Yale over Baylor highlights the action early in the first day

Sometimes you can take the whole day off and watch basketball until your eyes bleed. Other days you have to work and then try to figure out what you missed while you commute home. Don't worry though, your friends here at Banners have you covered.

#9 Connecticut 74, #8 Colorado 67

In a game that nobody wanted to win, Colorado and UConn battled to see who could more effectively throw the game away. Colorado led by double figures in the second half, then stopped playing effective basketball. UConn came back but then starting missing simple shots and turning the ball over like it was what Kevin Ollie had coached them to do. Colorado big man Josh Scott went for 23/11/0 on 5-10/0-0/13-18 shooting; he was insatiable on the post, but the Buffs didn't feed him frequently enough to let him eat.

#4 Duke 93 - #13 UNC Wilmington 85

Duke was trailing by 3 at the half, but they shot 25 free throws in the first 15 minutes of the second half to claw their way back. To say the officiating - which called 33 fouls on UNC Wilmington and 18 on Duke - was questionable would be generous. The Blue Devils got 23 and 8 with 3 blocks out of Marshall Plumlee, the only player on their roster who has anything resembling physical toughness.

#9 Butler 71 - #8 Texas Tech 61

These teams exchanged punches for 32 minutes, with Butler holding a two-point lead at the half and the game tied with just over eight minutes left. Then Kelan Martin went on a personal 8-0 run over the course of 49 seconds to turn a tight game into an uphill struggle for Tech. They got it back to three, but a Kelan Martin steal led to a Kelli Dunham three that basically buried the game. Dunham went for 23/2/2 on 8-15/5-9/2-2 shooting with 2 steals in the win.

#4 Iowa State 94 - #13 Iona 81

Iowa State got out early, up 26-13 at the second media timeout, and never looked back. Iona was an intriguing mid-major with the right matchup, but Iowa State was always going to be a really tough opponent for them. The Cyclones were up a dozen at halftime and were never under serious pressure down the stretch. Monte Morris went for 20/3/8 on 7-12/2-4/4-4 shooting as ISU advanced at a trot.

#12 Yale 75 - #5 Baylor 72

A reasonable person could be forgiven for having taken Baylor a long way. After all, they had a massive athletic advantage on Yale:

Oh my god Rico Gathers ate a man https://t.co/HmIAzrP73Q https://t.co/WFI1DGiHwM

— Seth Rosenthal (@seth_rosenthal) March 17, 2016

Baylor could never make their athleticism play though, as Yale rode a narrow lead into the half. They ballooned it up to 60-50 with 8:41 left; the Bears woke up in time to make a game of it, but a really unfortunate slip down 2 with under 30 seconds left became the turnover that iced the game. Baylor couldn't defend for spit, and Makai Mason's 31/6/4 went a long way towards costing me a team I had playing a lot of games yet.

#1 Virginia 81 - #16 Hampton 45

Sometimes the low seed makes the game interesting. Sometimes they're down 19 at the half and lose by 36.