The NCAA Tournament got started with two play-in games on Tuesday night, as North Carolina A&T and Saint Mary's advancing into the second round, bouncing 20-loss Liberty and Middle Tennessee to end their March Madness dreams.
Liberty was the first 20 loss team in the tournament since Coppin State, but now they will head home as NC A&T takes on Louisville in the real first round of the tournament. The team won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament, but now faces a steep challenge in Louisville, as no 16 seed as even beaten a number one, let alone a number one overall. The team snapped a nine game tourney losing streak with the win.
"It's been a long time," first-year Aggies coach Cy Alexander said.
The Aggies went 18-16 last season to snap a streak 15 straight losing years and finished the season by winning five in a row. North Carolina A&T was 14-16 before the tournament and made it in by beating the top teams in their conference. The Aggies won 73-72 over Liberty and it mirrored last year's play in game, which also was decided by one point.
North Carolina A&T ranks 290th in scoring in the nation with under 63 per game and are 131st in rebounding with just over 35 boards. The team has some issues with assists and field goal percentage, but they had fierce play over the final stretch, winning six of its last seven games.
Saint Mary's also advanced on Tuesday night, defeating Middle Tennessee 67-54 in one of the play-in games and will now face Memphis on Thursday in Michigan. Leading scorer Matthew Dellavedova had a fantastic game on Tuesday, scoring 22 points to give his team a victory and some hoe heading into the main tournament.
President Obama also picked his bracket, with Louisville, Indiana, Ohio State and Florida making the trip and the Cardinals and Hoosiers facing off in the finals with Indiana winning it all out of the Big Ten.
Prediction: Louisville and Indiana advance to the finals with the Cardinals coming out on top. Louisville is the number one overall seed after winning the Big East tournament and coach Rick Pitino has the team ready to make a run. The team will take down Indiana in the finals.
The team has a solid trip through the Midwest bracket, but easily is the favorites and could face Ohio State in the semifinals. The team will get past Colorado State and Michigan State and will have a battle with the Buckeyes for the championship spot. Peyton Siva will be the focus for the Cardinals and the senior will come through for the team.