March Madness 2026: The Best and Worst from Day 1

Any fear that this year might produce a repeat of the “worst first round in history” from 2025 was put to bed and put to bed quickly on Thursday.

The first window gave us a slew of thrillers. At one point we had High Point and Wisconsin going shot for shot in the final minute, South Florida trying to come all the way back from 23 points down against Louisville, and No,1 overall seed Duke trailing Siena by double-digits all happening at the same time.

If you missed anything from a terrific opening Thursday, here’s your full recap:

The 3 Best March Madness Games Of Day 1

1. (12) High Point 83, (5) Wisconsin 82 (West)

It didn’t take long for the 2026 tournament to deliver its first classic.

At the end of a back and forth second half where it had looked on multiple occasions like heavily favored Wisconsin was on the verge of creating separation, High Point notched the first NCAA Tournament win in school history on a shot no one saw coming … because it was a shot that literally had not happened all season.

Approaching the game’s final moments, Chase Johnston, a bench player for the Panthers averaging 6.1 ppg, had made 68 field goals on the season. All of them had been three-pointers. Four of them had happened earlier in the game, largely helping to keep High Point within striking distance.

His 69th field goal of the season was the one college basketball fans, and Johnston, will likely remember more than all the ones that came before it.

The layup, which was just Johnston’s fifth two-point attempt of the season, proved to be the game’s deciding basket. Wisconsin attempted to regain the lead moments later, but Nick Boyd’s driving layup was swatted away by Owen Aquino, securing the first ever tournament win for a High Point program that made its March Madness debut just a year ago.

As if hitting the game-winning shot wasn’t enough, Johnston’s fourth three-pointer of the day was the 415th of his career. That moved him passed Steph Curry into 22nd on college basketball’s career made-three-pointers list.

“This is something you dream about,” Johnston said. “I remember playing basketball with my brother in the backyard 1-on-1. We had our own little brackets, picking what teams we wanted to be and trying to win March Madness. Now to be on this stage with these guys and to be able to hit a couple shots and finish with a layup, it’s something I’ll never forget.”

2. (11) VCU 82, (6) North Carolina 73 (OT) (South)

Fully blowing or almost blowing gigantic leads was one of the biggest storylines of Thursday. The most egregious example came in the South, where North Carolina squandered a 19-point second half advantage, allowing 11th-seeded VCU to force overtime and then ultimately pull off the largest first round comeback in the history of the NCAA Tournament.

Terrence Hill Jr. was sensational for the Rams, knocking down 7-of-10 three-pointers on his way to a game-high 34 points. The last of his triples put VCU on top for good.

With the win, the list of teams VCU has knocked off when playing as an 11-seed this century includes: Duke, Georgetown, Purdue, Florida State, Kansas, and now North Carolina.

The Heels could have easily kept themselves off this list (more on their collapse later). They didn’t, and now the big question becomes whether or not the powers that be at UNC choose to take things in a different direction than the path Hubert Davis is currently steering the program down.

Sometimes a single March moment can have a gargantuan ripple effect.

3. (9) TCU 66, (8) Ohio State 64 (East)

As previously stated, not all of the blown leads on Thursday resulted in losses.

TCU led Ohio State by 15 points at halftime, but the Buckeyes outscored the Horned Frogs 27-11 to start the second half and seemingly seize control of the contest. Then, TCU’s David Punch — who had made headlines earlier in the week for saying he thought his team would beat OSU “9 times out of 10” — went to work. The big man dominated the paint to the tune of 16 points and 13 rebounds, but it was a simple, yet beautiful entry pass to teammate Xavier Edmonds that proved to be his most important play of the game.

Even with a solid 4.3 seconds left on the clock, Ohio State somehow couldn’t muster anything more than a halfcourt heave at the buzzer which didn’t come close to finding the mark.

Jamie Dixon’s squad is now one win away from its first trip to the Sweet 16 since 1968.

The 5 Teams That Won It The Best

1. Saint Louis

SLU more than put to bet the notion that Georgia’s superior speed and athleticism would overwhelm Josh Schertz’s beautiful offense; The Billikens made their doubters witness a massacre.

Dion Brown scored 18 points on 9-of-10 shooting (all on layups and dunks) as Saint Louis handed a Georgia team that had just set a school record for regular season wins its most lopsided defeat of the season, and its most lopsided tournament loss ever.

It could have been worse.

