Some are calling the first day of March Madness the greatest opening day of all time. Five double-digit seeds — #14 Ohio, #13 Murray State, #11 Washington, #11 Old Dominion and #10 St. Mary’s — advanced, one off the first day record of six set almost twenty years ago. Three games — BYU/Florida, Villanova/Robert Morris and Texas/Wake Forest — went into overtime, and it took BYU double-overtime to finally put away the Gators. There were only two overtime games during the entire 2009 tournament.

In total, nine of the 16 games were either went into overtime and/or were decided by five points or less. Three others — Baylor/Sam Houston, Ohio/G-Town and Butler/UTEP — were compelling for other reasons. Baylor had to fend off a feisty #14 seed in the waning minutes, and Butler was down to UTEP by six at halftime before unleashing a barrage of threes in the second half. The Bulldogs hit eight threes in the first 12 minutes during a 28-6 run that left the Miners wondering what the hell happened.

And Ohio…it’s not like the Bobcats looked like a quality mid-major primed for an upset heading into the tournament. They were 7-9…yes, 7-9…in the MAC heading into the conference tourney where they needed four straight wins — including impressive victories over regular season champ Kent State and defending champion Akron — just to get a bid after battling key injuries and suspensions all season.

Again, it was the long ball that was the great equalizer. The Bobcats hit 13-23 threes against the Hoyas, but most of the damage was done by Ohio’s starting backcourt, junior Armon Bassett (5-10 3PT, 32 points) and freshman D.J. Cooper (5-8 3PT, 23 points). And it’s not like Ohio was a prolific three-point shooting team coming in. The Bobcats made about 36% on the season, which put them #89 in the country. Their 7.3 made threes ranked #65 in the country.

The vaunted Big East had a pretty rough go of it, losing three teams — G-Town, Notre Dame and Marquette — and almost losing another (Villanova). That doesn’t bode particularly well for my Final Four picks (Syracuse, West Virginia).

From a bracket standpoint, it wasn’t a great day for my picks, but it wasn’t a disaster either. I went 9-7, but only lost one Sweet Sixteen team (Georgetown), while nailing a pretty big upset (Murray State) that knocked out a #4-seed Vanderbilt team that was a fairly popular Sweet Sixteen pick. Moreover, five of those seven losses — UNLV, SDSU, Texas, Marquette and Notre Dame — were by three points or less. Conversely, I won five tight games — Murray State, BYU, New Mexico, Baylor and Villanova — so I don’t feel too bad.

The mission for the first two days is not to lose any Elite Eight or Final Four teams, and as few Sweet Sixteen teams as possible. Even with all of these upsets, 15 of my Sweet Sixteen teams are still alive, and my Elite Eight and Final Four picks are in solid shape…at least for now. This is a marathon, not a sprint.

From a statistical standpoint, it wasn’t a terribly good day for Jeff Sagarin’s ratings, which went just 7-3 in games where one team had at least a three-point advantage in his Predictor rating. Then again, two of those losses — Vanderbilt and Texas — came on the last shot, so the record could have easily gone 9-1 (or 4-6, had BYU, New Mexico, Baylor and Nova lost their tight games).

On the other hand, Ken Pomeroy’s Pythagorean win percent went 7-1 in games where it gave the favorite a 70%+ chance to win, 0-1 in the 65%-70% range, and 5-2 in the 50%-60% range. (There were no games on Thursday that fell in the 60%-65% range.)

All in all, it was a helluva ride, and Friday is going to be hard-pressed to match Thursday’s excitement. I’m particularly looking forward to Temple/Cornell, Purdue/Siena, Xavier/Minnesota and Oklahoma St./Georgia Tech, but really, there are a number of great matchups throughout the day.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Only those viewers lucky enough to have access to ESPN360 saw #7 Duke edge #24 Florida St. last night, 84-81. Apparently, you have to subscribe to an approved internet service provider to watch games on ESPN360. (Great. Then what the hell is my Insider subscription for?) Anyway, the win sets up an ACC regular season title game between Duke and North Carolina on Sunday. If UNC wins tonight (@ Virginia Tech), then the Blue Devils will be playing for a share of the title, but the Tar Heels lose to the Hokies, Sunday’s game will be of the winner-take-all variety.

North Carolina is still the heavy favorite, but Duke is playing a lot better of late, ever since Coach K inserted freshman guard Elliot Williams into the starting lineup five games ago. He is averaging 11.6 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 31.4 minutes of play after getting just 10.6 minutes in the previous 22 games. He gives the Blue Devils more athleticism in its backcourt, which helps both offensively and defensively. If Duke were able to pull off the upset in Chapel Hill, they’d position themselves for a possible #1 seed if they could go on to win the ACC tournament. But that’s a long way off.

