An updated 2017 NCAA Tournament bracket following the 16-game slate on First Round Thursday
With anticipation at a fever pitch, 2017 March Madness finally tipped off just after Noon ET on March 16 with First Round Thursday getting underway. It’s a safe bet to say that every college basketball fan in the country was looking at their 2017 NCAA Tournament bracket and feeling confident about all 63 picks that they’d made. However, if you played it chalk in your bracket, you were likely just fine.
Despite a 16-game slate on First Round Thursday in the March Madness action, there were only two upsets in terms of seeding. Those two teams to earn the upset victories—Middle Tennessee and Xavier—however, aren’t exactly bottom dwellers coming out of nowhere. Instead, there’s actually a good chance that the Blue Raiders are just a better team than Minnesota, and likewise with the Musketeers and Maryland.
Regardless, your NCAA Tournament bracket isn’t perfect if you didn’t see MTSU and Xavier coming. Even still, those fans that planned to ride the top seeds to the Final Four may have suffered early heart palpitations thanks to Villanova and Gonzaga, but both No. 1 seeds pulled through for ultimately big wins. The one No. 2 seed that played on First Round Thursday, Arizona, put up the highest point total of the day.
RELATED: Updated 2017 NCAA Tournament bracket
Following the action that was largely chalk, save for a pair of upsets, let’s take a look at the updated 2017 NCAA Tournament bracket:
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Unfortunately, some are definitely going to describe First Round Thursday as a bit of a bust. Ironically, that’s because many people’s NCAA Tournament bracket wasn’t busted due to wild, unforeseen upsets. However, with how close so many lower seeds came to pulling off the big one on Thursday, we could see a turn of the tides as the First Round finishes up on Friday.