daily juice report - march madness day 1 team grades and rankings

Wow. Day 1 of March Madness was action-packed and full of insane surprises. Great performances from across the nation, and some pretty thrilling matchups that did NOT go according to plan. Taking the first 16 games of the tournament, we ranked the first 32 teams’ performances. Take a look to see the winners and losers of March Madness - despite the final scoreline.

F TIER

64.) PVAMU (5.9/10) - Historically bad loss, in multiple different ways. Never once was it even within reach.

63.) University of Pennsylvania (5.9/10) - Playing Illinois they had limited expectations, but their percentages were trash and performance was God awful.

62.) St. Mary’s (6/10) - Again, trash performance from the team as a unit. Gave in to Texas A&M and lost to a lower seeded team. Never had control.

D- TIER

61.) Wisconsin (6.1/10) - Had a good performance and overall percentages, but they ended up losing as the 12 seed, to High Point of all programs.

60.) Georgia (6.1/10) - Had more even of a matchup and lower expectations, but got BLOWN out by Saint Louis.

59.) Long Island University (6.1) - Expectations were incredibly low, still though their percentages weren’t good and they struggled to score in a defenseless game.

58.) Idaho (6.2/10) - Expectations were so incredibly low, and they didn’t quite meet them, but they didn’t play horribly. Held Houston pretty low on points.

57.) Northern Iowa (6.2) - Got manhandled by a much better St. John’s team. Never had control but still had decent scoring.

56.) Duke (6.3/10) - How do you let Siena lead you by 10 points for 75% of the game? Honestly, the fact they won in my opinion is pure luck.

D TIER

55.) Akron (6.6/10) - They were the underdog, but there were much higher hopes to at least keep it close. Had too many “5-minute offensive lapses”.

D+ TIER

54.) North Dakota State (6.7/10) - Again expectations were pretty low. They did alright, but in the end got blown out by Michigan State. Percentages were mid.

53.) Queens (6.8/10) - Put up good numbers against a strong Purdue side but ultimately were nowhere close to stopping them.

52.) UNC (6.9/10) - Played okay, had solid control but towards the last 10 minutes all-hell broke loose. They just didn’t have the stamina to hold on.

C- TIER

51.) Tennessee State (7/10) - They had such a slow start to the game I thought they’d only put up 10 in the first half.

50.) Virginia (7/10) - Way too close for comfort against a team that had no business giving them trouble like that. They had no control until the last 5 minutes.

49.) Clemson (7.1/10) - Disappointed many, many people but didn’t necessarily play a bad game. Just never got ahead.

48.) Villanova (7.2/10) - Coach had zero composure, and the players couldn’t hold a lead. The team was never mentally there.

47.) Hawai’i (7.2/10) - Everyone knew Arkansas was taking this game, but it was still entertaining and they kept it within reach for most of the game than expected.

46.) BYU (7.3/10) - They just started cooking too late. Dybantsa played well, the team did okay, but the result was just not there.

45.) Miami-OH (7.3/10) - I don’t think anyone expected an upset, but we expected more offensive firepower.

C TIER

44.) Troy (7.4/10) - Put up a decent fight for most for the game. Had good percentages but just got severely outplayed.

43.) Hofstra (7.4/10) - Really kept it close and had Alabama guessing in the first half… and then they just fell apart.

42.) Missouri (7.4/10) - Fought hard but it just wasn’t a great game for them. Kind of fell off towards the end.

41.) UCF (7.5/10) - Played fully as expected. Not any better, not any worse.

40.) Iowa (7.6/10) - Won the game but didn’t play like the winning team. Need to shape up for round 2.

C+ TIER

39.) Kansas (7.7/10) - Jumped out the gates hot early but struggled to stay consistent against a team that shouldn’t have been able to bring it back.

38.) Ohio State (7.8/10) - They let a lot of people down, but they didn’t play terrible. Could have been better, but definitely also worse.

37.) Gonzaga (7.9/10) - Should have played better and won by more than 9 against Kennesaw. Their stats didn’t reflect a win.

B- TIER

36.) Kennesaw State (8/10) - Kept it closer than expected against a Gonzaga powerhouse. Offensive production was solid.

35.) UCLA (8/10) - Played a bit better than I thought, as I expected them to just barely lose. Will be a tough round 2.

34.) Houston (8.1/10) - Handled business against a sub-par Idaho team (by tournament standards). Good defense, offense could be better.

33.) UConn (8.2/10) - Should have played better. Gave Furman way too much wiggle room for the entire game.

