OK, BYU and Duquesne is underway. We got two games. IT’S TIME. THE FIRST MONITOR REVIEW OF THE TOURNAMENT! I’m not thrilled. Neither is Dallin Hall. The BYU point guard just took an inadvertent shot to the face and is bleeding everywhere. The intrepid staffers stuff cotton balls up his nose, and send him back out to the fray. Casual.

We got the two-screen ballgame cooking over here in this household. Mississippi State run a nasty ghost screen with Hubbard who gets like a quarter of an inch of separation and still fires from deep for a 3-pointer. This freshman is a bucket. He’s been a bucket since birth and he will always be a bucket. He needs zero room to get a shot off.

Big fan of Aly Khalifa when he hit the transfer portal out of Charlotte, but the BYU big man isn’t having a blast. He bricked a layup and barely got off the ground. “Credit card vertical” is what that’s referred to. Khalifa qualifies.

Spoiler. I’m a Jaden Akins guy. That dude has BOUNCE. So when the Michigan State guar comes out of nowhere for a big-time block, I can’t help but overlook any potential flaws and solely focus on why he’s clearly going to be a monster one day. Haters beware.

 Oh hey, Creighton and Akron tip off and well would you look at that, Trey Alexander hits another midrange jumper. In my brain, he’s shooting 86% from the field on that shot.

Chill, Akins. He rejects a screen, goes to his left hand and just yams all over Mississippi State. STUD. Get on board.

The net in the Salt Lake City quadrant is going to bother me. It’s like a frozen net in the Midwestern winter that won’t allow the ball to go all the way through it. Arizona can’t get a stop, but it can’t get the ball out of the net to run, either. How is this happening in March?

BYU is like a play from getting over the hump for a minute, but it can’t find one last gasp. Duquesne knocks off BYU, 71-67, to move to the second round. We have our first upset. Two-bid A-10!

on my television screen. Akron is getting some unbelievable looks that aren’t going down against Creighton, and Groce is living and dying with every jumper. He can’t hide his emotion. He wants this one bad. I’m convinced someone can be “too” wide open, and Akron’s dudes qualify. But former walk-on Enrique Freeman is on a mission against Ryan Kalkbrenner. He is not scared one bit by the three-time Defensive Player of the Year.

Let’s check in on top-seeded UNC who is dueling with Wagner. The Tar Heels are cruising. 14 points and 11 rebounds in the first half for Armando Bacot? That will play. The spacing still concerns me with UNC, and the Tar Heels were 2-for-7 from downtown in the first half. Will better teams keep zoning up on the back side and keep stuffing the paint with extra bodies to force Elliot Cadeau or Seth Trimble to shoot jumpers?

Morehead State’s Jordan Lathon is cooking Illinois early. Just trading haymakers with the Illini’s All-American wing, Terrence Shannon Jr..

Man, Oregon’s frontcourt duo of Kwame Evans and N’Faly Dante is way too mobile for South Carolina. This might not go well.

Seven 3-pointers have been the magic number for the Gamecocks all year. Whey they drain seven treys, that’s usually more than enough for this stout defense. Myles Stute gets fouled on a 3-point attempt. Does that count toward the seven?

Good Lord, former South Carolina guard Jermaine Couisnard is just an assassin. He’s going off, and South Carolina hasn’t made a shot for seven minutes. That was always the fear with this group, and sheesh, it’s coming to fruition at the worst time.

DAIN DAINJA. The Illinois big fella is so talented. Little shimmy-shake before a kiss off the glass. Then, he runs the floor and gets rewarded with a jam. He’s bellowing, hooting and hollering. Dainja has 17 points, and Illinois is going for the kill shot. What a story he’s been. Legitimately out of the rotation to now being a total game-wrecker. Illinois is in the middle of a 27-6 run. This kinda reminds me of what UConn would do to teams in the second half of games last year in March. Just ridiculous spurts to put them away once and for all.

TA’LON COOPER FROM THE PARKING LOT. Cooper drills a 60-foot jumper to bring South Carolina within five of Oregon at the half.

 Illinois is going to win comfortably, all that’s left is getting Marcus Domask a triple-double. They know it, too. Domask takes five of six shots over a two-minute span and finally converts with 2:58 to go. 12 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists. The camera pans to his family, and they knew exactly what was on the line. Illinois coach Brad Underwood couldn’t call timeout fast enough to get Domask out of the game after he connected on history. He joins Ja Morant and Draymond Green. Not bad for your first-ever NCAA Tournament game.

 Couisnard has no regard for human life. He is just TORCHING South Carolina. Oregon’s lead swells. If only every pick on my bracket was this easy.

So, how good could Oregon be next year? Get stud point guard Jackson Shelstad back. Maybe get Kwame Evans back? That plays. This is the end of the road for this South Carolina club. South Carolina will finish with the No. 1 luck rating on KenPom. No one is going to remember that, though. They’ll remember the 26 wins and the feeling of proving so many people wrong. Meanwhile, Nevada is cruising past Dayton. The swing games in my bracket are going my way.