SLU led by as many as 40 before taking its foot off the gas and cruising to a 102-77 victory. The Billikens shot a scorching 58 percent from the field as a team, as they surpassed the 100-point threshold for the eighth time this season. Six players scored in double figures for Saint Louis, whose 66 points in the paint were the most by any team in the tournament over the last seven years.

Saint Louis also became just the second team in tournament history seeded 9th or worse to score over 100 points and win a game by at least 25 points. The other? The famous 1989-90 11th-seeded Loyola Marymount team, which throttled 3-seed Michigan, 149-115 in the second round.

So, yeah, decent performance.

2. Illinois

Speaking of terrific offensive teams. The Illini looked sensational in their 105-70 demolition of 14-seed Penn.

Star freshman Keaton Wagler flirted with a triple-double, and David Mirkovic secured his eighth double-double of the season … before halftime. The 6’9 freshman forward finished the game with 29 points and 19 rebounds.

Illinois gets VCU on Saturday.

3. Nebraska

The Cornhuskers’ long-awaited first NCAA Tournament win in program history didn’t come with anywhere near the level of drama most people were expecting.

Pryce Sandfort hit a handful of shots to give Nebraska an early advantage, and Fred Hoiberg’s team never looked back, rolling to a 76-47 win over 13-seed Troy. The 29-point win marks the largest margin of victory in a team’s first-ever NCAA Tournament win since Fordham beat Furman by 31 points in 1971.

4. Michigan State

North Dakota State kept things close against Sparty for a segment. Michigan State then went on an 18-2 run and never looked back. MSU dominated the Bison both in the paint and on the perimeter. They scored 44 points in the paint, including eight dunks, but also went 10-of-20 from three.

It’s the 22nd time in 28 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances that Tom Izzo has taken his team to the second round.

5. Houston

On a day where both No. 1 seeds in action got pushed for extended periods of time, Houston made sure there was never any doubt about how its tournament opener was going to go.

The reigning national runners-up fell behind 10-7 early, but then outscored Idaho 41-14 over the game’s next 15 minutes to put things out of question. The Vandals were held scoreless for nearly 10 minutes during one stretch of play in the first half.

The 5 Biggest Disappointments

1. Georgia

A year after losing to Gonzaga by 21 in a first round 8/9 matchup, Georgia apparently decided it needed to one-up itself.

For 40 minutes, the Bulldogs looked completely unprepared for the offense Saint Louis was throwing at them, and gave up a slew (pun absolutely intended) of wide open shots both at the rim and behind the three-point line. They trailed by as many as 40 before “battling” back to cut the final margin to 25, still the most lopsided defeat of the season and the most lopsided defeat un UGA’s tournament history.

No one embarrassed themselves more on day one than the Dawgs, who were actually a 2.5-point favorite in this game.

2. Wisconsin

Wisconsin was a trendy pick for folks looking to avoid an overly chalky Final Four, and there were valid reasons why. The Badgers knocked off five top 10 teams this season, appeared to be playing their best basketball of the year at the perfect time, and had a star guard in Nick Boyd who had already helped lead a team (Florida Atlantic) all the way to the national semifinals.

So much for that.

Bucky became the first top 5 seed to be knocked out of the tournament this year by allowing High Point to score 11 of the game’s final 13 points.

Wisconsin has now lost in the first round of the Big Dance in two of the last three years, and hasn’t been to the tournament’s second weekend since 2017.

3. Duke

The Blue Devils are still dancing, but only after becoming the first No. 1 seed in the history of the tournament to be trailing a 16-seed by double-digits (35-24) at halftime. Virginia was tied with UMBC at the half of their eventual defeat in 2018, and Purdue trailed Fairleigh Dickinson by just one at the break before losing by five. The previous record for first round halftime deficit by a No. 1 seed was nine points by Georgetown, which eventually came back to survive Princeton’s upset bid in 1989.

The news gets worse for the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed. Duke’s 71-65 triumph over Siena marked only the 16th time that a No. 1 seed has defeated a No. 16 seed by nine points or fewer. None of the previous 15 top seeds to do that went on to win the national championship, and only three made it to the Final Four.

Every eventual national champion since 7-seed UConn in 2014 has won its tournament opener by at least 15 points.

4. North Carolina

We’re always going to wonder how the end of UNC’s season might have looked had Caleb Wilson been available, but the absence of the superstar freshman isn’t anywhere near a valid excuse for the complete unraveling the Tar Heels exhibited in their loss to VCU.

