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Tobacco Road woes
Duke escapes Siena and avoids an all-time March shocker. North Carolina wasn't so lucky. Neither was Wisconsin, which fell in the 12-5 game to High Point. Plus: AJ Dybantsa went off, Nebraska finally got that W, Gonzaga survived a late-night scare, and much more.
Tristan Freeman
March 20, 2026
Good morning! Thursday was the right amount of exciting games, star performances and upsets that makes the NCAA Tournament awesome.
Maybe one more upset and it would’ve been an incredible day. We’ll see what Friday holds.
In partnership with D1.relocation
Just a couple of upsets, but a solid first day
Your bracket’s probably not in terrible shape after just one day, even with a couple of notable upsets.
High Point outran 5-seed Wisconsin in a crazy finish.
VCU recorded an historic comeback vs. 11-seed UNC.
And that was with a near-miss for a 1 seed, and three more games that went down to the wire. Also remember: playing in Dayton isn’t always a bad thing. It frequently results in multiple wins. This year, it was 11-seed Texas.
Maybe that’s a good sign for Miami University? We’ll see this afternoon.
1. South Region: VCU’s historic comeback shocks UNC
North Carolina knew things wouldn’t be easy without Caleb Wilson. But this?
Biggest upset: VCU’s 82-78 overtime win over North Carolina marked the second-largest second-half comeback in NCAA Tournament history, and the sixth-largest ever. The Rams (28-7) trailed by 19 points, but took advantage of seven second-half UNC (24-9) turnovers, including several in the final few minutes.
Star turn: VCU’s Terrence Hill, the A-10’s 6th Man of the Year, was the best player on the court, going for a career-high 34 points, including this dagger 3.
