Selection Sunday

Seeds were announced live on Selection Sunday - March 11, 2007 on CBS at 6PM ET when the pairings for the 65 men's teams were revealed, and followed by the ESPNU special airing Sunday night.

The field was filled with high performance teams making choices hard for the officials who had to pick the top teams and eliminated some very good teams from the tournament. Florida took the No. 1 overall spot in the NCAA Tournament rankings. The four No. 1 seeds are: Florida (Midwest), North Carolina (East), Ohio State (South), and Kansas (West).

2007 NBA Division 1 Schedule

Opening Round
Florida A&M 69 vs. Niagara 77 - FINAL - Niagara advances to 16th seed in the West - RECAP
Tuesday, March 13, 2007

As the first round games finish, this tournament is shaping up to be a heart breaker for the teams and an exciting event for fans.

On Thursday, Boston took the game from Texas Tech after a hard fought, close scoring game. Davidson, coming in with a 13 seed, kept 4th place Maryland working hard until the last few moments. The final scores don't show what great games were played. One good thing is that there were no overtimes in these early games. With the packed schedule, every minute counts.

Oral Roberts and Washington State ended the first half at 28 and 26 and tied at 28 all within seconds of the start of the second half. During the second half Washington State pulled ahead and the game ended with a win by Washington State (70 - 54). Old Dominion and Butler was another tight battle (ODU 20 - Butler 19 at the end of the first half) that went to the #5 seed Butler (57 - 46).

Both Georgetown and Texas A&M took the early lead in their games. Belmont didn't look good against Georgetown (25 - 38 at the end of the first half) and Georgetown brought the game home with an 80 - 55 final score.

Penn was hanging on against Texas A&M in the early game, but Texas A&M showed why they were seeded at #3 with a Penn 18 - Texas A&M 31 score by the end of the first half. During the second half, Penn closed the gap and brought it to a 37 - 37 tie with and moved ahead with 39 - 37 with 12 minutes to go. The Aggies answered back bringing the final score to 52 - 68.

The last afternoon game, George Washington vs. Vanderbilt was a shoe in for Vanderbilt with a score of 20 - 45 ending the first half and a final win for Vanderbilt's Commodores at 44 - 77.

The later games brought the first major upset as the underdog 11th seed Virginia Commonwealth Rams outscored the Blue Devils of Duke 79-77. Eric Maynor wowed the fans to get to the dance denying George Mason a place. His performance against Duke had the same flair. A 15 foot jumper with 1.8 seconds left won the game leaving Duke to wonder what happened. Could this be the Cinderella team for the 2007 March Madness?

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Friday action saw #4 seed Virginia breeze past #13 seed Albany (84 - 57). The Memphis (#2 seed) vs. North Texas (#15 seed) matchup went as expected. Memphis ran the court for the easy win (73 - 58). In the Midwest, # 10 seed Georgia Tech took a big lead against UNLV early on, but #7 seed UNLV fought back and the two teams traded leads through the game. The nail biter went to UNLV (67 - 63).

There's been a lot of talk about Winthrop in the Midwest region. The Eagles are the champions of the Big South and come to the tourney on an 18 game winning streak. While Winthrop may be dreaming about the Final, the Irish had no intention of giving up their place in the dance to anyone. In today's game #6 Notre Dame (24-7) vs. #11 Winthrop (28-4), the Eagles had a one point lead at the 15 minute mark in the first half, but the Irish kept a two point lead for most of the half. In the last minute a shot by Winthrop brought the score to 32 - 28. Coming out in the second half the Eagles served up a run of ten points to the Irish bringing the score to 42 - 28 before the Irish hit a two pointer. The second half saw Winthrop start to miss free throws and ease on the defense. Notre Dame's offense and defense sparked to bring the game to within 1 point with about 3 minutes to play after a twenty to three run by the Fighting Irish and a big 3 pointer gave the Irish the lead by one as the two minute mark approached. Winthrop answered with a two pointer and a field goal. A free throw by Notre Dame answered by a free throw for brought it back to 68 - 64. Craig Bradshaw sank one - 71 - 64 with 28.6 seconds left on the clock. Jenkins two points on free throws another basket and Winthrop wins for the first time in NCAA tournament play by a score of 74 - 64.

In the Midwest, it looked like another upset was in progress as number 15 seed Texas A&M-CC (26-6) pounded in 10 unanswered points to start the game against #2 seed Wisconsin (29-5). Five minutes into the game it was still 10 - 0... they ended the first half with 27 - 19. Stats for field goals, rebounds and points in the paint told the tale all showing Texas A&M-CC in control and on the game. With 13 left in the second half the Badgers have come back to within 4 (42 - 38). With 10 minutes to go Wisconsin defense showed their teeth pulling the score to a 47 all tie. The Islanders missed their first two free throws in the game missing a chance to take back the lead. Taylor's 2 point jump shot gave Wisconsin a two point lead. Wisconsin pulled out the win with a 76 - 63 final score.

No upset in sight as number 5 seed Tennessee (22-10) lead #12 seed Long Beach State (24-7) 57 to 45 at the end of the first half. LBS loses with 86 to the Vols 121.

More action in the #7 seeded Nevada (28-4) vs. #10 seed Creighton (22-10) coming to the end of the first half the score is 32-31 Creighton. Two evenly matched teams are giving fans a great game. With less than two seconds left in regulation - tied at 59 neither team could convert...game goes to overtime. Nevada's Wolfpack pulled it out in overtime for a final score of 77 against Creighton's 71.

Miami (Ohio) was the No. 1 defensive team in the MAC. The #14 seed Red Hawks needed to hold a high scoring #3 Oregon Ducks if they wanted to have any game against the Pac-10 champion. At half time the score was a tight Miami 22 - Oregon 25 and the drama continued to the Ducks win with 58 - 56.

Kansas, the #1 seed in the west wiped #16 seed Niagara 107 - 67. In the Midwest, #3 seed Oregon struggled to beat 14 seeded Miami (Ohio). Miami played a good game, but Oregon better step up the game if they expect to advance past the second round. Also in the Midwest, Purdue defeated Arizona (72 - 63).

The Midwest's number one seed Florida sent 16th seed Jackson State home with little effort. In the west, Kentucky and Villanova were evenly matched, but Kentucky played the better game to advance to the 2nd round.

No top seeded teams were eliminated except Notre Dame (Midwest) and Duke (West) both seeded 6 so we should be set for quite a battle for a place in the Sweet 16 over the next two days. Don't call them Cinderellas, but keep you eye on Virginia Commonwealth and Winthrop for more upset action in the days ahead.

When two schools are just 100 miles apart you can expect deep rivalries. Xavier and Ohio State have that history and it influenced the play on the court today. It takes more than history to pull out a win against #1 seed Ohio State. Xavier got their game together early, but just a few minutes in the Buckeyes picked up the pace. Xavier was not about to be left behind - with 7 minutes left to play the score was an even 35 all. The Buckeyes failed to keep possession and with turnovers pushing the ball, Xavier took the lead. With under 9 minutes to play the score was 52 - 44. The Buckeyes came within two points with under ten seconds to go, but a foul put Greg Oden out of the game and Xavier back at the free throw line. Xavier's performance on the free throw line looked like it would put the game away but one missed basket put the score at 62 - 59. The defense and free throw performance by Xavier told the story of this game - but with seconds to go Ohio sank a three pointer - tied at 62 they went to overtime. Ohio State showed why they are ranked #1 coming back to win 78 - 71.

