Five games to watch: NCAA tournament first round

Vanderbilt Hustler Riley LaChance as Vanderbilt hosted Dayton at Memorial Gymnasium on December 9, 2015. Dayton and Vanderbilt's 2016 NCAA tournament opponent, Wichita State, face off Friday in one of the first round's top games.
The first two days of the NCAA tournament are always two of the best on the sports calendar. With games straight through from noon to well past 10 p.m. ET, there’s enough basketball to satisfy even the most rabid of fans.
Like always, there are some intriguing first-round matchups this year. Let’s take a look at five of the best.
No. 7 Dayton vs. No. 10 Wichita State
Friday at 6:10 p.m. CT, CBS
Lower-seeded Wichita State comes into this game as a six-point favorite according to Vegas, and on paper it’s hard to argue with that. The Shockers ended the season 30-4, including a final stretch of 15 consecutive wins. Wichita State is ranked the eighth-best team in the country by the KenPom rankings — admittedly, an imperfect system — and by all accounts looks to be a prime candidate for a Cinderella run.
Don’t count out the Flyers, though. Dayton was one of the hottest teams in the country before losing in its first game of the Atlantic 10 tournament. They’re an experienced team that is solid on both ends of the floor, and they boast marquee wins over tournament teams Vanderbilt, VCU and Rhode Island. Whoever comes out of this matchup will likely put Kentucky on upset alert in the second round.
No. 5 Iowa State vs. No. 12 Nevada
Thursday at 8:57 p.m. CT, truTV
Some have speculated that this might be the year that Iowa State finally makes a deep tournament run, but it drew a tough first-round matchup against an underrated Nevada team. It is an inevitability of March Madness that at least one No. 5 seed will lose in the first round every year, and the Wolfpack ...


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