A drama-free Friday

Good morning! The Big Ten had itself a helluva good two days. At 8-0, it’s the best showing for any league ever in the first round. The Big 12 isn’t far behind (it went 6-1).

Hope you’re feeling as good about your bracket. Let’s get to Friday’s news.

Mountain West, WCC celebrate, while top seeds roll

When San Diego State reached the 2023 National Championship game, it gave the Mountain West a long-overdue March breakthrough. Last season saw the MWC earn six overall bids, but those six teams went 4-6.

The league delivered two of Friday’s more notable wins thanks to Colorado State and New Mexico. And both were a long time coming. The Rams hadn’t won a non-First Four tournament game since 2013 (as an 8 seed) and the Lobos hadn’t been to the Round of 32 since 2012 (as a 5 seed). The MWC may still finish with a sub-.500 tourney record, but when more than SDSU is winning games, that’s a good thing. (At least for another year until the MWC loses four teams to the Pac-12. Anyway.)

Meanwhile, the West Coast Conference is 2-0, and can enjoy some bragging rights over conference on the other coast.

Also interesting? SEC teams with a losing conference record went 1-5 in the first two days.

The only thing not so great about Friday? No real upsets. Hell, for that matter, we had a ton of blowouts, especially from the top seeds. The 1, 2, 3 and 4 seeds went 16-0 over the first two days, with an average margin of victory of 22.7 points. It’s the 6th time in tourney history they’ve gone 16-0.

Here’s hoping for some close weekend games, if not some upsets.

1. West Region: The champs are still playing

UConn got pushed. It got tested. But Friday was the same story as the previous two NCAA Tournaments. It won.

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