5. BYU

Another 6-seed and another team missing a star player — Richie Saunders — who went down with an injury late in the season. Also another upset loss to an 11-seed.

AJ Dybantsa was as good as advertised, maybe even better, but the “most anticipated season in BYU basketball history” ultimately did not deliver the way it was supposed to and ended with a first round thud. Making its 32nd appearance in the Big Dance, BYU also assured itself of carrying the “most NCAA Tournament appearances without a trip to the Final Four” title for at least another year.

5 Day 1 Cheers

1. Nebrasketball shedding the most infamous of stigmas

When it comes to the sports world, being known for one thing above all others is more often than not something you’d like to avoid. Case in point, Nebraska Cornhuskers men’s basketball.

Sure, the Huskers have a famous head coach (Fred Hoiberg) and a cool nickname (Nebrasketball!), but if you asked the average college hoops fan the one thing they know about the program heading into Thursday, most likely would have responded with this: Nebraska is the only power conference program in the sport that has never won a game in the NCAA Tournament.

Not anymore.

The Huskers’ throttling of Troy on Thursday afternoon was clearly a cathartic moment for Fred Hoiberg and everyone associated with the program, but it was especially neat to see it experienced by Kent Pavelka, the 76-year-old radio play-by-play man who has been calling Nebraska games since 1975.

There is nothing, and I mean nothing, better in sports than this tournament.

Before this season, Nebraska had played in the NCAA Tournament just eight times. The closest they had come to winning a game in the Big Dance was an 89-84 upset loss to 14th-seeded Xavier in the first round of the 1991 tournament. That team, which was a No. 3 seed, had also been the only Husker squad to ever earn better than a 6-seed for March Madness.

It’s hard not to feel happy for a fan base that has supported this program through some unthinkably grim seasons, and it’s impossible not to be ecstatic for Pavelka.

2. Student announcers and student reporters

Imagine being a student announcer for a school that had never been to the NCAA Tournament before last season, and having a front row seat to watch them knock off a Big Ten powerhouse for the first tournament win in school history.

It might look something like this:

Student radio cam might be the best March Madness development of the last decade.

Another very cool moment happened on the other side of the country, where VCU head coach Phil Martelli Jr. made it a point to give props to the student reporters who had not just covered his team during March Madness, but all season long … except for Valentine’s Day.

Kudos to those kids, and kudos to Martelli Jr. for giving them there … well, kudos.

3. The early Thursday upset trend

Did you know that a team seeded 11th or worse has won at least one of the first eight games to tip-off on Thursday in 14 consecutive years? Hey, now you do.

While there were a handful of possible upsets in the window — the entire world certainly seemed to be on 11-seed South Florida over 6-seed Louisville — it was the High Point Panthers who were the team that ensured this wild fact would be carried over into at least the 2027 Big Dance.

4. Sean Miller’s honesty

Texas held a slim advantage over BYU midway through the first half when Longhorns head coach Sean Miller was asked during a timeout how he planned to slow down Cougar star AJ Dybantsa, who had already netted 14 points.

Miller did not throw out any coach speak and answered the question earnestly.

The words proved to be prophetic. Texas won the game and did a good job mostly shutting down the other four Cougars on the floor, but Dybantsa finished with 35 points and 10 rebounds, becoming the first freshman since Steph Curry to score 30 or more points in his first NCAA Tournament game.

5. The First Four trend

Only two at-large teams make it out of the First Four in Dayton every year. Still, somehow, in 14 of the 16 years since the First Four has been a thing, at least one of those two games has won at least one game in the tournament’s main draw.

Texas became the latest team to go from UD Arena to the tournament’s second round in a 48-hour period by toppling 11th-seeded BYU, 79-71.

Overall, the First Four has now produced a total of 23 victories in the main draw of the tournament, and we’ve still got Friday’s much-anticipated matchup between Miami University and Tennessee.

Texas will look to become the sixth team to go from the First Four to the Sweet 16 with a win over Gonzaga Friday night.

BONUS CHEER: Mid-Major coaches banding together

This has been awesome to see.

The little guy has always played such a huge role in March and in college basketball overall. The sport can’t afford to lose that.

5 Day 1 Jeers

1. The overinflated balls

It’s a thing. It’s absolutely a thing. Don’t let anybody tell you it’s not a thing.

