: Tyler Haws

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Sure, it was in a losing effort, but in the final game of his college basketball career, Tyler Haws deserves some kudos.

After all, the senior guard scored a game-high 33 points Tuesday night, and in the process, he leaped to No. 20 on the NCAA all-time scoring list. That's quite an accomplishment.

Haws is BYU's all-time leading scorer and, according to his coaches, one of the most dedicated and hardworking players in the game.

"Tyler's commitment to his craft is tremendous," said BYU coach Dave Rose, as Eric Prisbell of USA Today reported. "He studies the game. He has a plan."

It's only fitting that his final college basketball game was a prime-time display that put him in the history books.