Morning Wrap-up: Huge upsets and historically close games kick tourney off right

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.

It finally arrived. It definitely didn't disappoint.

Whether you're a fan of underdogs or just a fan of entropy, Thursday was your kind of day. If you picked chalk on your brackets or are a Big 12 fan, it was probably agony, and you're ready to tear up your bracket and call it a year until next March Madness. We were basically all like this old lady, all day long:

Friday's another day of 16 games and, hopefully, unending chaos. Before those games tip off, here's a look back at what you may have missed, forgotten or drank away Thursday.

Huge early upsets...

The day started with a narrow victory for No. 3 Notre Dame over No. 14 Northeastern, a friendly reminder of the upset potential in any game. And then all hell broke loose.

No. 14 UAB stunned No. 3 Iowa State 60-59, and No. 14 Georgia St. followed up immediately by topping No. 3 Baylor 57-56. Not to undersell "topping," because, uh, this was insane:

UAB was wearing mismatched shoes for pediatric cancer awareness and Georgia St. has an injured coach on a scooter, so karma exists, folks.

Before the first slate of games had even begun, two three-seeds had fallen by the wayside, busting tons of brackets. It's only the third time - 1986 and 1995 the others - that a pair of 14-seeds had won in the same year. Oklahoma must be terrified.

...and serious chalk late

The early upsets gave way to mostly favorites winning later in the day. The 7 p.m. four-set saw all the favorites win, as did the night caps, with Kentucky highlighting the change in theme by completely rolling Hampton 79-56, as expected.

Arizona (93-72) and Villanova (93-52) also won handily. It was believed that the top seven teams or so were very strong and the high-seeded teams beyond those were vulnerable, and that appears to be the case after day one.

One for the history books

Not only were 14-seeds out here slaying giants, but there were a pair of overtime games and, for the most part, each game was close (with apologies to poor, poor Lafayette). In fact, the five one-point games set a March Madness record for a single day.

• NC State 66, LSU 65
• UAB 60, Iowa St. 59
• Georgia St. 57, Baylor 56
• UCLA 60, SMU 59
• Cincinnati 66, Purdue 65 (OT)

There were only three one-point games in the entire tournament last year. When you're having one of the craziest days in the history of the world's most insane tournament, life is good.

Bad day for the Big 12, Texas

The Big 12 was considered one of the winners of Selection Sunday when seven of their 10 teams got a berth in the field of 68. Whether that was the right call looks tenuous after Thursday, with all three Big 12 teams losing their Round of 64 games.

• No. 3 Iowa State lost to No. 14 UAB (C-USA)
• No. 3 Baylor lost to No. 14 Georgia St. (Sun Belt)
• No. 11 Texas lost to No. 6 Butler (Big East)

They'll have four chances at redemption on Friday. No pressure, Kansas, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. It's just your conference's reputation on the line.

All five teams from the state of Texas also lost on Thursday. Even embarrassment is bigger in Texas.

Prospect Watch

D'Angelo Russell was that dude Thursday, putting Ohio State on his back with an incredible 28-point performance in an overtime victory. He wasn't the only one having a big day, and you can check out a full prospect breakdown here. Among the highlights:

• Jakob Poeltl had 18 points on perfect shooting for Utah, along with eight rebounds and five blocks.
• Norman Powell went 19-6-4 for UCLA on a day Kevon Looney helped little.
• Myles Turner was more or less invisible for Texas.
• Michael Qualls made his case for inclusion in the second round with a 20-point night on 8-of-9 shooting for Arkansas.
• Karl-Anthony Towns staked his claim for the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft, scoring 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting, with 11 rebounds and three blocks for Kentucky.

Other Top Performers

• Bryce Alford hit 9-of-11 from outside for 27 points for UCLA, including the controversial final triple.
• Wesley Saunders scored 26 in a loss for Harvard.
• Zach Auguste scored 25 for Notre Dame in support of the team's more renowned prospects.
• Taurean Prince pulled in 15 boards for Baylor.
• Shannon Scott dished 10 dimes to help Russell out for OSU.
• Jameel McKay of Iowa St. and Jordan Mickey of LSU each turned away six shots.
• Quinton Chievous had 22 points and 10 rebounds for Hampton, putting up a real fight against Kentucky ... by himself.

Nice Play, Baby

There were a ton of great highlights on Thursday, the best of which you can find here. There was also this beauty from SMU...

...and this clutch 3-pointer from UAB:

And of course, the key plays in close games. Like, you know, UCLA winning on a goaltending call. Or Cincinnati forcing overtime with a buzzer-beater before ultimately winning:

Full Results

3 Notre Dame 69, 14 Northeastern 65
3 Iowa State 59 vs. 14 UAB 60
3 Baylor 56 vs. 14 Georgia State 57
2 Arizona 93 vs. 15 Texas Southern 72
6 Butler 56 vs. 11 Texas 48
6 SMU 59 vs. 11 UCLA 60
6 Xavier 76 vs. 11 Ole Miss 57
7 VCU 72 vs. 10 Ohio State 75 (OT)
1 Villanova 93 vs. 16 Lafayette 52
8 Cincinnati 66 vs. 9 Purdue 65 (OT)
4 North Carolina 67 vs. 13 Harvard 65
5 Utah 57 vs. 12 Stephen F. Austin 50
8 NC State 66 vs. 9 LSU 65
1 Kentucky 79 vs. 16 Hampton 56
5 Arkansas 56 vs. 12 Wofford 53
4 Georgetown 84 vs. 13 Eastern Washington 74

Need more?

If this recap wasn't enough, yesterday's live blog still exists. Damn ... what a fun day.

Up Next

There are, of course, 16 more games on Friday. Among the most enticing matchups:

• Can No. 3 Oklahoma avoid both the 3-seed and Big 12 trends from Saturday against No. 14 Albany?
• Potential Players of the Year Frank Kaminsky and Jahlil Okafor are both in action as one-seeds.
• No. 10 Davidson takes on No. 7 Iowa and No. 10 Indiana takes on No. 7 Wichita State in what should be two of the day's best games.
• No 12-seed has won yet in the vaunted 12-5 upset special. Can Buffalo or Wyoming pull it off?