looks at the first four days of the NCAA Championships
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0 0If you want pure, unbridled sporting craziness, then last week’s March Madness had it all. Michy Batshuayi Jersey . Our US sportswriter Alex Ferguson – who’s still trying to get his breath back – looks at the first four days of the NCAA Championships and previews the next four… Im not the only one who put all my focus in on the first day of the NCAA Mens Basketball Championship last Thursday. According to US TV website MediaPost, 8.8m Americans on average sat down to watch the first two games - 32 games of action, while advertisers spent a tidy $378.9m over the first four days.And what a bunch of games they had (I should know, I was up watching until around 4.30am on Saturday morning). We saw stunning endings including a basketball equivalent of a Hail Mary - the half-court shot thrown by Northern Iowas Paul Jesperson against Texas - and Cincinnati just failing to take their battle with St Josephs to overtime on a game-tying dunk because they were trying to be too fancy.Oh, and the wonderful athletes of Baylor were ousted by the slow and steady Wall St bankers of tomorrow at Yale. And Arizona were played out of the building by Wichita State - who lived up to their nickname… the Shockers. Stephen F. Austin, known as the Lumberjacks - chopped down No 3 West Virginia in one of the most painful games for the eyes youd ever unlikely to see. Paul Jesperson hits a half court three pointer at the buzzer But the biggest upset was a stunner. Id told everyone who would listen to me - including myself - that No 2 Michigan State were a guaranteed win, possibly a guarantee to make the semi-finals. So imagine my jaw hitting the floor when I watched No 15 Middle Tennessee State show no fear whatsoever in downing their bigger, better rivals. Such is the madness of March, eh?Round TwoRemember Stephen F. Austin and Northern Iowa from Round 1? Remember how it couldnt get any crazier for those two sides? Well, remember this isnt called March Madness for nothing. Stephen F. Austin led No 6 Notre Dame 74-73 in a ding-dong battle with just a second left….and lost to a tip-in. March Madness showcases the new generation of basketball talent And Northern Iowa? They led mighty Texas A&M by 12 points - the equivalent of a 3-0 lead - in the last 44 seconds of their clash and lost in overtime. And all they had to do was waste time. And they didnt, and instead failed with the sort of suicidal plays that would make your local lemmings guffaw with derision.You know who else made a joke at their expense? One of the best players in basketball, LeBron James, who said in an ESPN interview that he would probably quit basketball after a loss like that.Oh, and then there was Wisconsin, who beat No 2 Xavier on a last second buzzer-beater with no time left on the clock to mark their dance card for Friday. What is it about Wisconsin beating favoured teams? North Carolina are touted for future success by View From America Whats happening on Thursday and Friday?Wed like to point out that March Madness should be renamed March-Complete-And-Total-Insanity, so please dont take my predictions to the bank or SkyBet.If you do go on my predictions, take Kansas, Virginia and North Carolina - all favourites - to win on Thursday in a three-team accumulator. All three teams have looked good so far this tournament. £5 will win you £12.27 with Sky Bet. Also See: Curry reaches new NBA landmark Perfect Spurs repel Warriors Marcos Alonso Jersey . - The Seattle Sounders busy off-season continues with the team acquiring defender Chad Marshall from the Columbus Crew in exchange for a 2015 third-round pick and allocation money. Willy Caballero Jersey . Grimes signed a $32 million, four-year contract to remain with Miami. The deal, which includes $16 million guaranteed, rewards Grimes for his recovery from an Achilles tendon injury that forced him to miss almost all of the 2012 season.Former world champion Peter Ebdon produced a remarkable comeback to beat Gerard Greene 10-9 and keep his hopes of qualifying for the Crucible alive. The 45-year-old, who won the title in 2002, trailed Greene, who had beaten Jimmy White in the first round of qualifying, 9-3 in his World Snooker Championship qualifier but reeled off seven frames in a row to clinch victory just after 2am on Tuesday morning. A match that contained just three breaks of at least 50 came down to a final-frame safety battle with just the colours left on the table and it was Ebdon who potted the pivotal green before clearing up to move through to the final qualifying round.Two-time finalist Ali Carter came through a close and high-quality encounter with Cao Yupeng to progress to a clash with Dominic Dale, who saw off Oliver Lines 10-6.Cao had won his first-round match 10-0 against Rodion Judin and came from 7-4 down against Carter to level at 7-7. Carter then made breaks of 138 and 111, either side off an 84 from Cao, and wrapped up a 10-8 win with a 54 in frame 18. Antonio Rudiger Jersey. Chinas Ding Junhui had an easier time of things, rounding off a 10-1 win over Ross Muir with a break of 106.Up-and-coming pair Jack Lisowski and Kyren Wilson beat Rory McLeod and Martin ODonnell respectively but Luca Brecel was beaten 10-8 by Liam Highfield.Jamie Cope was beaten 10-5 by Liang Wenbo, Zhang Anda beat Mark Davis by the same score and Zhou Yuelong ousted Fergal OBrien 10-6.Matthew Selt lost a final-frame decider to Mitchell Mann while Dechawat Poomjaeng won 10-5 against Finlands Robin Hull.Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, who made headlines by missing the final black of a 147 attempt at the UK Championship, won 10-7 against Paul Davison.There were also wins for Matthew Stevens, Mark King, Ken Doherty and Ryan Day, the latter overcoming Alfie Burden 10-9. 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