Duke vs. LSU

This bracket breaker was quite a tragedy for people all over as I believe that everyone was looking forward to a possible University of South Carolina vs LSU matchup as LSU hasn’t beat South Carolina in over a decade. In the first quarter, Duke started out strong taking a 5 point lead to lead up to the second quarter. In the second quarter, Duke took the lead even further taking another 2 points over LSU making a 7 point lead. In the third quarter, LSU came back a bit as they outscored Duke by 5 points, taking the Blue Devils’ lead to 2 points. Duke and LSU battled it out in the 4th quarter but under up scoring the exact same amount, 20 points, giving the Duke Blue Devils the win with a final score of 87-85.

Notre Dame vs. Vanderbilt

This game was another heartbreak for people as it led to thousands of brackets being shattered. It was a hard watch as both teams were very inaccurate when shooting as Notre Dame had 28/66 made shots in the paint and had only 1/17 three pointers go in, this is an abysmal 5.9% completion. Vanderbilt wasn’t much better as they had 19/54 shots in the paint made (35.2%) and had only 5/18 3 pointers go in (27.8%). Notre Dame had 23 points off of turnovers, showing that mistakes really make a difference in these high intensity games. In the first quarter, Notre Dame took the lead as they scored 15 points compared to the 11 from Vanderbilt. In the second quarter, Notre Dame kept up the intensity as they scored 16 points while Vanderbilt scored 15. The third quarter was similar to the past 2 as Notre Dame kept steamrolling through as they outscored Vandy with 19-18 points. The fourth quarter was when Vanderbilt finally outscored Notre Dame as they dropped 20 on them while the Fighting Irish only scored 17. This did not matter however as the Fighting Irish came out on top with a final score of 67-64.

Notre Dame vs. Ohio State

This first round upset also messed up a lot of peoples brackets, Notre Dame not only messed up people in this game but they also upset Vanderbilt making them a hated team this year. In the first quarter, Ohio State outscored Notre Dame as the Buckeyes scored 22 points to the Irish’s 20. In the second quarter, Notre Dame dominated scoring 23 points while Ohio State was held to only 13 points, turning the tide of the game. Ohio State fired back though as they scored 19 points and held the Irish to only 15. Notre Dame came back fighting though, scoring 25 points in the fourth quarter and held the Buckeyes to only 19, giving the Fighting Irish a 10 point lead to end the game. The final score for the game was 83-73 but that wasn’t the only side of the story as the Irish dominated in rebounds as they had 6 more than the Buckeyes, they were also dominating in steals and the lack of turnovers, making it apparent that the Irish may not be the most effective shooting wise but they were effective on defense.

University of South Carolina vs UCLA

We don’t talk about that one.