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Day One of March Madness
Ben Remis
March 21, 2025
Good Morning! Here’s what happened in the world of sports on Thursday, March 20.
MARCH MADNESS
Day one is in the books– let’s get right to it with winners and losers:
WINNERS:
Bennett Stirtz and the Drake Bulldogs pulled off the upset of the day, an impressive complete-game victory over (6) Missouri. Like many of his teammates, Stirtz followed coach Ben McCollum to Drake this season from the D-II school Northwest Missouri State. Drake is a true Cinderella story, and if they keep playing like this, they may have quite a long time until the clock strikes midnight.
Fans of blowouts may have been the biggest winners of the day– nine games were decided by 12 points or more. No one was as dominant as (1) Houston. They scored 52 points in the first half against (16) SIUE, and allowed 40 points in the entire game!
Remix reader Ellie S. who went 15-16 on Day One and leads our Bracket Challenge! The only person to pick Texas Tech as the champion, will Ellie hold on to first place?
LOSERS:
Hunter Dickinson and (7) Kansas got bounced by (10) Arkansas and Coach John Calipari. KU is the second-ever preseason number one team to lose in the first round of the tournament– the first was also Kansas, in 2005. Dickinson was held scoreless in the second half of what turned out to be his final college game.
We’ve covered two of of the four upsets from Day One. One group was responsible for the other two– the ACC. It was a down season for the once-storied conference, and yesterday was no exception. (8) Louisville was beaten handily by (9) Creighton, while (5) Clemson scored just 13 points in the first half against (12) McNeese, ultimately falling 69-67 after a late comeback.
Whoever made the bracket “iHaveNoIdeaWhatImDoing”: 7 for 16 was good enough for last place in our Bracket Challenge. Maybe you’re a winner for accurately forecasting your bracket ability? Either way, tomorrow is a new day!
And finally, a word from one of our valued subscribers on the first day of Madness experience:
One day in, and March Madness Sadness is in full effect. I woke up this morning only to find out that my bracket is more busted than my New Year’s Resolutions were… on January 4th. And to anyone else who had Clemson in their Final Four like I did— time to pivot to pretending we “made all our picks based on the mascots” 🐅 -Ted M.
Sorry to hear about your bracket Ted M. but thanks for referring so many new readers! Hope it goes better for you today!
NHL
Number 8 scored career goal 888 last night. He’s just seven away from the record…
NOTEWORTHY NEWS
A group led by Bill Chisholm has agreed to purchase the Boston Celtics for $6.1 billion. This is the highest fee ever paid for an American sports franchise. “This process to buy the team started just under 50 years ago when I had my 7th birthday and attended a game at the old Boston Garden," Chisholm told ESPN Insider Shams Charania. "I was hooked ever since. I've been a rabid fan ever since. I bleed green. I love the Celtics. When this opportunity came up, I couldn't pass it up.” Sounds like the franchise is in good hands.
THIS WEEKEND’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)
Thanks again to Nicholas Carr on X for these helpful graphics…
TODAY:
Men’s March Madness, Round One
Women’s March Madness, Round One
SATURDAY:
Men’s March Madness, Round Two
Women’s March Madness, Round One
SUNDAY: More madness… schedule TBD! Other sports may have games on the schedule, but this weekend is all about college basketball. Enjoy the action!
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