Daily Briefing — March 19, 2022: THE EAGLES HAVE LANDED — FGCU upsets Virginia Tech to open March Madness

But first, some daily upset picks*:

• Greensboro: #12 Stephen F. Austin over #5 North Carolina
• Bridgeport: #11 Princeton over #6 Kentucky — “upset” pick; #12 UMass over #5 Notre Dame
• Wichita: #13 Buffalo over #4 Tennessee. Bold choice, sure, but Dyaisha Fair is great and … have you seen the Vols lately?

W Roundup

Free agency

• Bernadett Határ: Signed her training camp qualifying offer with Indiana.

Visit our offseason trackers page to see all the other free agent moves and how they affect teams’ caps, other front-office changes and more — in neat, colorful fashion!

Watch List, Saturday, March 19

(All times in Eastern, all rankings reflect tournament seeding)

Must-watch

#6 Kentucky v. #11 Princeton, 4 p.m., ESPN

Good games

#8 Washington State v. #9 Kansas State, 11:30 a.m., ESPN2

#5 North Carolina v. #12 Stephen F. Austin, 7:30 p.m., ESPNEWS

#5 Notre Dame v. #12 UMass, 7:30 p.m., ESPN2

Also watchable

#6 Ohio State v. #11 Missouri State, 2:30 p.m., ESPNU

#4 Tennessee v. #13 Buffalo, 3 p.m., ABC

#4 Oklahoma v. #13 IUPUI, 10 p.m., ESPNU

Friday, March 18 recap

(All rankings below reflect tournament seeding)

Greensboro

#1 South Carolina beat #16 Howard, 79-21. The Gamecocks won the first half 44-4, holding the Bison to a record-low points in an NCAA Tournament half — more than halving the previous low.

#2 Iowa beat #15 Illinois State, 98-58.

#3 Iowa State beat #14 UT-Arlington, 78-71. It was mostly a one-possession game until the final two minutes. Cyclone wing Ashley Joens led with 36 points on 13-for-28 shooting from the field, 4-for-8 from three and 6-for-12 from the line, plus 15 rebounds (five offensive) for a double-double in 40 minutes.

#6 Georgia beat #11 Dayton, 70-54.

#8 Miami beat #9 South Florida, 78-66.

#10 Creighton beat #7 Colorado, 84-74.

Spokane

#1 Stanford beat #16 Montana State, 78-37. The media’s Pac-12 Player of the Year, center Cameron Brink, had a double-double with 11 points (4-7 FG), 11 rebounds (seven offensive), three assists and four blocks with only one foul in 16 minutes — be afraid; off-ball guard Hannah Jump somehow took 11 threes in 19 minutes (and made five of them for 15 points); backup center Fran Belibi had a double-double in 15 minutes with 12 points (4-6 FT) and 13 rebounds (six offensive), plus two assists and two blocks. One of Belibi’s blocks and two of her points came on this sequence, block-six for a dunk. That’s pretty cool, I think.

#2 Texas beat #15 Fairfield, 70-52.

#4 Maryland beat #13 Delaware, 102-71.

#7 Utah beat #10 Arkansas, 92-69.

#8 Kansas beat #9 Georgia Tech, 77-58.

#12 FGCU beat #5 Virginia Tech, 84-81. Center Elizabeth Kitley scored a March-Madness-opening-round-record 42 points on 16-for-27 shooting from the field and 10-for-14 from the line, plus eight rebounds (five offensive) in only 33 minutes.

Wichita

#1 Louisville beat #16 Albany, 83-51.

#2 Baylor beat #15 Hawai’i, 89-49. The Bears only led by five in the mid-second quarter, then won the next 15 minutes 51-15.

#9 Gonzaga beat #8 Nebraska, 68-55.

#10 South Dakota beat #7 Mississippi, 75-61.

*I’m not saying these are going to happen, just that they’re worth monitoring. This is how I’m hedging, thank you.