Elsewhere in the ACC, the Maryland Terrapins really needed a win against visiting Wake Forest to get an NCAA bid, but the Demon Deacons finished strong in a 65-63 win. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi already had the Terps out of the tournament, but they had a chance to play themselves back into the conversation in a major way with home games against Duke and Wake, but they weren’t able to win either contest. Now they have to beat Virginia on Saturday (to get to 8-8 in the conference) and then make a big run in the ACC tourney with a couple of wins against the likes of North Carolina, Duke, Wake and Clemson. Good luck with that, Terps.

Duke got a big win on Saturday against Virginia Tech to stay alive in the race for the conference championship. They host a good Florida State team on Tuesday before their showdown next Sunday at North Carolina. The Tar Heels travel to VT on Wednesday. The Blue Devils are one game back, so a pair of wins to close the regular season would give Duke at least a share of the ACC championship. Most pundits have written Duke off for a #1 seed, but if they were to win out and then win the ACC tournament, they could sneak in as a top seed.

As a basketball fan, it would be great to see Duke beat FSU tomorrow guaranteeing that the Duke/UNC tilt on Sunday is for the conference title. Even if the Tar Heels beat Tech and guarantee themselves at least a share of the ACC title, they won’t want to miss out on an opportunity to slam the door on the Dookies. Meanwhile, the Blue Devils need to be careful not to look past a Florida State team that is 22-7. Duke beat FSU in Tallahassee back in January, so the Seminoles will have revenge on their minds.

Joe Lunardi (ESPN “bracketologist”) says that if the season ended today…

In a battle of two of the top teams in the ACC (and in the nation), the Duke Blue Devils jumped out quickly on the Demon Deacons, building a 22-point lead late in the first half before Wake slowly chipped away at the lead. They got within two points with under eight minutes to play in the second half, but Duke managed its lead and ultimately triumphed, 101-91.

Before the game, Wake Forest head coach Dino Gaudio talked up his team’s league-leading field goal percentage allowed, and then Duke went out and set the nets on fire. Duke shot 54% from the field, and Wake was even better, shooting 61% in the loss. It’s not often that a team shoots over 60% and still loses the game.

Let’s say you’re sitting in a Vegas sportsbook yesterday afternoon and you decide that you want to get odds on a parlay that has #3 Duke losing to #10 Clemson by 27 points and #6 Wake Forest losing at Miami by the exact same margin. Or let’s just say that you have them both losing by 20-plus. What kind of odds would you be able to get? 100-1? 1,000-1? 10,000-1?

That’s exactly what happened. Clemson slammed Duke, 74-47, while Miami blasted Wake, 79-52. Littlejohn Coliseum is a great home court environment and the Tigers were able to jump all over the Blue Devils, leading from the get-go. It was just one of those nights for Duke when nothing was falling. Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer were a combined 4 of 23 from the field for 12 points. As a team, Duke shot 23% from long range and 31% from the field, and they were rattled by the Tigers’ full court pressure. Trevor Booker was stellar for Clemson, posting 21 points and eight boards, both game highs.

Meanwhile, the Demon Deacons were stymied by Miami’s zone defense en route to a brutal 32% from the field (and just 15% from long range). Jack McClinton had 32 points for the Hurricanes. Miami broke a three-game losing streak with the victory.

North Carolina and Duke sit atop the ACC at 6-2, while Clemson is a half game behind at 5-2. The Tar Heels visit Duke next Wednesday in a game that will determine who is in the driver’s seat in the ACC.

Who says the college basketball regular season doesn’t mean anything? (Kirk Herbstreit and Mike Greenberg, I’m looking at you.)

When Dino Gaudio took over as the head coach at Wake Forest, he immediately announced a change in defensive philosophy. He decided that if the team wanted to become a perennial contender, they had to focus more on that end of the court. He implemented the Pack Defense, created by Dick Bennett, former coach at Wisconsin and Washington State. He spoke with Dick’s son, Tony, as well as Sean Miller, who uses the defense at Xavier.

That change in philosophy paid great dividends tonight, as the #4 Demon Deacons upended #1 Duke, 70-68, limiting the Blue Devils to just 4-22 from long range.

But good defense can’t always overcome bad free throw shooting. Wake Forest led, 61-48, with 8:50 to play. Benefiting from Wake’s 5-10 free throw shooting down the stretch, Duke went on a 20-7 run to tie the game at 68-68. The game should have gone to overtime, but Gerald Henderson, Nolan Smith and David McClure didn’t communicate on Wake’s out-of-bounds play with only a few seconds remaining, and James Johnson sprung free for a way-too-easy layup to win the game. Johnson was positioned to be the goat, as he was outhustled by Jon Scheyer for a rebound on Duke’s previous possession (which set up Gerald Henderson’s game-tying bucket over Johnson).

In the end, these were two very good teams doing battle in the ACC. Wake Forest now has the inside track to a #1 seed with wins over Duke and North Carolina, but the two teams will meet again in Durham on Feb. 22 and may meet a third time in the ACC Tournament.

