Well that was something wasn’t it? The first weekend of the NCAA tournament is in the books, and for a little bit there it looked as if we were going to get a blasé tournament. Then those upsets we had been waiting for finally took place between Saturday and Sunday. Villanova and Duke bit the dust, while Xavier and Michigan showed us that a lower seed doesn’t mean a thing if you catch fire at the right time. We were even reminded that a senior laden team can never be overlooked (Wisconsin). Just like that, the Sweet 16 is set for battle this weekend. Before we look ahead, let’s take a quick look back at the ups and downs of the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament.

UP: The Madness Strikes Back in the Second Round

While the first round didn’t feature the soul crushing, bracket breaking upsets that we have become accustomed to over the years, the second round certainly had us covered. Two of the most popular picks to win the title, Duke and Villanova, went down over the weekend in two very different games. The defending champs blew a late lead against Wisconsin, eventually losing by three points to the Badgers in what felt like an Elite Eight-type game. Duke was dealt the most shocking blow of the weekend, losing to a stingy South Carolina team that was able to shut down the potent offense of the Blue Devils in a double-digit upset. Right there, the two teams that were the championship pick in almost 25 percent of the brackets on ESPN are now eliminated.

The mantra in March is “survive and advance.” That couldn’t have been more obvious during that second round. Oregon, Baylor, UCLA, Arizona, and North Carolina all needed to muster everything they could to avoid an unceremonious exit in the second round. All five of these teams took the best shot that its opponents could throw at them, but in the end these teams were able to come away with a victory.

DOWN: Officiating Issues

As great as this tournament has been so far, the officiating hasn’t come close to meeting the level of play. There have been multiple instances of the referees missing key calls during games. Seton Hall was called for an egregious intentional foul at the end of its first round loss to Arkansas. A similar play happened at the end of the Villanova-Wisconsin game, but the officials still bungled the call.

If there is one fan base that can attest to the issues with officiating, it’s the Northwestern faithful. The Wildcats stormed back from a 20-point deficit against Gonzaga, when a missed goaltending call essentially halted any momentum for Northwestern. A correct call in that situation would have made it a one-point game with about four minutes left in regulation, and a colossal upset would have been in the making.

I’m not really going to touch too much on the technical foul assessed to Northwestern coach Chris Collins. He earned that one, which compounded the initial mistake by the officials. Yes, the refs certainly didn’t help in the Wildcats loss, but if Collins could have kept his composure, maybe things could have gone differently.

Hopefully during the next few days the NCAA is reviewing the performance of the official so we can focus on the young men vying for a national title and not the people wearing the striped uniforms.

UP: Michigan’s Incredible Run Continues

The best story of the tournament has to be the magical run being put together by the Michigan Wolverines. They already built up a great storyline during the Big Ten tournament, but that easily could have come to an end last weekend. Luckily for us, it didn’t.

Michigan was involved in two of the best games of the tournament so far, each more thrilling than the next. The first game was a 91-90 run-and-gun barnburner against Oklahoma State. Not to be outdone, the Wolverines went toe-to-toe with Louisville, winning 73-69 to advance to the Sweet 16.

There is something special happening with these Wolverines. Every March there is a team that is able to catch lightning in a bottle and channels it into a run to the Final Four. Now the road to Glendale does get much more difficult as they face a dangerous Oregon team and potentially Kansas or Purdue in the Elite Eight. If there is one team to get behind right now, definitely consider Michigan.

DOWN: Cinderella Missed the Big Dance

This may not be the “chalkiest” tournament we have seen over the years, but we are definitely feeling the absence of a true Cinderella. Of the 16 teams still alive, 15 of them are established teams in the upper echelon of Division 1. The only exception is South Carolina, who made the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history. It would be difficult to call any of these teams a Cinderella though.

Xavier is the only double-digit seed left in the field, but the Musketeers have been a stalwart mid-major program over the past decade-plus. Middle Tennessee and Rhode Island were our only shot at having a true Cinderella in the mix this year. Unfortunately, midnight came a bit too soon for these teams. It looks as if we can put away the glass slipper for this year.

That’s it for me today. I’ll be recording Episode 2 of the Shooting the Moon Podcast tonight, which will be up on SoundCloud tomorrow morning. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook