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The first full day of action in the NCAA tournament didn't produce the number of surprises that many fans both expected and wanted, with just two lower-seeded teams advancing to Saturday's action. While one should come as no surprise to the country the other finds itself carrying the banner for an entire conference...in its first season in the league. Here are the key happenings by location, highlighted by wins for Colorado (Albuquerque) and VCU (Portland).

With CHN's Greg Mengelt handling previews and predictions for every game the daily preview will look a little different for the NCAA tournament, with the focus being the game of the day in each region. Below are the games on Thursday's slate that you should make time for, and with four networks (CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV) showing every game in its entirety, there's no excuse (besides a lack of TVs or laptops) for you to not have a multiple TV/computer setup in your home. Enjoy the games. 

While you definitely need guards to win a national title big men are very important in their own right. Whether a team has projected lottery picks or guys who have been solid throughout their careers, a team has to be able to hold their own in the paint. If not a tournament experience that can last two or three weeks gets derailed far sooner. Here are some front courts you'll need to know this week.

South Region

(8) Iowa St vs. (9) Connecticut: South Region

 

Records

As every basketball junkie knows, KenPom.com is a treasure trove of college basketball information. I pored through the data to find four key factors that propelled recent Final Four teams to success, and teams that excel at those factors this year:

 

Wednesday shaped up as a big day at Madison Square Garden, as four of the eight teams in action were looking to boost their respective NCAA tournament resumes. Two of the four teams, Connecticut and West Virginia, kicked things off in a tight contest that neither team led by more than eleven points (WVU). And while there were plenty of head-scratching decisions made down the stretch by both teams, Jim Calhoun's Huskies were the ones best able to navigate those issues, winning 71-67 in overtime to advance to Thursday's quarterfinals.

Day two of the Big East Championship features four teams looking to improve their chances of reaching the NCAA tournament, with the biggest game of the day being the first. Nine-seed Connecticut, who opener their tournament with an 81-67 win over DePaul on Tuesday, takes on eight-seed West Virginia with the winner likely locking up a tournament berth. These two teams met once during the regular season, a 64-57 UConn victory at the XL Center on January 9th, and with so much change over the nearly two months since that game there may not be a whole lot to take from it.

When Western Kentucky fired Ken McDonald on January 6th few envisioned the young Hilltoppers earning a bid to the NCAA tournament. But they did just that, beating North Texas 74-70 in the Sun Belt title game.