32.) USF (8.3/10) - Played a better game than expected but just let it get too far ahead of them early on. Kept it close, great run this season.

31.) Michigan (8.3/10) - Let Howard keep it far too close for comfort for the first half. Locked in and handled business in the second.

B TIER

30.) Louisville (8.35/10) - Played as everyone expected them to. Locked in and kept USF from pulling away with an upset. Good offensive production.

29.) California Baptist (8.4/10) - Off to an extremely slow start but nearly pulled it back against a lackluster Kansas squad.

28.) Texas (8.4/10) - Outplayed BYU but just barely. Either way, pulled off an upset many weren’t expecting.

27.) TCU (8.5/10) - Good showing from a minor underdog. Had much less public support but stayed in the game for the entire duration. Good defense.

26.) Howard (8.5/10) - Competed with (arguably) the top program in the country for a full 20 minutes. Still put up 80 points on them by the end of the game.

25.) McNeese State (8.55/10) - The second-best losing performance. Gave Vanderbilt hell for the first half and still made them fight in the second.

24.) Vanderbilt (8.6/10) - Considering the run they ended their season on, expectations were higher. They still pulled through and won by a confident margin.

23.) Tennessee (8.6/10) - Thoroughly handled an undefeated Miami-OH squad, kept mistakes to a minimum.

22.) Furman (8.6/10) - Wow, guys… SO CLOSE. Unreal game from the 15-seed, and we can all appreciate their performance.

B+ TIER

21.) Arkansas (8.7/10) - Great performance, great team. Acuff is dirty and they held off Hawai’i easily. Good shooting but took them a little bit to find rhythm.

20.) Purdue (8.7/10) - Offense was absolutely firing, although against a mediocre team by tournament standards.

19.) VCU (8.8/10) - What an upset here by VCU to send UNC home early. They took a while to find the net consistently, but after that fought back - HARD.

18.) Illinois (8.9/10) - Projected to win big, playing an easy opponent in UPenn. They absolutely dismantled them, won by over 30 and put up over 100 points.

17.) Kentucky (8.9/10) - What a buzzer-beater to shift the game to OT. Shouldn’t have been that close, but great momentum and team effort.

16.) Utah State (8.95/10) - Controlled the ball, the tempo, the mood and everything. Took advantage of Villanova’s mistakes and got in their heads.

A- TIER

15.) Wright State (9/10) - Incredible performance from a very clear underdog. Had us thinking it would be the biggest upset of the tournament.

14.) Miami (9/10) - Dominated the ball and the boards for the majority of the game. Never let us question their authority on the court.

13.) Alabama (9.1/10) - Started off at a relatively slow pace, but once they found their rhythm it was lights out.

12.) Siena (9.2/10) - Easily the best losing performance. They had a 10-point lead on Duke for the entire first half and didn’t make a SINGLE sub. Only lost by 6.

11.) Santa Clara (9.2/10) - They should have had this, and I’ll say this forever. That buzzer-beater was luck, and they were so, so close to punching their ticket.

10.) Arizona (9.3/10) - Had one of the easiest opponents in the tournament but made quick work of them. Great game for them.

9.) Texas A&M (9.3/10) - Came in as an underdog and had complete control of the game the entire time through. St Mary’s never once looked like a winning team.

8.) St. John’s (9.35/10) - One of the best performances of the first round, completely just terrorized a weaker team.

A TIER

7.) Iowa State (9.4/10) - Also terrorized a weaker team, although they did it in crazy offensive fashion. This was a statement game for them.

6.) Michigan State (9.6/10) - Absolutely incredible show from a great team, albeit against a far worse program. Still, their numbers were fantastic.

5.) Texas Tech (9.6/10) - Handled business and then some against a great team in Akron. Well-done on both offense and defense.

4.) Nebraska (9.7/10) - What a performance. People thought they wouldn’t even cover their spread, and then they nearly beat Troy (a still decent team) by 30.

A+ TIER

3.) Saint Louis (9.8/10) - Although not heavy underdogs, they were NOT supposed to play this well. Over 100 total points, incredible shooting and intense defense.

2.) High Point (9.9/10) - No surprise here. Not the best basketball played all day, but with the added context of expectations - yeah, it was.

1.) Florida (9.9/10) - Historic. Absolutely historic win, with incredible offensive and defensive firepower. They smothered PVAMU, looking like an NBA team.

Tune in tomorrow to rank the start of the second round, because this is going to only get better