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

Wednesday's First Four action in the NCAA tournament was the basketball equivalent of opening up an early Christmas present on Christmas Eve. Sure, the first round of the Big Dance is arguably the best part of the entire event, but there was plenty of excitement on tournament eve in Dayton, Ohio.

Holy Cross squared off against Southern for the right to likely lose in blowout fashion to Oregon, while Michigan and Tulsa faced off for the opportunity to challenge Notre Dame.

Plenty of social media users didn't wait around for Thursday's round of 64 to weigh in on the tournament fun either. With that in mind, here is a look at the scores from Wednesday's games, as well as Twitter reaction to the First Four contests.  

"

Sign up and play Bleacher Report's Bracket Challenge now for a chance to win the Ultimate Sports Trip to four events of your choice. And click here for B/R's Printable Bracket.

"

Matchup	Result
Holy Cross vs. Southern	59-55, Holy Cross
Michigan vs. Tulsa	67-62, Michigan

Holy Cross 59, Southern 55

As the Holy Cross and Southern game was set to tip, HBO's Bill Simmons let his allegiance be known when he linked out to his alma mater's fight song:

Inside NU of SB Nation was also firmly on Holy Cross' side because of former Northwestern coach Bill Carmody. It commented on the Crusaders coach's attire of choice:

The Crusaders got off to a quick start, and the band was loving it, via NCAA March Madness:

Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports shared the keys to Holy Cross' early lead:

Holy Cross took a 27-22 halftime advantage into the locker rooms, and Brad Evans of Yahoo Sports was not impressed with the offensive efforts: 

At least the Jaguars were serenaded by the crowd in the first half:

Southern battled back to actually take the lead in the second half, and Inside NU wasn't nearly as pleased as a member of the Holy Cross bandwagon:

Ryan Nanni of SB Nation made a personal connection with the Crusaders in the second half:

Davis pointed out how tenuous Southern's second-half lead was given the offensive struggles:

Holy Cross held a 52-49 lead with under two minutes remaining, even though Southern finally hit a three-pointer in unusual fashion, via NCAA March Madness:

Southern tied the game, but Robert Champion drilled a three with less than a minute left to put the Crusaders on top, 55-52. Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports summarized the intensity:

Jerry Palm of CBS Sports commented on the tight finish:

Alas, overtime was not meant to be, and Holy Cross survived with the 59-55 victory. Simmons reacted to the win:

Inside NU had a message for Oregon:

Oregon has never been a No. 1 seed in program history, so it's not as if it's a traditional basketball powerhouse such as North Carolina or Kansas. Still, a No. 16 seed has never beaten a No. 1, and the Holy Cross offense fans saw Wednesday is not likely to help the Crusaders make history.

They better hope that 1-3-1 defense comes to play against the Ducks.

Michigan 67, Tulsa 62 

Michigan took the floor for the second contest of Wednesday's slate and was not exactly welcomed by the fans in Ohio, where the rival Buckeyes play, via Austin Ward of ESPN.com:

Despite the boos, Zak Irvin likely earned some cheers for this reaction time in pregame warm-ups:

The Wolverines' interior defense came to play in the opening minutes, and Nick Baumgardner of MLive Media Group asked a pertinent question:

The offensive performances from both teams were particularly brutal, and The Playoff Guru of the San Francisco Chronicle weighed in on the first half:

Evans also commented on the offenses:

Michigan finally found its touch at the end of the first half and took a 28-20 lead into the locker room. Tony Paul of DetroitNews.com pointed to one issue for the Golden Hurricane:

Brendan F. Quinn of MLive Media Group was more concerned with the lackluster mascot performance:

Tulsa came roaring back in the opening minutes of the second half, and The Playoff Guru had a question for the Wolverines:

Despite the momentum swings, neither team was lighting it up in the shooting department. Nicole Auerbach of USA Today recognized that she wasn't missing much:

Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press was simply confused by Michigan's strategy:

Tulsa took the lead with less than five minutes left, and Dan Wolken of USA Today had a question:

After taking some ill-advised shots, Irvin drilled a critical three-pointer to give Michigan a 62-60 lead with less than a minute remaining. Tyler Duffy of The Big Lead commented on the emotional roller-coaster of watching Irvin pick his shots:

"

Hate Irvin - Hate Irvin - LOVE IRVIN

— Tyler Duffy (@tyduffy) March 17, 2016"

From there, Michigan closed out the 67-62 victory on the free-throw line. Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo Sports brought back the controversy of whether the Golden Hurricane should have even been in the field in the first place:

Next up for Michigan is a showdown with Notre Dame in a contest that would surely please football fans.

The Fighting Irish beat Duke, Louisville, North Carolina and Iowa this season, but the Wolverines already shook off the NCAA tournament jitters on Wednesday and will likely be ready to play from the opening tip.