Sure-handed players missing dribbles because the ball bounced too high, balls flying off rims looking like there are springs inside them; It was all on full display for 12 hours again on Thursday.

Just use a universally-agreed upon ball.

It’s 2026 and this is a billion dollar event. How is this still a thing?

2. Maliq Brown’s halftime interview

When you’re the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed and you’ve just become the first No. 1 seed in March Madness history to be trailing a 16-seed by double-digits at halftime, it can probably be safely assumed that you and your teammates kind of took a first round W for granted.

Still, you probably shouldn’t vocalize that. You definitely shouldn’t vocalize it on national TV in the middle of the game for the entire world to hear.

During a halftime interview with Tracy Wolfson, Maliq Brown opted to do just that.

In Brown’s defense, likely national Player of the Year Cameron Boozer essentially said the same thing after the Blue Devils came from 11 down at the half to top Siena by six.

The “cakewalk” comment will be remembered, but not at the level of infamy it would have been had the Blue Devils become the third No. 1 seed to fall to a 16 in round one.

3. Saint Mary’s

There wasn’t enough space for the Gaels in the “biggest disappointments” section, so we’re going to have to do this here.

You know why it feels like we do this every year with the Gaels? Because we do this every year with the Gaels.

They roll through the regular season accumulating a gaudy record and some crazy good efficiency numbers. They earn a good, not great seed for the NCAA Tournament. And then they get overwhelmed in the first or second round by the first team they face with a decent combination of size and athleticism.

This year that team was Texas A&M, which continued to build on the tremendous story of first-year head coach Bucky McMillan with a 63-50 victory that was … well, it was about as completely forgettable as a first round matchup between a 7-seed and a 10-seed can be.

Saint Mary’s has now played in nine NCAA Tournaments since its run to the Sweet 16 in 2010. It hasn’t made it out of the first weekend in any of them.

The sports world should very much be in a “I’m gonna have to see it before I believe it” relationship with Randy Bennett’s team from this point forward.

4. North Carolina’s collapse

How do you blow a 19-point second half lead and end up on the wrong side of biggest first round comeback in the history of the NCAA Tournament?

Well, over the final 7:44 of game time you go 0-for-9 from the floor, turn the ball over four times, and also go 4-for-9 at the free-throw line. Toss in a refusal to keep the ball out of the hands of the other team’s best scorer and a historically inept performance in overtime, and you’ve got yourself a collapse for the ages.

The catastrophic performance down the stretch put a renewed microscope on head coach Hubert Davis and whether or not he’s the man who should be leading the program moving forward. Davis already had a chaotic resume in Chapel Hill, one which started with a run to the national title game as an 8-seed, a missed tournament a year later, a No. 1 seed the year after that, and now back-to-back losses in the first round.

Davis appeared visibly frustrated throughout his postgame press conference and either wouldn’t give or didn’t have the answers to questions about what happened to his team down the stretch against VCU.

North Carolina is now 48-2 all-time in the NCAA Tournament when leading by double-digits at halftime. Both losses — Thursday’s game and the 2022 national championship game — have come in the last five years under Davis.

5. The late window

Look, when you wake up expecting to watch basketball consistently from just after noon until just after midnight, you aren’t in the headspace for “checking out early” or “getting a head start on sleep” or “letting my wife and kids know that I’m alive.” We’re here for 12+ hours of entertainment, we’ve bought the ticket, we’re here for the full ride. Even if the late games are absolutely awful, we aren’t getting off that ride until it comes to a full stop.

Some years make that easier to do than others.

The final four games to tip-off on Thursday featured Saint Louis’ obliteration of Georgia, Houston’s 31-point beatdown of Idaho and Illinois’ 35-point win over Penn. Kennesaw State tried to keep things mildly interesting against Gonzaga — which I think we were all very appreciative of — but never really threatened to end the Zags’ streak of 17 consecutive years with at least one tournament win.

Not a great slate for increasingly heavy eyelids across the country.

All Day-1 Team

Terrence Hill Jr., VCU

Hill put the Rams on his back, scoring 23 of his 34 points after halftime in the team’s OT upset of North Carolina. He knocked down 7-of-10 from three, including what would prove to be the game-winner in the final moments of overtime.

