This is why we can never quit you, March Madness.
The Men's NCAA Tournament isn’t even through the first day of the first round and already we’ve had little High Point getting its first win in school history. Same for Nebraska, which did it in made-for-TV fashion with a coach whose grandfather once had the same job and whose son now plays for him.
VCU clawed itself out of a 19-point hole — 19 points! — to force OT against North Carolina and then won. Yes, you read that right. From a 19-point deficit to the round of 32, the largest comeback ever in the first round.
More: High Point upset was going to take everything — including a first layup of the season
If all that wasn’t enough to warm the hearts of fans who’ve been turned off by all the greed and opportunism in college athletics of late, Siena comes along and puts top-seeded Duke on the ropes. Alas, the historic upset didn’t happen, but it at least gives Duke haters (read: everyone who didn’t go there) hope that the Blue Devils’ road to the Final Four might wind up being a dead end.
“It sucks that we came up short,” said Gavin Doty, who led Siena with 21 points, “but I'm proud of the fight we had.”
We know college athletics is gross and the people who are supposed to be shepherding it aren’t much better. Traditional rivalries have been blown up for TV money. Athletic directors and conference commissioners spent money with reckless abandon for decades but, now that players are getting some, are crying for Congress to come in and clean up the mess.
Even the NCAA Tournament isn’t safe, with The Devil, sorry, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, pushing for it, too, to be supersized.
It’s enough to make you want to turn off the TV or put away your phone unless your alma mater is playing. But then the NCAA Tournament rolls around and we get sucked right back in.
It isn’t perfect; it’s almost as big an offense as the ones Bruce Pearl committed that one-loss Miami (Ohio) was relegated to the First Four because it’s not from a power conference. But the games! The passion! The energy!
Fourth-seeded Nebraska played Troy in Oklahoma City, but you’d swear it was Lincoln by how loud and red the crowd was. They were breaking noise ordinances from the moment the Cornhuskers took the court for warm ups and they never lowered the volume.
“It was unbelievable. I’ve never been at a neutral site where it’s been louder,” coach Fred Hoiberg said.
Even late in the second half, when Nebraska was assured of snapping an oh-for-8 streak in the NCAA Tournament, Cornhuskers fans were cheering every possession.
“This is emotional, no doubt about it. My family history here — this means the world,” said Hoiberg, whose grandfather Jerry Bush was Nebraska’s coach from 1954-63 and whose son Sam starts for the Cornhuskers.
High Point’s drought wasn’t quite as long, given this is only the Panthers’ second appearance in the tournament. But the Big South champions came in looking to prove a point for the little guy and, boy, did they.
A team that can’t even get a return phone call about playing bigger schools during the nonconference season took down Wisconsin. That would be the same Wisconsin that handed Michigan its only loss during the Big Ten regular season, as well as Purdue, Illinois (twice) and Michigan State.
High Point also got shipped clear across the country to play in Portland, Oregon, rather than any of the six sites east of the Mississippi.
“High Point and Miami (Ohio) are 2-1 in Quad-1 games. We couldn't get games. They couldn't get games. Akron, UNC Wilmington, Belmont couldn't get games,” Panthers coach Flynn Clayman said, deservedly salty.
“That team (Wisconsin) right there is a fantastic team that beat five top-10 teams,” Clayman said. “If we can get games like this on neutral courts and some home games, I think we'd know who's really the best teams.”
Duke is supposed to be the best of the best in this tournament, the overall No. 1 seed with three projected first-round picks in the NBA Draft. But going back to Christian Laettner’s days, there’s something about the Blue Devils that makes them really easy to hate.
Maybe it’s all their success, with five NCAA titles and 18 Final Fours. Or the arrogance coach Mike Krzyzewski and players like Laettner, J.J. Redick and Grayson Allen oozed. Whatever. It makes you want to root against them.
Hard.
Had Siena pulled the upset off, people across the country would have been partying for days. They’d be taking off work. Calling their friends. Meeting up at bars to celebrate. OK, they’re doing that, anyway. It’s March Madness. Still, for the better part of two hours, Siena gave us hope.
And that’s March Madness' secret sauce.
There are so many things in life we know are impossible. So many dreams we don’t have the guts to pursue or get kicked in the teeth trying to make reality. But in the NCAA Tournament, anything really can happen and there is a purity that remains in the pursuit of that.
It's Madness. And it's marvelous.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: March Madness delivers, year after year. Just enjoy it
