The NCAA Tournament did its best to remind us all why it is so glorious despite its frustrating warts, rudimentary product and assurance of lamentation. The opening weekend produced dramatic and unforeseen moments which concluded in both euphoria and sorrow, both victory and defeat. With the field now narrowed from 64 to 16 after a four-day spectacle, we look back at the weekend’s winners and losers.

Winners

Cinderellas

The gleaming goad of March Madness. An NCAA Tournament-record 10 double-digit seeds won in the Round of 64 Thursday and Friday, calling upon an inordinate amount of properly fitting ruby slippers. Even when discounting wins by March fixtures such as Syracuse, Gonzaga, VCU and Wichita State, there were plenty of obscure programs which preyed on the capricious style of the tournament to vault its namesake into the light of public exposure.

Middle Tennessee State took a shredder to the brackets of millions with its historic upset of Michigan State, in turn evicting Tom Izzo from his mansion he resides in during the oscillating season of March. The Blue Raiders starting five-man unit comprised of a quintet of capable long-range shooters with each also possessing the ability to take advantage of favorable one-on-one matchups.

The Spartans were flummoxed by forward Reggie Upshaw Jr.’s perimeter skillset which he combined with a deadly pump-and-go game where his body control and hang time made difficult finishes at the rim a commonality. Michigan State also couldn’t eradicate brawny point guard Giddy Potts, who stabilized the Blue Raiders for the duration of their upset bid.

Hawaii secured its first NCAA Tournament win in school history with its resolute denunciation of California’s talented, but underachieving and ailing roster. Even with star big man Stefan Jankovic saddled with foul trouble, the Rainbow Warriors altered the hierarchy of the pacific time zone. Jankovic still scored 16 points, but it was swingman Quincy Smith who demanded primary homage in the upset victory. Smith reeled off a series of quick-twitch floaters and running layups that seemed to be consistently steered toward the rim by a higher power on his way to 19 points as he gave Hawaii head coach Eran Ganot, who represented himself as a cultural state hero rocking a cabana shirt, an unexpected source of offensive production in the monumental victory.

Stephen F. Austin shocked West Virginia leaving Bob Huggins looking, well like Bob Huggins always looks actually. Nevertheless, SFA out-scrapped, out-hustled and out-pressured West Virginia as the combined brilliance of head Brad Underwood and star player Thomas Walkup reduced the famous Press Virginia to little more than an inconvenience. Walkup’s coach’s son-style of play built on savvy body positioning and high IQ basketball repeatedly afforded the senior trips to the free throw line, while SFA’s defensive pressure forced the aloof Mountaineers into a bundle of mind-numbing turnovers.

Arkansas Little Rock showcased it possess some big stones as it rallied from 14 points down with about five minutes remaining in regulation to eventually shock Purdue in double overtime. The disciplined man defense of Little Rock ramped up the pressure, subjugating Purdue’s shaky ball handlers into a flurry of poor decisions and discombobulated offensive sets, while point guard Josh Hagins displayed the testicular fortitude that would make Donald Trump blush with his pull-up game-tying fadeaway 3. Hagins continued his clutch shot-making in the overtime periods elevating over Purdue defenders on all sorts of tough fallaway jumpers. By the end of the night, all Hagins was missing was a provocative Sam Cassell-style statement.

Northern Iowa provided the weekend’s featured act on CBS’ eventual “One Shining Moment” when Paul Jesperson banked in a half-court buzzer beater to defeat Texas that will go down as one of the most memorable shots in tournament history. However, it was point guard Wes Washpun who was primarily responsible for repeated cutaways to a giddy Kurt Warner as the senior scored 17 points and steadied the Panthers after a Texas run.

Yale pulled the annual tradition of upsetting an overrated Big 12 team in the first round with well-executed and imaginative offensive sets as well as Makai Mason darting all over the floor to pour in a career-high 31 points for the Bulldogs. Mason warded off Baylor’s comeback attempt, which was aided by the ball handling (if we want to call it that) of Baylor’s Letser Medford in the game’s final moments.

