Wisconsin's upset of defending champs Villanova highlights Saturday's NCAA action

It took a while — too long, some might say. But in the second round on Saturday, the NCAA men's tournament finally delivered the kind of bracket-shattering jolt that basketball fans have grown accustomed to this time of year.

A stunning 65-62 defeat of top-seeded Villanova, the defending national champion, by eighth-seeded Wisconsin at last supplied a dose of exhilarating chaos.

It followed a tepid opening round that was largely devoid of upsets, buzzer-beaters and where-did-that-team-come-from charm and left the second round lacking a team seeded No. 13 or lower for the first time since 2007. The top four seeds in each region combined to go 16-0 in the first round for just the fifth time.

An 83-71 win by fourth-seeded West Virginia against fifth-seeded Notre Dame in Saturday's first game prolonged the streak of victories by the higher seeds. And a 79-73 victory by top-seeded Gonzaga against eighth-seeded Northwestern in the West Region later Saturday made sure the tumult did not extend too far, with the Bulldogs withstanding a Wildcats rally that nearly erased a 22-point lead.

Some of the drama in that game emanated from the officiating. With Northwestern down by five points with just under five minutes remaining, the Wildcats' Dererk Pardon went up for a layup that was rejected by Gonzaga's Zach Collins. The referees, however, failed to note that Collins' arm went through the rim to block the shot — a clear infraction.

Northwestern coach Chris Collins stomped onto the court, drawing a technical foul. Gonzaga converted its two free throws, and the Wildcats never bounced back.

'It would have been a 3-point game,' Chris Collins said. 'We had all of the momentum.'

Afterward, the NCAA released a statement saying that the referees had missed a violation of Rule 9 Section 15, on basket interference. Northwestern, which had never made the NCAA tournament before, was left wondering what might have been.

'I believe we had a great chance to win if the correct call was made,' Collins said.

Ahead of the weekend, the dearth of close finishes had created some unrest, among fans and an occasional reporter on social media. Near the end of Friday's late games, David Worlock, the NCAA's director of media coordination, posted a rebuke on Twitter to the complaints over how the events had unfolded.

'Sorry if you found the first round boring,' Worlock wrote. 'I'm sure you have your countdown clock to the AutoNation Cure Bowl. Enjoy that.'

The message was later deleted.

Still, criticism of the seeding decisions by the tournament selection committee seemed, for the most part, to have some merit. Midmajor programs, which can typically be counted on to spice up the opening rounds, were buried below teams from the power conferences, forcing matchups like the one Friday night between seventh-seeded Dayton and 10th-seeded Wichita State in the South Region. Both teams could have been positioned to make a deep tournament run, as each has done in the past. Instead, Dayton went home.

'A 4 seed,' Dayton coach Archie Miller said afterward, describing where he thought Wichita State deserved to be placed.

Coaches who complain about their draw — particularly after a tough loss — are not all that unusual. But their opinions largely aligned with what analysts had said before play began. Middle Tennessee State's seeding, at No. 12 in the South Region, left the oddsmakers so unimpressed that the Blue Raiders were actually favored to win their first-round game against fifth-seeded Minnesota. And they did, by nine.

Before his Butler team, a No. 4 seed, faced Middle Tennessee State on Saturday night, coach Chris Holtmann voiced disapproval of his opponent's placement.

'I don't think there's any way in the world they're the seed that they were,' Holtmann said. 'They're as good as any team I've seen at that seed in a long, long time. That's clear.'

Nevertheless, the Bulldogs outplayed the Blue Raiders. Middle Tennessee's full-court pressure did little to stop Butler, which won, 74-65, and has not trailed in either of its two tournament games.

Another double-digit seed, No. 11 Xavier, did manage to advance, with a 91-66 dismantling of third-seeded Florida State in the West Region. The Musketeers made 11 of their 17 attempts from 3-point range and got 29 points from junior guard Trevon Bluiett.

'Man, we finished today,' said an exuberant Chris Mack, Xavier's coach.

The Musketeers will get to face second-seeded Arizona, which trailed seventh-seeded St. Mary's at halftime but shot 59 percent from the field in the second half to win, 69-60.

The No. 4 seed from the East, Florida, had little trouble getting past offensively challenged Virginia, the fifth seed, in a 65-39 victory. But Purdue, the fourth seed in the Midwest Region, did not have it so easy against fifth-seeded Iowa State despite leading by 19 points in the second half. Caleb Swanigan's 20 points and 12 rebounds — including a critical offensive board after a missed free throw with 11 seconds left — helped the Boilermakers squeeze past the Cyclones, 80-76.

Much of the interest in Saturday's West Region game between West Virginia and Notre Dame, former Big East rivals distanced by conference realignment, was a result of its polarity: Notre Dame and one of the least mistake-prone offenses in the country against West Virginia's turnover-generating defense. An exquisite free-throw-shooting team against one of the least disciplined.

In the end, it was West Virginia's anarchic defensive pressure — a style as enveloping as a dust storm — that overwhelmed Notre Dame in Buffalo. This game, like most in the anticlimactic first round, was never as suspenseful as expected.

The Fighting Irish, the only team to reach the round of 8 in both of the past two seasons, trailed the entire game.

Few teams are as good at making messes as coach Bob Huggins' Mountaineers. They thrive in chaos. They relish destabilizing and then demoralizing their opponents.

'Bob's done an unbelievable job, like reinventing with full-court pressure,' Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. 'It's brilliant and really a unique preparation to try and deal with it.'

For all of West Virginia's best qualities — it was the Division I leader in turnovers forced per game, steals per game and turnover margin — Notre Dame looked like its kryptonite. The veteran Irish were just a hair behind Michigan as Division I's most secure team with the ball, committing only 9.3 turnovers per game.

Notre Dame challenged West Virginia to shoot from deep, and the Mountaineers responded, shooting 57 percent (8 of 14) from 3-point range and 50 percent from the field. Jevon Carter led the way with 24 points while Daxter Miles Jr. added 18 points and three steals.

'All year we've been telling ourselves that we got the best group of guards in the country,' Carter said. 'And we truly believe that.'

They were so good that Notre Dame never made it a close game — much to the chagrin of many basketball fans pining, still, for some more drama.