Day 2 Storylines
* After there were seven upsets Thursday, including four by teams seeded 11th or lower, there were just three upsets yesterday: a No. 12 seed (Cornell) and two No. 10 seeds (Missouri and Georgia Tech). There weren’t even many close games — just three were decided by five points or less.
* The Big 12 has the most teams remaining in the tournament with five (Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, Texas A&M and Missouri). The ACC, Big East and Big Ten are tied for second with four, and the SEC, Mountain West, Pac-10 and West Coast Conference each have two.
* Despite getting easy wins from Syracuse, West Virginia and Pittsburgh, the first round put a big dent in any argument for the Big East as the nation’s best conference. The league went 4-4 over the first two days, and had three teams lose to lower seeds.
COMPLETE MARCH MADNESS COVERAGE
Three Stars of the Day
Louis Dale, Cornell
The 5-foot-11 senior point guard led the Big Red to the Ivy League’s first tournament win since 1998 with game-highs of 21 points and seven assists in Cornell’s 78-65 win over Temple.
Jordan Crawford, Xavier
Crawford did it all against Minnesota, finishing with 28 points, six rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block in the Musketeers’ 65-54 win.
JaJuan Johnson, Purdue
After many people predicted No. 13 seed Siena would beat Purdue without Robbie Hummel, Johnson exploded for 23 points, 15 rebounds, two assists and three blocks in the Boilermakers’ 72-64 win.