David Mirkovic, Illinois

As good as Keaton Wagler was in this game for Illinois, Mirkovic was better. The 6’9 freshman from Montenegro finished with 29 points on 11-of-17 from the field, 19 rebounds, and three assists.

AJ Dybantsa, BYU

The potential No. 1 pick in this summer’s NBA Draft made sure his first and only NCAA Tournament game was a memorable one. He scored a day-high 35 points to go along with 10 rebounds.

Joseph Pinion, South Florida

It came in a losing effort, but Pinnion almost led the Bulls all the way back from a 23-point second half deficit by scoring 27 points, grabbing 7 rebounds, handing out 6 assists and recording 4 steals.

Darius Acuff, Arkansas

Hawaii’s “no help defense” had no answer for Arkansas’ freshman star, who finished his first NCAA Tournament game with 24 points and 7 assists.

5 Best Day 1 Dunks

1. Trevon Brazile, Arkansas

The Brazile dunk is nasty, but we’re going to go ahead and post this entire sequence because it’s awesome.

2. AJ Dybantsa, BYU

If you’re only going to get one NCAA Tournament game in your college career, it’s nice to make some memories while it’s happening.

3. Coen Carr, Michigan State

The biggest upset of the day wasn’t High Point or VCU or Texas. It was Coen Carr not being No. 1 on this list.

4. Isaiah Evans, Duke

Have a day, Slim.

5. Amare Bynum, Ohio State

Brutal facial.

BONUS:. Braden Frager, Nebraska

Showtime.

5 Best Day 1 Images

1. The agony and the ecstasy

2. A new high point for High Point

3. Corn fed strength

4. Survive and advance. It doesn’t always have to be pretty, as was the case with Louisville on Thursday.

5. In sync and moving on

5 Notable Quotes From Day 1

1. This is March. This is what March does.“ —VCU head coach Phil Martelli Jr.

2. “High Point and Miami Ohio are 2-0 in Quad I games. We couldn’t get games. They couldn’t get games. Akron couldn’t get games. UNCW couldn’t get games. Belmont couldn’t get games. We won 22 of our last 23 games and we didn’t move up one spot in the metrics. Not one. We won 22 of our 23. We’ve won 25 games by double-digits. That team right there is a fantastic team that beat five top 10 teams. If we can get games like this on some neutral courts and some home games, I think we’d know who’s the best teams. I’m proud of these dudes. We’re not just here to win one game, we’re here to get to the Sweet 16.” —High Point head coach Flynn Clayman

3. “I would like to thank the good Lord for the opportunity to just have your guts absolutely ripped out.” —Troy head coach Scott Cross

4. “It’s hard to put it into words, really. I’m kind of numb, actually. I wondered all year long — I’ve wondered for 50 years what it would feel like. And now, it’s a lot to process.” —Longtime Nebraska radio play-by-play man Kent Pavelka

5. We’re going with a video for the last quote, because these Howard players talking about head coach Kenny Blakeney deserves it:

https://x.com/melissaykim/status/2034825814647128116?s=20

Again, best sporting event in the world.

Full Friday schedule

Prepare your mind, body and soul to do this all over again.

(7) Kentucky vs. (10) Santa Clara | 12:15 p.m. | CBS

(5) Texas Tech vs. (12) Akron | 12:40 p.m. | truTV

(1) Arizona vs. (16) Long Island University | 1:35 p.m. | TNT

(3) Virginia vs. (14) Wright State | 1:50 p.m. | TBS

(2) Iowa State vs. (15) Tennessee State | 2:50 p.m. | CBS

(4) Alabama vs. (13) Hofstra | 3:15 p.m. | truTV

(8) Villanova vs. (9) Utah State | 4:10 p.m. | TNT

(6) Tennessee vs. (11) Miami (Ohio) | 4:25 p.m. | TBS

(8) Clemson vs. (9) Iowa | 6:50 p.m. | TNT

(5) St. John’s vs. (12) UNI | 7:10 p.m. | CBS

(7) UCLA vs. (10) UCF | 7:25 p.m. | TBS

(2) Purdue vs. (15) Queens | 7:35 p.m. | truTV

(1) Florida vs. (16) Prairie View A&M | 9:25 p.m. | TNT

(4) Kansas vs. (13) Cal Baptist | 9:45 p.m. | CBS

(2) UConn vs. (15) Furman | 10 p.m. | TBS

(7) Miami (Fla.) vs. (10) Missouri | 10:10 p.m. | truTV