Morning Wrap-up: All favorites everything

Every day during the NCAA Tournament, theScore brings you the biggest, most interesting and most important stories as they happen. Check back each morning for a recap of what you may have missed the day before. It's okay, it's March Madness. There's a lot going on.

Well, Friday was certainly different from Thursday. Entropy, meet homeostasis. Chaos, meet order. Anarchy, meet government. Fun, meet ... well, still fun, but definitely a different brand of fun.

There were 16 games Friday to close out the Round of 64. Let's take a look back before the Round of 32 tips off.

Chalk outlines

Friday's games in a single photo:

Unlike Thursday, when upsets abounded before giving way to chalk later in the day (the final eight games were won by favorites), Friday opened with 15 consecutive favorites winning, pushing the tournament streak to 23. That number bumps to 26 if you include seeded underdogs that were Vegas favorites.

And then No. 11 Dayton closed the night with a 66-53 victory over No. 6 Providence. It's unfortunate for the Friars that it had to be them, but it seemed impossible for an entire day to go by without an upset. Even Dayton was only a three-point underdog, but we'll take it to break up the monotony.

Given the way the tournament kicked off, it actually seems obscene that so many favorites could win in a row. It's kind of just as shocking as upsets taking place. We'd call it disappointing, but enough games came down to the wire - seven still finished with a single-digit margin. 

The string of favorites winning included a pair of 12-seeds losing and, well, let's give that it's own subheading.

The death of 12 over 5

For the first time since 2007, the tournament saw no 12-seeds upset any 5-seeds. Thanks for an empty near-comeback, Buffalo.

• Thursday: Arkansas 56, Wofford 53
• Thursday: Utah 57, Stephen F. Austin 50
• Friday: West Virginia 68, Buffalo 62
• Friday: Northern Iowa 71, Wyoming 54

It's a Midwest swing, y'all, ain't gotta trip

For the first time since 2012, the top eight seeds in a region moved on. Everyone expected Kentucky - the tournament favorite - to have little issue early, but it was favorites across the board in the Midwest.

The closest call was No. 8 Cincinnati's 66-65 win over Purdue. It was a fun region, just one devoid of upsets. Good for them, we suppose.

ACC and Pac-12 are perfect, Big 12 rebounds some

After the Big 12 had an ugly 0-3 Thursday and lost a pair of 3-seeds, it rebounded some on Friday. While Oklahoma State lost, Kansas and West Virginia both won early and Oklahoma hung on late, pushing the conference's record to 3-4 for the Round of 64. That's unimpressive with seven of the conference's 10 teams getting a berth, but it's a mildly appreciable bounce-back.

Making the Big 12 look far weaker was the ACC, which cruised to a 6-0 mark for the first round. Four of its teams survived scares, while Duke and Virginia handled business. ACC teams will make up 18.8 percent of the Round of 32. Duke's win was its 100th in tournament history.

The Pac-12 also had a strong showing, going 4-0. Utah's under-seeding and the hand-wringing over UCLA's inclusion in the field now seem a little less justified.

Prospect Watch

Jahlil Okafor did exactly what was expected of him in a blowout, matching Karl-Anthony Towns' 21 points from Thursday with 21 of his own, shooting 9-of-11 in the process.

You can check out a full prospect breakdown here, but here are a few notable performances:

• Frank Kaminsky was probably the best prospect overall on Friday, out-performing Okafor, but doing so with slightly lower stakes. The Wisconsin big man dropped 27 points on 10-of-14 shooting, hit triples in triplicate, grabbed 12 boards and dished four dimes. It doesn't get more complete than that.
• Kris Dunn ...
• Fred VanVleet scored 27 points on 9-of-18 shooting, dished four assists and carved to the rim at will in Wichita State's narrow victory.
• Yogi Ferrell scored 24 points, shot 7-of-15 from the floor, 4-of-6 from long range and dished three dimes for Indiana. Like VanVleet, a return to school seems more likely than an early draft entry, but these performances move the needle.
• Justin Anderson looked far healthier than he did in the ACC tournament, scoring 15 points with five rebounds for Virginia.
• Iowa's Aaron White shot 11-of-14 for 26 points with six rebounds in a blowout victory over Davidson. That'll play.