In other action, #3 Pitt lost to #22 Villanova, 67-57. It’s tough to win any game on the road in the Big East, especially against a ranked opponent like the Wildcats. Reggie Redding led ‘Nova with 18 points as the Wildcats’ defense held the Panthers to just 42% from the floor and 20% from long range.

In one of those easy-to-miss-if-you’re-not-paying-attention weekday games, #1 Duke travels to Winston-Salem to face #4 Wake Forest in a big-time ACC showdown. The Blue Devils need to contain dynamic guard Jeff Teague and do their best to battle the Demon Deacons’ big men — James Johnson, Al-Farouq Aminu and Chas McFarland — in the paint. With improved play from 7’1″ center Brian Zoubek, Duke now has some extra beef down low.

The Demon Deacons have the home court advantage, but Duke is still a slight favorite, at least according to the Las Vegas oddsmakers. Wake Forest lost last week at home to Virginia Tech, but looked great in a Jan. 11 home win against North Carolina. Kyle Singler leads the Blue Devils in scoring (16.5 ppg), but lately it has been Gerald Henderson leading the way. He has averaged 21.0 points on 64% shooting over the last five games, so the Demon Deacons would be wise to account for him.

The game is on ESPN tonight at 7 PM.

Everyone, meet Jeff Teague…

He’s a 6’2″ sophomore combo guard from Indiana who is averaging 20.6 points and 4.1 assists per game. Last night, in a marquee matchup with UNC’s Ty Lawson, Teague posted 34 points and four dimes to help #4-ranked Wake Forest pull out a 92-89 win over the #3-ranked Tar Heels. Teague completely outplayed Lawson — nine points, five assists, six rebounds — which makes one wonder why Lawson is projected to go in the mid-first round of the NBA Draft while Teague isn’t even on NBADraft.net’s draft board. Wait, there he is at #14…hmm…he wasn’t there last night when I checked. Does that mean, according to NBADraft.net, that Teague’s performance against North Carolina raised his stock from undrafted free agent to borderline lottery? It would appear so. (For the draft geeks, here is DraftExpress.com’s profile for Teague. They aptly compare him to Aaron Brooks and Louis Williams.)

Danny Green led the Tar Heels with 22 points, hitting 3 of 4 of his three-point shots. Tyler Hansbrough finished with 17 points, but only shot 3 of 12 from the field. The Demon Deacons’ big men did a nice job of keeping him from catching the ball in the post.

Wake Forest is a team to be reckoned with in the ACC. In addition to Teague, they have Al-Farouq Aminu (a 6’9″ lottery prospect) and James Johnson, who are both projected to go in the first round of the NBA Draft. Seven-footer Chas McFarland (who posted 20 points and nine boards last night) anchors the middle.

Wake Forest has a pair of tough road games coming up against Boston College and Clemson before coming home to host Virginia Tech and Duke.

Over the past couple years, the most two-faced program in college football has to be the Maryland Terps. One week they’re losing to Middle Tennessee State and the next they’re beating a ranked California team. Then another week they get crushed 31-0 at Virginia, only to bounce back and rout the No. 21 team.

That No. 21 team in the nation was (emphasis on was) the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, who laid an egg in College Park on Saturday, falling to a near flawless Maryland team, 26-0. Terps’ QB Chris Turner was impressive in the victory, completing 28 of 41 passes for 321 yards and a touchdown, while junior wideout Darrius Heyward-Bey hauled in 11 catches for 101 yards and a score.

Getting back to Maryland’s inconsistencies – they have to be the most perplexing team in the ACC. They obviously have enough talent to compete and they continue to be incredibly tough to beat at home, but for some reason they can never get over the hump. Whether the blame falls on the coaches for not getting their team focused week in and week out or the players just aren’t executing, the bottom line is that the Terps are good enough to be ranked every year, yet continue to underachieve on so many levels.

As I’m sure some of you were this past Saturday, I sat on my couch in utter amazement at what I was watching go down in college football.

Maryland beat Clemson?

Navy is on top of Wake Forest??

Mississippi might knock off Florida???

USC lost to Oregon State????

Okay, so we knew that last outcome because it happened on Thursday night. And we shouldn’t have been that surprised when upsets happen in college football because, well, upsets happen in college football.

But the reason they’re happening this year is more prevalent than in years past: From smaller to big-time programs, the talent level is better across the nation.

Ole’ Miss isn’t afraid to walk into Gainesville these days because they have players like Jevan Snead and Shay Hodge that can compete with Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin. The Beavers could care less that the Trojans are the top ranked program in the nation not just because they beat USC in Corvallis two years ago, but also because quarterback Lyle Moevao and freshman running back Jacquizz Rodgers can play for just about any team in the nation.

Granted, Florida is going to beat Mississippi on most Saturdays and that’s why the Gators were No. 5 in the nation and the Rebels weren’t anywhere near the top 25 coming into weekend. Voters are often clueless, but they’re competent enough to recognize that the Gators and Trojans have more overall depth and talent than the Rebels and Beavers. But the fact of the matter is that the mid-level programs have caught up dramatically over the years.