Welcome to the Madness! Is the SEC in trouble?

As March Madness goes, Day 1 of this year's NCAA Tournament was relatively tame. There was a 12-5 upset when McNeese upended Clemson in spectacular fashion and a blow to the SEC when 11th-seeded Drake toppled sixth-seeded Missouri. But everything else went more or less by the book, even if No. 5 Michigan needed a last-minute jumper from Will Tschetter to stave off UC San Diego in crunch time and No. 3 Texas Tech only pulled away from UNC Wilmington in the final moments.

The hope for basketball junkies is that relatively calm seas can only last so long, that eventually the upsets and tournament magic start flowing from one arena to the next. We'll be tracking the biggest storylines and moments of Day 2 all afternoon and evening, exploring some of the bigger topics in a bit more detail.

Bookmark this page and join us for what should be an excellent slate of games. Enjoy!

The SEC was dealt another blow on Friday afternoon when 10th-seeded Vanderbilt squandered a double-digit lead against seventh-seeded Saint Mary's and fell, 59-56, in the Round of 64. A pair of desperation heaves from 3-point range by the Commodores both went awry in the last 13 seconds as head coach Mark Byington's team tried frantically to force overtime. 

The final attempt from Devin McGlockton was plucked out of the air by Gaels guard Jordan Ross just before the buzzer expired, propelling Saint Mary's into a second-round matchup with No. 2 Alabama on Sunday. The Crimson Tide barely staved off 15th-seeded Robert Morris earlier in the day.

With Vanderbilt's loss, the SEC fell to 5-5 in this year's NCAA Tournament after receiving a record number of bids — 14 — that reflected the selection committee's belief in the conference. (Ole Miss held off North