What happened in Thursday and Friday's first round

Upset Chance: 27.8 percent

Senior big man Jaedon LeDee (21.1 points and 8.4 rebounds per game) is having a breakout year for the Aztecs, who otherwise cut a similar profile to the team that made the national championship game last year as a 5-seed. The Aztecs play slooow. They are effective rebounders at both ends of the court. They’re above average at creating and preventing turnovers. They have lost one game all season by double digits (to New Mexico). And while bid-thieving UAB ranks 22nd in the country in offensive rebounding percentage (35.3 percent), the Blazers don’t show off other traits that would normally excite anyone hunting for Cinderellas.

Yet of the 10 historical games most similar to this matchup, five ended in upsets. These contests included Marquette over Syracuse in 2011, North Carolina State over Georgetown in 2012 and UCLA over SMU in 2015. These power-conference teams with double-digit losses shared similar routes to success: They kept themselves in slow games, made threes at an unusually high rate, and exploited poor shooting by their higher-seeded opponents. UCLA, for example, hit 10 of 20 threes while SMU was shooting 36.4 percent from the field to win a 64-possession game in their 6-11 faceoff.

So even though UAB hasn’t launched bombs too often or accurately this season, Slingshot is saying that if they can crank up their catapults, they’ve got a chance here. Especially because while San Diego State has allowed opponents to shoot just 30.5 percent from downtown (ranking 20th), they have allowed opponents to take more than 40 percent of their FGA as threes (ranking 286th). The former number is likely to regress, and then we’ll see how much the latter matters.

Halftime: No. 3 Baylor 54, No. 14 Colgate 34.

Yves Messi's put-back dunk at the buzzer puts an exclamation point on a first half that saw the Bears lead wire-to-wire till the buzzer. The result itself may not be shocking but the manner in which it's happening somewhat is, Colgate is the 10th best 3-point defense in the country, according to KenPom, yet Baylor's shooting 7 of 12 from that distance and it's largely the reason why the margin is this big through 20 minutes of play.

Five different Baylor players have made at least three baskets, led by Ja'Kobe Walker's game-high 15 points, and the even scoring distribution has been too much for the Raiders to handle thus far. There's another half to play and anything can happen but all indications are that Baylor will cruise into the second round to play the Clemson-New Mexico winner.

SAN DIEGO — San Diego State's last March Madness included its rally past No. 1 overall seed Alabama to make the program’s first Elite Eight; Darrion Trammell’s clutch free throw vs. Creighton that sealed a Final Four berth; Lamont Butler’s game-winner vs. Florida Atlantic; and ultimately, falling short against a UConn-shaped buzzsaw. You can’t walk past five fans outside Viejas Arena before you see someone wearing Final Four apparel. As one middle-aged man said, it was “magical.”

Was. Past tense.

Because it was also 10 months ago, with a different roster. Even with seven returners back, last year’s success has no impact on the Aztecs. It’s a tough line to straddle: appreciating what happened, without letting it become an anchor in the present.

Which makes this season a peculiar place for fans to occupy, too. Aztecs supporters, sensibly, understand the uniqueness of last year’s run. But now that they’ve seen the top of the mesa, you think they’re not desperate for another climb?

That mission begins in places like this: a grueling Thursday afternoon practice. Coach Brian Dutcher sets the tone before the first rebounding drill, standing near a hoop with a bubble over the rim:

“Before you jump,” he hollers, “just f—ing hit somebody.”

This is how the Aztecs operate: with physicality, defense. A sandpaper mentality.

No. 12 seed, East Region

Opponent, time, TV: San Diego State, 1:45 p.m., TNT

Team in 16 words: A high-pace, high-scoring team with an elite dunker that has won close games.

Record: 23-11 (12-6 AAC)

Coach: Andy Kennedy (2-3 in NCAA Tournament)

Player to watch: Yaxel Lendeborg (first-team All-AAC)

Numbers:

BetMGM title odds: +50000

Sweet 16 projected chance: 5.8 percent

Final Four projected chance: 0.4 percent

Strengths: UAB can score. The Blazers scored more than 85 points seven times this season and even hit 100 once. It was that 100-point game that was the impetus for the giant Temple betting scandal from a couple of weeks ago. Bart Torvik says they're 62nd in the nation in adjusted efficiencies and 20th in offensive rebounding percentage. Plus, Tony Toney is probably good for at least one highlight-reel dunk. Junior Yaxel Lendeborg earned first-team All-American Athletic Conference honors for a reason and he’s one of the best defensive rebounders in the country according to KenPom.

Weaknesses: This is a team that experienced a three-game mid-season losing streak to McNeese, Southern Miss and Arkansas State. Plus late-season back-to-back losses to Wichita State and Memphis.

Outlook: The Blazers won all three games in the AAC Tournament by double digits. The resume doesn't scream upset unless UAB has figured something out since earlier this season.

