Thursday and Friday were days full of promise for many. On Thursday, everything went according to plan, as the only upsets were from 12th-seeded Middle Tennessee State University and 11th-seeded Xavier University knocking out the University of Minnesota and the University of Maryland, respectively. On Friday, highly favored Southern Methodist University was upset by the University of Southern California in the last seconds of the game.

In the first round, Middle Tennessee did it again. Once again testing the power of the higher ranked seeds, 12th-seeded Middle Tennessee pulled ahead of fifth-seeded Minnesota, just one year after they knocked out second-seeded Michigan State University as a 15 seed. Even as Minnesota began their comeback in the second half, Middle Tennessee held out and finished with an astounding nine-point lead with the final score being 81-72, creating one of many bracket-busters to come in this tournament.

After decades, Northwestern University finally reached the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament. In an exciting game against the heavily favored ninth-seeded Vanderbilt University, eighth-seeded Northwestern sealed the deal with its first ever tournament win. A close game by the half turned into a 15-point lead for Northwestern, only to be closed again as Vanderbilt came back in the middle of the second half. Vanderbilt, ahead by one with 14.6 seconds left, seemed destined to win. However, Vanderbilt fouled Northwestern’s Bryant McIntosh, and he pulled through to make both foul shots to seal the deal for his school’s first victory. This was definitely an emotional day for many Northwestern fans as they won by a score of 81-72.

On Friday, the USC Trojans advancing over SMU was a game that had many people on the edge of their seats. Ahead at the half, sixth-seeded SMU was confident in its abilities to win the game over 11th-seeded USC. It was not until USC snatched the lead with Elijah Stewart making a perfect 3-pointer with just seconds left in the second half that SMU began to worry. Although SMU had the ball in the final 10 seconds of the game, it was not enough. Shake Milton shot the ball, but it only touched the rim as time ran out, finalizing the score 66-65 as USC took the win.

This past weekend was not as consistent as the previous days had been. Instead, upsets became the norm. The top-seeded Villanova University fell short to eighth-seeded Wisconsin in an epic game played Saturday afternoon. Another upset occurred when 11th-seeded Xavier beat third-seeded Florida State University.

The current national champion holder and top overall seed in the tournament, Villanova had been expected by many to be back-to-back champions. The dream was crushed by Wisconsin as it played a groundbreaking game on Saturday afternoon. Tied again in the second half with 11.4 seconds remaining, Nigel Hayes made a nice lay-up and put Wisconsin in the lead. With 3.4 seconds left, Villanova still had a chance to tie the game, but the Wildcats’ Jalen Brunson’s final sprint down the court came up short as time ran out with a final score of 65-62.

To add to the heartbreak for fans and players alike, first-seeded Gonzaga University survived its battle against Northwestern. Northwestern gave its all Saturday night as its first debut in the NCAA tournament was cut short in the second round. At the half, Gonzaga pulled ahead with an 18-point lead. In the second half, however, Northwestern closed the gap but eventually fell just short of the win 79-73.