NCAA Tournament 2016: Top Social Media Highlights for Tuesday's First Four

College basketball fans didn't have to wait until Thursday's first round for some 2016 NCAA tournament action thanks to Tuesday's First Four contests in Dayton, Ohio. Social media users didn't have to wait either.

March Madness always inspires plenty of reaction from fans and commentators alike, and many took to Twitter to weigh in on Tuesday's games pitting Florida Gulf Coast against Fairleigh Dickinson and Vanderbilt against Wichita State.   

With that in mind, here is a look at the scores for each contest, as well as some social reaction for the start of the 2016 NCAA tournament.

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Matchup	Result
Florida Gulf Coast vs. Fairleigh Dickinson	96-65, Florida Gulf Coast
Vanderbilt vs. Wichita State	70-50, Wichita State

Florida Gulf Coast 96, Fairleigh Dickinson 65

The teams and fans may have been ready at tipoff for the season's first NCAA tournament game, but the clock certainly wasn't. It didn't start when the ball was tipped, and Shannon Russell of the Cincinnati Enquirer reacted to the miscue:

David Gardner of Sports Illustrated had his own ideas about what was happening:

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False start to March Madness. This is why we have the First Four — to work out the kinks

— David Gardner (@byDavidGardner) March 15, 2016"

So did Robert Mays of Sports Illustrated: 

Once the action started, it was all Florida Gulf Coast. The Eagles scored the game's first 11 points and established a dominant 40-19 lead at the half. March Madness TV provided a statistical breakdown:

NCAA March Madness shared an alarming stat for the trailing Knights:

Kevin Pelton of ESPN was ready to advance in any bracket-based pun competition:

Matt Brown of Sports on Earth was already looking ahead to Florida Gulf Coast's impending showdown with the No. 1 seed in the East Region—the North Carolina Tar Heels:

Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports had a word of warning for those Tar Heels, via March Madness TV:

Farleigh Dickinson showed some life in the second half with highlight plays like this one, via NCAA March Madness:

Seth Soffian of the News-Press praised the Knights' efforts:

Improved strategy or not, Florida Gulf Coast was simply too dominant and inspired Davis to write the result in marker with the Eagles up 72-47 with less than 10 minutes remaining: 

Sportswriter Dana Caldwell jumped on the "this team can challenge North Carolina" bandwagon:

Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press noted Florida Gulf Coast was in esteemed company with Tuesday's win:

He also didn't wait until the final whistle to call it:

Next up for the Eagles is that showdown with North Carolina. Florida Gulf Coast already has one Cinderella run on its resume from the 2013 NCAA tournament when it made the Sweet 16 as a No. 15 seed with victories over No. 2 Georgetown and No. 7 San Diego State and earned the nickname "Dunk City" in the process because of its high-flying slams and alley-oops.

The mighty Tar Heels are the only thing standing in the way of another run.

Wichita State 70, Vanderbilt 50

It was apparently hot enough in the arena in Dayton as the Vanderbilt and Wichita State game was set to start that "things are heating up cliches" would have been appropriate. Paul Suellentrop of the Wichita Eagle commented on the humidity:

Heat aside, NFL wide receiver Jordan Matthews was ready to root on his alma mater:

On the Wichita State side, the Playoff Guru of the San Francisco Chronicle was wondering how Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker were still in college:

VanVleet took a hit early on and was bleeding, and Gary Parrish of CBS Sports weighed in on his importance:

ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney had something to say about the officiating in the game:

The officials may have been making some questionable calls, but they weren't the ones who shot like this in the opening half, via CBS Sports CBB:

The teams were tied at 30 at halftime, and Brad Evans of Yahoo Sports gave the Commodores some advice before the stretch run:

Wichita State began to build a lead in the first few minutes of the second half with plays like this, via NCAA March Madness:

The Student Section pointed to Vanderbilt's big man as a source of frustration as the Shockers jumped ahead by double digits: 

Just when it looked like the Shockers would pull away, they went cold. Vanderbilt crawled back into it, and Davis had a worthy question:

The lid was finally removed, and Vandy MBB seemed quite sad when Conner Frankamp drilled a three-pointer with just more than four minutes remaining to go ahead, 60-48:

Zac Jackson of ProFootballTalk summed things up as Wichita State closed out the 70-50 victory:

Ari Kramer of Newsday offered his assessment after Vanderbilt shot 16-of-53 from the field and 3-of-19 from three-point range:

ThePostGame.com echoed similar sentiments:

Next up for the Shockers is a matchup with the South Region's No. 6 seed—Arizona. The Wildcats are usually one of the country's best teams, but they took a backseat to Oregon in the Pac-12 this season and are a dark-horse team as a No. 6 seed.

Fortunately for Wichita State, it likely already has the NCAA tournament jitters out of its system and could look to seize an early lead against the Wildcats as the Pac-12 representative gets accustomed to the big stage.