Other Top Performers

• Frank Mason III went 6-of-7 for 17 points, with nine rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals for Kansas, playing a team-high 31 minutes in the blowout.
• Denzel Valentine went 16-6-6 with three steals for Michigan State.
• He's a Cowboy, baby. Riding at night 'cuz he sleeps all day. Or something. Larry Nance Jr. did nothing in the first half for Wyoming, but finished with 16 and 7 on 6-of-11 shooting. That wasn't enough against Seth Tuttle (14-9-3, with three steals) and Northern Iowa.
• Craig Bradshaw went down gunning, scoring 25 points on 10-of-19 shooting with nine rebounds for Belmont. 
• Oregon's Joseph Young not only had 27 points in a win, he scored 23 of the team's 26 points over an 8:50 stretch of play. He also had four boards and four dimes.
• Quinn Cook had 22-4-5 with three steals for Duke, shooting 6-of-10 from long range in the process. Marcquise Reed (22) and Rodney Pryor (23) tried their best to answer for Robert Morris but came up about two lottery picks short.
• Sir'Dominic Pointer had 21 and 10 in a losing effort for St. John's, which sucks because we don't get to say Sir'Dominic Pointer anymore. It was a good four years.
• Kyle Wiltjer had 23 and 8 in Gonzaga's win, outscoring North Dakota State's Dexter Werner, who went 10-of-14 for 22 points off the bench. Kevin Pangos scored 17 of his 18 points in the second half for the Bulldogs.
• Dyshawn Pierre cooked for Dayton in their upset win, hitting 6-of-10 from the floor and 3-of-6 on threes to finish with 20 points and nine rebounds.

Nice Play, Baby

There weren't a great deal of mind-blowing highlights Friday - check out the top five here - but there are always a few worth noting.

Misplays: Perry Ellis and Jahlil Okafor had some trouble dunking.

Celebrations: From "Feed Me" to, well, something less family friendly.

Banged-on: Nobody can stop a dunk from a 7-foot-6 man. Only the referees can stop a dunk from Derek Cooke Jr.

Full Results

2 Kansas 75 vs. 15 New Mexico State 56
7 Michigan State 70 vs. 10 Georgia 63
5 Northern Iowa 71 vs. 12 Wyoming 54
5 West Virginia 68 vs. 12 Buffalo 62
7 Wichita State 81 vs. 10 Indiana 76
2 Virginia 79 vs. 15 Belmont 67
4 Louisville 57 vs. 13 UC Irvine 55
4 Maryland 65 vs. 13 Valparaiso 62
8 Oregon 79 vs. 9 Oklahoma State 73
1 Duke 85 vs. 16 Robert Morris 56
7 Iowa 83 vs. 10 Davidson 52
3 Oklahoma 69 vs. 14 Albany 60
1 Wisconsin 86 vs. 16 Coastal Carolina 72
8 San Diego State 76 vs. 9 St. John's 64
2 Gonzaga 86 vs. 15 North Dakota State 76
6 Providence 53 vs. 11 Dayton 66

Need More?

If this recap wasn't enough, yesterday's live blog still exists.

Up Next

Leaving aside our palpable excitement for Kansas-Wichita State on Sunday, there are eight games to lick your chops over on Saturday.

No. 14 UAB and No. 11 UCLA square off to ensure at least one double-digit seed makes the Sweet Sixteen for the eighth year in a row. No. 10 Ohio State (No. 2 Arizona) and No. 14 Georgia State (No. 6 Xavier) will try to join them. 

That Arizona-Ohio State game also happens to see Stanley Johnson - one of the nation's best defenders when engaged - against D'Angelo Russell, one of the country's best freshman.

The two best games of the day will likely be the 4-5 matchups, Georgetown-Utah and UNC-Arkansas. And, of course, there's Kentucky. There will always be Kentucky. Sorry, Cincinnati.