Big Dance: Arizona Smashed, Miami Edged in First-Round Upsets

Justified or not, the long arm of the law continues to loom over the March Madness landscape.

While the tournament Selection Committee certainly gave the appearance they wanted to flush all traces of the FBI's investigation into an allegedly illicit college recruiting culture -- how else can USC's absence be explained? -- two affected teams still sneaked into the bracket.

But they're not in it any more.

 

Arizona's been mired in muck on two fronts:

• Allegedly, now-fired football coach Rich Rodriguez was off the hook with his sexcapades,
• That may be the least of the Wildcats' football headaches, and
• Who knows what fallout remains for Sean Miller and his hoopsters?

 

Well, it just got more grim, brothers:

Where the Wildcats thought being on the court could help them escape the dark clouds hovering over Tucson for a couple of hours, the speedy and 14th-seeded Buffalo Bulls had other ideas:

 

Dudes well and truly -- not to mention cleverly -- took this spring's probable NBA top draft pick outta the game and blistered the nets from long range to claim their first ever Big Dance victory.

Speaking of ...

Boise's only 2730 feet above sea level, but with the exception of Buffalo and -- comparatively -- South Dakota State, there was a cacophony of clanging from beyond the arch in this venue:

 

Maybe the Bulls and Jackrabbits brought their own. Or something.

For their sake, gotta hope Buffalo's got a two-game supply.

Meanwhile, Miami thought their hurricane season was behind them, so they didn't expect their season to be over so quickly.

 

Coach Jim Larrañaga's program is the only one so far that the FBI has exonerated, but by then, the 'Canes' recruiting for the year had been irreversibly affected.

Little did they know the effects would begin this early, as not even a No 6 seed could save them. Instead, it rudely introduced Miami to former NCAA tournament champion Loyola-Chicago.

The Ramblers gave Madness its first buzzer-beater:

 

Before the season began, most believed the championship race would be wide open.

Apparently, the lower seeds were thinking the same thing.