Some years the NCAA Men's Tournament goes according to plan. Other years the chaos ensues from day one. With no clear-cut Goliath and a bunch of Davids armed with high velocity slingshots, ya just had to know that the latter was going to be the case.
The Big East, which received an excessive eight bids, took it on the chin in day one. These teams were supposed to leave their mark on the tournament. Instead the tournament place a footprint on the backside of Big East teams on day one.
Georgetown saw first-hand what a grand equalizer the three-point shot is as the Bobcats of Ohio dispatched the Hoyas in dominant fashion. From the start the Bobcats had the look of a team that expected to win. Notre Dame would have likely rather have taken the more appropriate NIT bid than show up at the big dance and score 50 in a one-point loss to Old Dominion. Marquette, bounced by a last minute bank-shot against Washington, gave the most inspired performance of any Big East team on day one.
Villanova, a national finalist in the consensus bracket of the D-train Staff, was most dissapointing of all despite their victory. Robert Morris dominated the Wildcats on the boards as they almost pulled off what would have been the tourney's biggest upset... so far. One could attribute 'Nova's scare to bad shooting, bad rebounding, or a lack of rhythm due to the early benching of senior starters Scotty Reynolds and Corey Fisher; Either way, it is apparent that the Wildcats team that backed into the tournament (losers of five of their last seven leading up to the tourney) is in trouble.
Apparently the Big East teams that played on day one thought that showing up would secure victory -- They were mistaken. Syracuse and Pitt, among others, are on notice.
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