Never a good Christmas when one’s own team is the victim of the only big first round NCAA tournament upset. I had this same feeling in 2010 when Wake Forest lost to Cleveland State as a 4 seed and two years ago when Kentucky lost as a 2 seed to St. Peter’s. Nevertheless, there were still some great games and storylines to emerge from the tournament’s first two days. Let’s now rank the games from best to worst and compare how my pre-tourney intrigue rankings compare to how the games actually played out.

	Ranking the NCAA First Round Games (Postgame)	Pre-Tourney Rank	Difference
1	(4) Auburn vs. (13) Yale (4:15)- TNT (245)	17	16
2	(6) BYU vs. (11) Duquesne (12:40)- TruTV (246)	8	6
3	(3) Kentucky vs. (14) Oakland (7:10)- CBS (5)	2	-1
4	(8) Florida Atlatic vs. (9) Northwestern (12:15)- CBS (5)	15	11
5	(5) Wisconsin vs. (12) James Madison (9:40)- CBS (5)	7	2
6	(5) Saint Mary’s vs. (12) Grand Canyon (10:05)- TruTV (246)	13	7
7	(6) Texas Tech vs. (11) NC State (9:40)- CBS (5)	12	5
8	(7) Florida vs. (10) Colorado (4:30)- TBS (247)	28	20
9	(7) Dayton vs. (10) Nevada (4:30)- TBS (247)	30	21
10	(4) Kansas vs. (13) Samford (9:55)- TBS (247)	6	-4
11	(5) San Diego State vs. (12) UAB (1:45)- TNT (245)	21	10
12	(7) Washington State vs. (10) Drake (10:05)- TruTV (246)	10	-2
13	(3) Creighton vs. (14) Akron (1:30)- TNT (245)	14	1
14	(2) Marquette vs. (15) Western KY (2:00)- TBS (247)	23	9
15	(6) South Carolina vs. (11) Oregon (4:00)- TNT (245)	1	-14
16	(4) Duke vs. (13) Vermont (7:10)- CBS (5)	9	-7
17	(4) Alabama vs. (13) Charleston (7:35)- TruTV (246)	3	-14
18	(7) Texas vs. (10) Colorado State (6:50)- TNT (245)	32	14
19	(3) Illinois vs. (14) Morehead State (3:10)- TruTV (246)	19	0
20	(8) Mississippi State vs. (9) Michigan State (12:15)- CBS (5)	29	9
21	(8) Utah State vs. (9) TCU (9:55)- TBS (247)	22	1
22	(1) North Carolina vs. (16) Wagner (2:45)- CBS (5)	25	3
23	(2) Iowa State vs. (15) South Dakota St. (7:35)- TruTV (246)	20	-3
24	(2) Arizona vs. (15) Long Beach State (2:00)- TBS (247)	26	2
25	(1) Purdue vs. (16) Grambling (7:25)- TBS (247)	18	-7
26	(8) Nebraska vs. (9) Texas A & M (6:50)- TNT (245)	11	-15
27	(3) Baylor vs. (14) Colgate (12:40)- TruTV (246)	16	-11
28	(6) Clemson vs. (11) New Mexico (3:10)- TruTV (246)	4	-24
29	(5) Gonzaga vs. (12) McNeese (7:25)- TBS (247)	5	-24
30	(1) Houston vs. (16) Longwood (9:20)- TNT (245)	31	1
31	(1) UConn vs. (16) Stetson (2:45)- CBS (5)	27	-4
32	(2) Tennessee vs. (15) St. Peter’s (9:20)- TNT (245)	24	-8