|
There
were two games on the first night of the First Four.
The
second game was a blowout win by No. 11 North Carolina over No. 11 San Diego
State, 95-68. If that was a high
school game, the 30-point mercy rule running clock would have been in effect
and we all could have gotten a good night's rest.
But truTV
gotta get those TV timeouts in. Gotta help pay that $1.1 billion annual broadcast
rights.
 The first
game between the two worst teams in the field, No. 16 Saint Francis and No.
16. Alabama State, was close.
Real
close.
Like,
losing-in-the-last-second close.
Tied
at 68 with 3.4 seconds remaining, Alabama State's Micah Simpson threw a Hail
Mary pass to the opposite free throw line in an attempt to
recreate Laettner magic.
Well,
it wasn't Laettner, but it was good enough.
The
ball was up for grabs and was tipped twice before ending up in the hands of
Alabama State's Amarr Knox who put the layup in for a 2-point lead with 1.0
seconds remaining. Saint Francis's
subsequent three-quarter-court attempt for the win was not close (click on
image for video and article).
Game
over.
And
Saint Francis (PA) is the first team sent home.
The
only other team from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania left in the Tournament:
No. 15 Robert Morris.
Ugh.
At
least they don't play until Friday.
The
68 teams in the Tournament hail from 35 states plus 1 from Washington, DC.
Only 6
states have more than 2 teams:
|
# of Teams
|
State
|
Schools
|
|
5
|
Texas
|
Baylor,
Houston, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech
|
|
4
|
Alabama
|
Alabama, Alabama State, Auburn,
Troy
|
|
4
|
California
|
Saint Mary's, San Diego State,
UCLA, UC San Diego
|
|
4
|
North Carolina
|
Duke, High Point, North Carolina,
UNC Wilmington
|
|
4
|
Tennessee
|
Lipscomb, Memphis, Tennessee,
Vanderbilt
|
|
3
|
Virginia
|
Liberty, Norfolk State, VCU
|
Here's
a nifty little map someone created on Wikipedia of the location of all of the Tournament schools
|