Friday

Friday’s action could make a case as the best single day in NCAA Tournament history. It was the first time a 13, 14 and 15 seed all won on the same day with Hawaii, Stephen F. Austin and Middle Tennessee State pulling upsets. The day also included two buzzer beaters with Iowa’s Adam Woodbury tipping in a game winner (Yeah, but he pushed o----blablabla—I can’t hear you) and Jesperson’s half-court heave. As the shock of Jesperson’s hail mary was still resonating, about one real-time minute later, Saint Joes’ Isaiah Miles buried a go-ahead 3-pointer, but Cincinnati came back with a dunk, that was milliseconds away from beating the buzzer and sending the game into overtime.

The ACC

For the second consecutive tournament, the ACC earned big points in the pugnacious and generally meaningless argument concerning conference elitism. After tying the NCAA Tournament record with five schools in the Sweet 16 last season, the ACC sent six to the second weekend this year, with the conference’s seven tournament representatives posting a combined record of 12-1. With no interconference matchups in the Sweet 16, it’s possible the ACC could occupy six of eight Elite Eight slots. So, in the future spare me the qualms of the conference’s lack of depth when discussing conference hierarchy.

Program and Coach Vindication

It was refreshing to see some coaches and programs exonerated on opening weekend. Iowa State finally made it the second week of the tournament despite twice being saddled with the possibility of suffering another embarrassing upset. However, as Georges Niang rejoiced, former head coach Fred Hoiberg could only sniffle and blink profusely as he looked at Jimmy Butler donning street clothes and attempted to hold back the tears.

Jay Wright ensured his rich skin, well-groomed hair and dignified attire choices will be enjoyed for a second weekend as his coaching acumen finally reached the level of his appearance. Okay maybe not, but c’mon if we are being realistic we know such a task is next to impossible.

It’s about time Tom Crean’s job security got off life support. The Indiana coach’s exit has been subject to speculation for several seasons now, but Crean showed his coaching chops in the opening weekend as his Hoosiers put a pasting on Chattanooga in the Round of 64 then defeated John Callipari’s Wildcats Saturday in a highly-touted matchup. Good for you Tom Crean. As a reward you can keep honestly telling Jim Harbaugh you have to work when he asks to hang out.

Losers

The Pac-12

The conference didn’t exactly make a convincing pitch to see more national television with its collective performance over the weekend. Hidden on the Pac-12 network for the most part (outside of a few painful parings with Bill Walton’s vagabond commentary on ESPN 2), the conference was generally ignored as far as national coverage. Could you have named two players for Oregon before the tournament? Be honest. Given the opportunity to become a national media whore, the conference recoiled amid a handful of disappointing losses. Colorado loss an uneventful Round of 64 matchup to UConn, USC forgot how to defend in-bounds plays against Providence, Utah forgot how to play basketball in general against Gonzaga, Sean Miller had an Albert Brooks-style showing in his team’s Round of 64 loss to Wichita State and California looked like the lesser team against a mid-major program. Not a good look.

Cinderellas

As much as the Cinderellas were winners in the Round of 64, each fell flat in the Round of 32. Northern Iowa was the perfect example of the wicked high and lows of March even for schools people previously didn’t know existed. After beating Texas on Jesperson’s miracle shot, UNI conceded a spot in the Sweet 16 after one of the biggest meltdowns in tournament history. Likewise, SFA fell victims to a last-second tip in to Notre Dame, Hawaii held tough against Maryland before giving way to the floodgates, Little Rock was run off the floor by Iowa State, Middle Tennessee State went ice cold against Syracuse and Yale dug too big of a hole against Duke as its rally fell short. For a moment, with a flooded field of mid majors in the Round of 32, it seemed inevitable the odds would prevail and give everyone a rooting interest outside of whichever team is playing Duke, but that’s the problem with fairytales—they’re rarely nonfiction.

Brackets

Don’t look at or worry about your bracket; it is busted just as everyone else’s, so just strike a match to it and enjoy the tournament. As for the monetary value you placed within that bracket…well hopefully you stopped reading this by now and weren’t just reminded of it.