What Went Down In The First Round Of The NCAA Tournament

I love the football matchups. Don’t you think the selection committee does, too? We know it loves the narratives.

USC and Miami both have good basketball programs, but I think of them as football schools, which makes a first-round matchup like this fun. Amazingly, the two have only faced twice during the modern era in football, both in the 1960s, though they did win national championships just a few years apart in the early 2000s. Interestingly, the winner will face Auburn, which will make for another “football matchup” — in fact, USC-Auburn would be the dream matchup many wished we had gotten on the football field in 2004, when both teams went undefeated but did not play each other in the bowls (Auburn beat Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl while USC absolutely pasted Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl).

FGCU had the lead up to 8 a few times against Virginia Tech. The Eagles lead by 6 at the end of the third quarter. They’re playing their game: field-goal shooting is roughly equal, but they’ve hit 12 3-pointers to Virginia Tech’s five.