MEMPHIS — A coaching adjustment by Baylor coach Scott Drew has blown the game wide open for the Bears. At the under-8 timeout, 18 of Colgate's 23 points came from the paint. Baylor came out of that timeout in a zone defense as opposed to the man coverage it'd been playing. The Bears length has prevented Colgate from taking another attempt close to the basket, the Raiders have been settling for three-point attempts for the last five minutes, and are 1-for-9 from the field in that span.

Baylor's 14-2 run over the last 4:33 of game time have created a sizable 45-25 advantage with 3:43 left till halftime. Offensively, Baylor is shooting a blistering 62 percent from the field and 58 percent from three-point range — a dominating first half by the No. 3 seed in the West region.

Bang bang.

BROOKLYN — Halftime: FAU 20, Northwestern 19, on Johnell Davis's buzzer-beating shot for FAU. May we never speak of these 20 minutes again. Northwestern shot 7 for 33! And was winning until the final second!

FAU has 12 turnovers and is shooting 33 percent, and takes a lead into the second half. Davis is the high scorer with 11 points for the Owls. Optimists will note that both sides actually generated a good share of decent shots they just missed several open ones. Let's hope more of them go in after the break.

After a first half where Florida Atlantic and Northwestern combined for 18 turnovers and 14 field goals, FAU coach Dusty May tells CBS' Tracy Wolfson: "There's a lot of adjectives running through my head to describe that."

MEMPHIS — No. 3 seed Baylor is in control at the under-12 timeout, leading Colgate by a 23-12 margin. Statistically, Colgate's 55 percent from the field would indicate a closer margin, but Baylor's 4-7 from 3-point range while Colgate's yet to make an outside shot.

One player in particular that's making an impact is Baylor freshman Ja'Kobe Walter with a game-high eight points. He's the youngest player on the court for Baylor but is being extremely vocal on both sides. A fringe NBA lottery projected pick, he's off to a strong start in his first NCAA Tournament game.

MEMPHIS — Baylor's Yves Missi has the wrap off his shoulder and is back in the game. He changed his shoes, too, for whatever that's worth.

BROOKLYN —We're seeing some truly disastrous shotmaking from Northwestern in this first half. In addition to shooting 1 of 11 from 3, the Wildcats have missed at least four point-blank layups end route to a 20 percent shooting mark overall. They're actually generating decent shots, but are stuck on 12 points at the under-4 timeout in the first half because they can't make anything.

FAU hasn't exactly gone gangbusters either (1-of-9 from 3, 28 percent overall), so it's still a game.

BROOKLYN — FAU and Northwestern have combined for more turnovers (14) than made baskets (12).

INDIANAPOLIS — Welcome to Gainbridge Fieldhouse, site of four NCAA Tournament games today, beginning with No. 2 Marquette against No. 15 Western Kentucky. The winner will play either No. 7 Florida or No. 10 Colorado in the second round of the South Region. The evening games feature No. 1 Purdue against No. 16 Grambling State, followed by No. 8 Utah State against No. 9 TCU in the Midwest Region.

First up is an intriguing matchup between the Golden Eagles and the Hilltoppers. All eyes will be on Marquette guard Tyler Kolek, who will play after missing the previous six games with a grade 2 oblique strain. Kolek, a first-team all-Big East performer, ranks second in the country in assists per game (7.6). Marquette hasn’t advanced out of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament in 11 years but has a great opportunity to do so with a well-rounded team under Shaka Smart (and a healthy Kolek).

Western Kentucky, meanwhile, is making its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 11 years under the direction of Steve Lutz, whose team loves to push the pace. The Hilltoppers rank No. 1 in the country in adjusted tempo, according to KenPom. Western Kentucky finished 8-8 during the Conference USA regular season but punched its ticket with three wins in three days at the conference tournament. Lutz has worked wonders since becoming a head coach, taking Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to the big dance the previous two seasons and now guiding Western Kentucky there in his first season with the program.

SALT LAKE CITY — It flew well under the radar late last night that the four teams playing out this pod were done no favors by the NCAA and broadcast partner CBS. Saturday's first second-round game here between Dayton and Arizona will start at 10:45 a.m. local time, a bizarrely early tip time. The second game, a potential haymaker between Kansas and Gonzaga, is slated for 1:15 p.m., which is a little more reasonable, except if you're Kansas. The Jayhawks played late into the evening on Thursday, running a 40-minute track meet against Samford in an exhausting affair that went down to the wire. They left the floor around 11 p.m. MT, only to be told they would be tipping off again in about 38 hours.

Kansas coach Bill Self was caught a bit off-guard by the timing.

"That seems like it's pretty quick turnaround," Self said. "But it is what it is. Certainly there will not be any reason why we won't come refreshed and rested and ready to go."

It appears CBS scheduled everything around landing Saturday's matchup between Michigan State and North Carolina in its primary TV window of 5:30 p.m. ET. That resulted in Texas-Tennessee, the other game in Charlotte, landing in the 8 p.m. ET window. With that, the CBS games out of Salt Lake City were slotted for the earlier Eastern Time windows, setting them up for brunch basketball in Utah.

As it goes, it's the teams who win and lose, but the TV partners who call the plays.