Another tight battle between the #5 Butler Bulldogs and the #6 Maryland Terrapins went to the wire with Butler saving the win (62 - 59) to advance to the Sweet 16. Seeded 6, Louisville made 3 seed Texas A&M work to keep up. With less than 15 minutes left the score was tied at 39 all. In the last few minutes the lead passed back and forth between the Aggies and the Cardinals. With less than 29 seconds Sosa was fouled and went to the basket with a 15/15 record. He missed both. A foul brought the Aggies to the line, but both free throws missed leaving the score 70 - 69 Texas A&M. With 1.7 seconds left - Sosa missed a three pointer... a final half court throw also missed... The Aggies are going to the next round.

Seventh seed Boston lead second seed Georgetown at the half 30 to 26. Georgetown's shooting was hot in the first few minutes of the game but cooled down after a switch in their zone defense. This game was tight through the first half, but the Eagles came out strong pushing the spread to seven points 36 - 29 three minutes into the second half. Boston knows how to take advantage of a zone and the score reflected that. Georgetown was having more of a problem breaking through the Eagle's zone, but got their game back to take the lead in the second half. Both teams are aggressive and this one couldn't be called until the final buzzer. The Hoyas Patrick Ewing, Jr (yes, the son of the former Georgetown Patrick Ewing) got his hands on the ball, sank a basket and put in the free throws to send his team to the Sweet Sixteen. Georgetown 62 - Boston 55.

In the Panthers vs. Rams game Pitt led 41 - 26 at the half. Number 3 seed Pittsburgh looked likely to crash the Cinderella dreams of 11th seed VCU. Almost the same as the Duke game... VSU put pressure - three point shots and pressing. Pitt fell apart in the last ten minutes losing a 19 point lead and bringing the score to a 67 point tie with just over a minute to go. An incredible 35 to 16 run by VCU put them back in contention. Two misses at the free throw line by Pitt with 2.1 to go left the game tied - OVERTIME! The fight continued through overtime, but Pitt found the basket more to end the VCU run. Pitt advances to the Sweet 16.

In the East, 6 seeded Vanderbilt vs. number 3 seed Washington State was at 33 - 27 in favor of WSU as the 2nd half got underway. Vanderbilt made 7 of 9 three pointers in the early part of the second half to bring back the game. The score - 57 all with under five minutes left... and at 60 all the game went to overtime. Tied at 69 with 8.7 left in overtime crazy blocks, time outs and balls hitting feet took the game to double overtime. The second overtime is impossible to describe in words - go see the video. Vanderbilt advances.

The evening games were just as exciting to watch. There was no calling the winner of any game until the final buzzer...and many times the final buzzer just signaled a break before the overtime play. Saturday matched the record for overtimes in tournament play. Every game was hard fought and when they didn't go to OT, there was some fancy play in the final seconds to end the game. UNC pulled out a win with an unanswered 8 point run in the final seconds for their 81 - 67 score against Michigan State.

Sunday games started with Tenn vs. UVA. The 77-74 win for the Vols reflects UVA not sinking their 3 pointers including the last try by Singletary with seconds to go and tight watch by the refs resulting in strategic fouls. Tenn needs to have a better game plan when they come up against number one seed Ohio State if they want to make it through the Sweet 16 and advance to the Elite 8.

In the Florida vs. Purdue game, 9th ranked Purdue led for the first half. Neither team dominated play which was a surprise. The top ranked Gators were expected to have an easy time putting the Boilermakers away. The game was a good match for fans to watch, but makes you wonder how well they will do against Butler in the Sweet 16.

The Cinderellas are out of the dance with Winthrop's loss to #3 seed Oregon. No double digit teams are left in the tournament, the first time that's happened since 1995. There may be no hopeful underdogs to root for in the next rounds, but there should be some amazing ball games ahead with only the top teams fighting for the title.

The big upset and the heart strings story of the day was #7 seed UNLV's win against #2 seed Wisconsin. Coach Lon Kruger's son, Kevin, was the spark of a late rally that secured a spot in the next round for the Runnin' Rebels. Wisconsin's Badgers are the highest seed to get sent home in this tourney.