FINAL: Oregon 87, South Carolina 73

NEVERMIND. Koby Brea is walking. On water. He’s hit five 3-pointers, including the game-tying bomb. And then, oh baby, DaRon Holmes II tries to put the entire Nevada roster on a poster, gets crushed and still finishes the bucket. Dayton has rallied from 17 down. The ire from one Dayton mad-texting fan who wanted Anthony Grant gone has now completely flipped.

Game on the line and Nevada goes right at Holmes with Nick Davidson? I don’t know if I agree with that one. Davidson is awesome, but Kenan Blackshear and Jarod Lucas could’ve avoided Holmes’ impeccable defense. Dayton wins a thriller. What a comeback!

Colorado State runs nice stuff. The pace they play with and the continuity they get is real, but Texas seems to breathe different air. Tyrese Hunter lobs it up for Dillon Mitchell who rips the rim off. There is something about the physicality that Texas possesses that’s just different. It is using it on both ends.

Does Antonio Reeves ever stop cutting? Just watch this dude operate. He’s always in motion. The Kentucky star has insane conditioning.

I can’t imagine being a Kentucky fan. There’s one guy on the Oakland squad that you have to take away. Jack Gohlke is unconscious from downtown. How many 3-pointers does he have to make? I think he might need to get to 13 to win this game. Gohlke’s name autocorrects to Godlike and that’s kinda appropriate for today.

Iowa State is shooting 81% and only up 31-24 on South Dakota State. Upset alert?

Goodness gracious, Gohlke. The 24-year-old is on fire. He’s raining 3s and Oakland will not go away. This isn’t normal. I’m offended that some college basketball talking-heads admitted to not knowing about this dude.

Texas finishes off Colorado State 56-44. Rodney Terry’s crew controlled that from start to finish. It’s all on Colorado’s hands to keep the streak alive of teams winning in Dayton and parlaying that into a run in the field of 64.

I didn’t see this version of Keshon Gilbert happening. The UNLV transfer is playing the best basketball of his career, bar none. He’s a missile-hunting stud.

Justin Edwards misses a dunk with 11:19 left in the second half. Circling that. Is it going to matter soon?

Gonzaga has made every 3-pointer for seemingly the last six weeks despite barely taking many. It is doing it again, this time to Will Wade and McNeese State. Gonzaga drilled eight of its first 11 3-pointers. This team has all the makings of a deep March run. Remember when the Zags were on the bubble? That was fun.

It’s 69-65 Oakland and you can feel the pressure on Reed Sheppard’s face. He finally makes a jumper and exhales. But Oakland is in control. Sheppard fouls Gohlke on a 3-pointer. Just can’t happen. Sheppard gets yanked, and Kentucky is going big? That’s … curious.

OH MY GOD DJ COLE FOR A CORNER 3-POINTER. OAKLAND LEADS 78-74 WITH TWENTY-EIGHT SECONDS LEFT. The camera angle for that 3-pointer was a little odd. The fans in the background were lining it up, too. No one thought that was going in, but sure enough, splash. Kentucky is dead. I knew it.

Tennessee is laying the smackdown on Saint Peter’s. Dalton Knecht is the best player. Zakai Zeigler is the heart and soul. But Jonas Aidoo is the most important player on the team. When he’s good, the Vols are somethin’. He’s off to a red-hot start with a barrage of buckets and midrange jumpers. Saint Peter’s might not score 15 points.

 Kansas is laying the smackdown on Samford. Finally. I read that game right. I wasn’t buying Samford as an upset pick at all. Kansas, even without Kevin McCullar, leads by 10 at the half and mostly controlled the first 20 minutes from start to finish.

Texas Tech cannot make a 3-pointer if its life depended on it. The Red Raiders are 3-for-22 from 3-point range. This is one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the country. NC State’s opportunity has opened up in a serious way.

 Not like this, Drake. Not like this! The Bulldogs have blown an eight-point lead with six-ish minutes to go. Tucker DeVries is AWOL? Washington State is relentless. Isaac Jones is an absolute warrior. He finishes inside again, this time over Darnell Brodie and the Cougars are tied. How is this one going to go?

Have a day Ben Middlebrooks and DJ Burns. The big men combined for 37 (!) in the win over Texas Tech. The beef is taking over March Madness. First Dainja, now Burns. The Wolfpack, who ran off five straight to win the ACC Tournament in DC, now get a date with Oakland for the Sweet 16. What a weird sport. This team was dead to rights a few days ago and now they could be in the second weekend?

Wow. Drake just completely collapses for the second year in a row. Four turnovers in the final five minutes? DeVries didn’t take a shot for the final six minutes. What?

Samford has now decided to simply not miss a jumper. Bucky McMillan is in his bag on some of these out-of-bounds plays, but it’s Achor Achor who has stolen the show. What a complete monster. He’s putting Nick Timberlake on a poster.