NCAA Tournament’s First Four delivers drama and vindication

• Day one of the NCAA Tournament’s First Four produced some drama and some vindication. Alabama State and North Carolina are moving on.
• A second set of First Four games tips off Wednesday, as American faces off against Mount St. Mary’s and Texas goes head-to-head with Xavier.
• The 64-team tournament begins Thursday at 12:15 p.m. EST.

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March Madness certainly arrived with the First Four games of the NCAA Tournament. A Hail Mary win by one potential Cinderella team was followed by a big win from North Carolina, who, at least for a few days, silenced the critics saying they shouldn’t be in the Big Dance.

What went down Tuesday in the First Four?

In the first game of the tournament on Tuesday, March 19, Alabama State pulled off a play that has come to define the NCAA Tournament –– a length-of-the-court pass that led to the game-winning shot with just 3.5 seconds on the clock against St. Francis of Pennsylvania. With the dramatic win, the Hornets moved on to the 64-team bracket. Head coach Tony Madlock was asked what it meant for his kids.

“Oh man, we’re going to have stories forever, aren’t we?” said Madlock. “For everything that happened with Alabama State, first time winning a tournament game, got to 20 wins this year, and you know how hard that is for an [Historically Black College and University] school? It’s so hard because you have to play those money games early. But for us to just fight and fight and fight and find a way to get to 20 games, 20 wins, it just means so much to our program.”

The prize for the Hornets after the stunning 70-68 win is a date with No. 1 seed Auburn on Thursday in Lexington, Kentucky.

How did North Carolina answer their critics?

North Carolina is also moving on. They were the last team to make it into the field, much to the dismay of fans in West Virginia and Indiana. However, they successfully made a statement in their first game, destroying fellow 11-seed San Diego State almost from the opening tip.

An early 20-2 run was the difference led by R.J. Davis, who went six for six on his three-pointers. He’s the first player in 12 years to do that in the tournament. In the end, the Heels won 95-68.

“Horses have blinders when they’re going the races, and that’s to, you know, avoid any distraction that doesn’t allow them to be their best in the race,” Davis said. “So I think that reference, you know, sits well with the team. We’re just, you know, focused on what we have to do.”

Teammate Seth Trimble echoed those comments after the win. He said the Tar Heels heard all the noise but didn’t pay much attention to it.

“We know we deserve to be here. We’re not looking to send a message to anybody else; we’re just looking to compete as a team and be the team that we know that we’re capable of being and I think we did that tonight,” Trimble said. “We want to do that when we get to Milwaukee and go from there. But, I mean, we hear what people say. We don’t really care about –– it is what it is –– we’re focused on us.”

What’s next for the First Four matchups?

The conclusion of the First Four in Dayton takes place Wednesday night, March 19. American University will take on Mount St. Mary’s in a matchup of 16 seeds. Then Texas and Xavier will go head-to-head, two teams who feel very fortunate to be in the tournament. Both hope to state their case, just as North Carolina did.

Texas head coach Rodney Terry says it’s all about attitude when playing in this tournament.

“The teams that have success this time of year are teams that have tremendous juice and energy, and they’re excited about this opportunity,” Terry said. “Sometimes it’s not the best team that wins this time of year. For 40 minutes, you got to be the team that comes in and puts your will on that team, you know, for 40 minutes in terms of how you’re going to play.”

Once the games on Wednesday are in the books, there will be about 15 hours before the first-round frenzy begins. Louisville and Creighton tip the tournament off at 12:15 p.m. EST. So, there’s still a little time to fill out that bracket.