The early games today saw a No. 11 seed upset a No. 6 seed, a game go to double overtime, and a No. 15 damn near knock off a No. 2. But March Madness hasn’t really begun until some kid hits the shot of his life to beat the buzzer before finding himself at the bottom of a pile of delirious teammates. Which brings us to Murray State’s Danero Thomas.
After Vanderbilt’s Jermaine Beal sunk two free throws with 12.7 seconds remaining to give the fourth-seeded Commodores a one-point lead, Thomas drained a contested jumper as time expired to give No. 13 Murray State a 66–65 win, and the young tournament’s biggest upset so far.
The other games weren’t quite so dramatic: Third-seeded Baylor outlasted No. 14 seed Sam Houston State, 68–59; St. Mary’s pulled off a minor upset of seventh-seeded Richmond, 80–71; and Kansas State destroyed North Texas, 82–62. Also, assuming you haven’t been at work (and actually working), you’ve now watched enough games to know which commercials you’ll be seeing 600 times over the next three weeks. That Southwest Airlines “Bags Fly Free” commercial? Where the airport workers expose their painted chests to what appears to be a Hillary Clinton impersonator? Yeah, get used to that.