2020 NCAA Tournament Simulation: First Round, South Region
Time to finish off the first round.
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Time to head South.
The results are already in from the Midwest, East, and West regions are in the books with a few upsets, including No. 2 seeded San Diego State falling to No. 15 Eastern Washington.
We now head to the South Region to wrap up the first round of games to see who makes it to the Round of 32.
As a reminder, we here at Mountain West Wire are using the final bracket generated by the Bracket Matrix and simulating games via WhatIfSports.
South Region
Final Score: No. 1 Baylor 88, No. 16 Robert Morris 59:
This was was somewhat close for the first half but Baylor turned it on in the second half to go on a 42-23 run for the easy win. It was the 11-0 run that really put this game away in the second half.
Final Score: No. 9 USC 103, No. 8 Providence 97
A minor upset with the lower-seeded Trojans topped the Friars to move on to face top-seeded Baylor. This one had so many points and a lot of three-pointers but those were mostly made by USC who went 12 of 27 from deep and had six players in double-figures.
Final score: No. 5 Ohio State 74, No. 12 Yale 71
Yale nearly pulled off a famed 12 over 5 upset but fail by just three points. The Bulldogs were hitting from three-point range all day and converted 12 of 28 and their final three shots made were all from beyond the arc but it was not enough and the go down to Ohio State.
Final score: No. 4 Kentucky 77, No. 13 New Mexico State 64
New Mexico State was having an off night and that is not the formula to pull off an upset, and especially so against a program like Kentucky. The Aggies were a dismal 4 of 22 from the field and converted just 36 percent overall.
Final score: 11 East Tennessee State 93, No. 6 Michigan 72
Blowout city by East Tennessee State as they won by 21 points over Michigan. Tray Boyd came off the bench for ETSU and was the games leading scorer with 20 points and making 4 of 8 from three-point land. It was not just one player but there were six player in double figures which led to the blowout.
Final score: No. 14 Bradley 83, No. 3 Maryland 82
Another double-digit seed takes down a Big Ten team. This time it is Bradley who upsets Maryland by a single point as Koch Bar hit a fadeaway jumper as time expired to pull off the win. Bar ended the night with just six points but was the hero to pull off the upset.
Final score: No. 7 Arizona 79, No. 10 Oklahoma 56
A huge blowout with Arizona having no issues with Oklahoma and this game was a tale of two teams. The Sooners could not buy a bucket from anywhere on the court, specifically from three-point range by making just 3 of 21. On the flip side, the Wildcats made 10 of 22 and that was the key reason for the decisive victory.
Final score: No. 2 Florida State 92, No. 15 Arkansas-Little Rock 76
Florida State started its potential national title run by thumping Arkansas-Little Rock by 16 points with a strong performance from beyond the arc going 11 of 18. The bench also played a big role with Patrick Williams and Dominik Olejniczak combining for 29 points off the bench.
