(8) Maryland hangs on 67-65 over (9) West Virginia at the buzzer. Even after an iffy foul call on Virginia’s Kadin Shedrick and two made free-throws by Garrett Hien, Furman needed something just short of a miracle to have their madness moment. Toss in the fact that Furman’s leading scorer, Mike Bothwell, fouled out with 6:30 still to play, and everything seemed to point towards being able to pencil the Cavaliers into round two.Ī Kihei Clark made free-throw to bring the score to 67-63 with 19 seconds to go put UVA within one stop of being able to all it an afternoon. Still, UVA led by 12 with less than 12 minutes to play, a situation in which a favored Tony Bennett coached team is almost always a sure thing.

Virginia was able to keep upset-minded Furman at arm’s length for most of the afternoon, but could never quite gain the level of separation necessary to feel at ease. While the Cavaliers’ stunning loss in 2018 was slow, painful, and ultimately decisive, this one was more like a vicious left-hook smashing in out of nowhere from out of frame. Perhaps Thursday being the five year anniversary of Virginia becoming the first 1-seed in NCAA tournament history to lose to a 16-seed should have given away the ending to this one. The 3 Best March Madness Games Of Day 1 1. Let’s dive headfirst into all the best and worst from the first “true” day of March Madness. A 15-seed prevailing for a third straight year, a 13-seed winning on a crazy shot in the final seconds, a 1-seed being pushed deep into the second half The first Thursday of the NCAA tournament always seems to deliver, and this year was no different.

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