2016 NCAA Tournament: Round of 32

What. A. Day.

Can I have a count of hands of how many people had Sparty going out in their first round? What about West Virginia? I think I can safely say probably 99% of our brackets are toast, so now it's time to sit back and enjoy the ride!

Another full day of games on tap, but in an odd turn we have the first two games on CBS back to back before the other networks kick in.  The result of said crappy TV scheduling? More 9:40-10pm ET starts.  It happens I suppose, and I'll stay up anyways but it certainly could have been done better.

So how did the Big Ten fair in another rocky day in the round of 64? Well, first let's all go thank the Pac-12 for looking like absolute garbage this year, otherwise the camera would probably be on the Big Ten.  Michigan State lost, Maryland tried to call it in at about the 7 minute mark and almost blew a 20 point lead, Wisconsin played some circa 2011-12 style Bo Ball and scorched everyones eyes to win, Iowa needed OT to win, and Michigan blew an early lead to Notre Dame to go out in the first round.  Woof.  Not good.  By my count, four Big Ten teams made it out of one of the craziest Rounds of 64 that I can remember, so I guess that's much better than the Pac-12 going 2-5.

Today there is only one Big Ten game:

(5) Indiana vs. (4) Kentucky || 5:15pm ET (estimated start) || CBS

I'm no fan of either school, but what a Round of 32 game.  This rivalry became so bitter that Kentucky called off all future games a few years back, leading to some psuedo mocking of them when Indiana matched up with Louisville a few times since.  Kentucky climbed out of their early season struggles on the strength of their guards, and well Indiana is pretty much 3 guards a SF and a PF on the floor at all times.  This could be a fun one to watch, especially when you add in the history.  The game is in Des Moines, so I'd expect a fair amount of both fan bases to make it out for the game.

Andrew K. is going to have more later on today on the bracket shattering loss of Sparty in the first round, so I'll just leave that one for him.  He had the double pain of watching it via game tracker at work, which probably did not help matters.  For the rest of us? I still have Oklahoma as my champion in one bracket with North Carolina and Maryland in the final four, so 3/4 remaining helps! Good luck and enjoy another chaos day of the NCAAT!