Midwest Region: First Round Recap (By David Gentile)

Player of the Round: One of the much talked about potential upsets in the first round was North Dakota State over Kansas. While the Bison fell short, Ben Woodside proved that they could compete with the Jayhawks. The senior guard who came in averaging 23.2 ppg, played all 40 minutes on Saturday, scoring 37 points. Experience and guard play are the two key elements to winning in the tournament, and although NDSU lost 84-74, it was not for a lack of effort from Woodside.
Honorable Mentions: Taj Gibson of USC went 10-10 from the floor and scored 24 points as USC continued its hot streak, beating Boston College 72-55.
Chris Wright scored 27 in Dayton's upset of West Virginia.

The Unexpected: How often does a very overmatched team come out, and not only upset, but dominate, a much higher seed? 13 seed Cleveland State set the tone early against Wake Forest with a 9-0 run to start the game, and held roughly a 9 point advantage for the rest of the game. J'Nathan Bullock, Cedric Jackson, and Norris Cole combined for 62 of the Vikings's 84 points. They took much better care of the basketball, with 6 turnovers to Wake's 18, and were able to put up 15 more shots as a result. My pick for the spoiler of this region ended up on the wrong end of a spoiler role.

Best Team Performance: The Siena Saints did not hold a lead at any point from 18:12 in the first half until 4:46 into the first overtime, before pulling out the win in the second overtime. In order to do so, the Saints needed a 3-pointer from Ronald Moore with 12 seconds to go, and then had to lock down defensively to hold the lead as time expired. All of Siena's starters finished the game scoring in double figures and the Saints beat Ohio State 74-72 in the most exciting game of the first round.

Looking Ahead: Three games in round 2 will feature majors versus mid-majors, more than the other three regions combined. The 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 seeds were upset in the first round, and the 1 and 2 seeds played close first halves with their respective opponents, while 3 seed Kansas pulled away from North Dakota State down the homestretch. It was the most competitive region in round one, and look for more of the same in round two.