NCAA Tournament winners, losers: Paladins break UVA’s heart; playing Sasser will haunt Houston
And now, finally, an answer to one of the biggest questions as the men’s NCAA Tournament started on Thursday: What the heck is a Paladin?Â
Turns out, it’s a heartbreaker. Specifically, it’s a heartbreaker to the Virginia Cavaliers.Â
In all seriousness, a Paladin is a knight, often renowned for honor and heroism.Â
Maybe they should also get credit for good defense.Â
The 13th-seeded Paladins of Furman stole the show on Day 1, topping No. 4 seed Virginia 68-67 in a wild finish that gave us our first major upset of the day. AÂ couple of hours later, No. 15 seed Princeton joined the party, knocking off No. 2 seed Arizona.Â
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But other top seeds looked dominant — which is what they’re supposed to look like, especially in their first-round games. All of it is coming together to provide an intriguing second round. But first, we’ve got one more whole day of first-round games, which may provide even more chaos.Â
For now, here are the winners and losers from Day 1.
Winners
Cinderella
There’s nothing like an upset — or two!Â
First, in the Virginia-Furman game, the Paladins’ suffocating, trapping defense made Virginia senior Kihei Clark panic, and he heaved a dangerous, cross-court pass as the game’s final seconds wound down. That pass was intercepted by Furman’s Garrett Hien, who kicked it to JP Pegues, who’d missed his three previous attempts from long distance. Pegues calmly buried the 3 to go up 68-67. After a timeout, Virginia’s game-winning attempt was off.Â