Although there are a lot of mismatches in the first round since the expansion to 59 and 63 teams we still had a first round to remember. All those 2-15 games and 4-13 games didn’t exist in the old bracket.

As it turns out, Hope’s title defense in women’s basketball lasted only one round longer than the previous four attempts. Remember that the 2002-05 champs didn’t even make the field the next year. And Hope, the 2006 champ, went just 40 minutes longer than UW-Stevens Point, Trinity (Texas), Wilmington and Millikin before getting bounced by Denison. The depleted Calvin women advanced as well.

On the men’s side, Hope and Calvin set up an unprecedented fifth meeting of the season, where they will pack Aurora’s Thornton Gymnasium for a second-round game. Only seems appropriate now that the winner of the five-game series will move on.

Stevens, the subject of grumbling around the NJAC (basically, since they don’t play any of us, they can’t possibly be a tournament team) put up in the first round. I had one NJAC insider telling me they’d lose by 30. I countered that, no, it would be more like 71-59. Final score 68-57. Oh wait, they won? Shoot. Well, still better than a 30-point blowout loss. The Ducks absolutely could beat Ramapo.

And last night showed the importance of hosting the regionals — only one host team in men’s (Aurora) and one in women’s (UW-Stout) lost. The rest advanced.

Looking forward to hearing more about the Wheaton/St. Ben’s game, Johns Hopkins/Villa Julie and others.