The 2016 NCAA Tournament has already provided a ton of excitement more than half way through the first round, and the 13th seeded Hawaii Rainbow Warriors added another upset win on Friday beating the California Golden Bears 77-66.
Hawaii head coach Eran Ganot received a total team effort in the upset win over the Golden Bears, as the Rainbow Warriors had three players finish with double-digit scoring figures. Senior guard Quincy Smith led Hawaii in with 19 points, making six of his eight shots.
Despite being out-rebounded 38-29, the Rainbow Warriors forced more turnovers and shot a better percentage from the field. Cal was short two of their best players on Friday, Tyrone Wallace and Jabari Bird, but don't discredit Hawaii, as they pulled out a gritty win despite shooting poorly from three-point range.
Hawaii now awaits the winner of North Dakota State against Maryland, and will look to keep dancing with a win the second round of the tournament. While Hawaii clearly earned their win Friday, Cal's loss has many questioning the strength of Pac-12 basketball in this year's tournament.
The Golden Bears' loss Friday gives the Pac-12 a 1-5 record so far, and only leaves No. 3 seed Utah and the West Region's top-seeded Oregon Ducks left from the conference. The Arizona Wildcats were expected to be a formidable opponent in this year's tournament, but were easily handled by 11th-seeded Wichita State in the first round losing 65-55. VCU also took down No. 7 seed Oregon State on Friday.
Utah faces Gonzaga in the second round in the Midwest Region on Saturday, and barring a historic upset the Ducks should move past 16th-seeded Holy Cross on Friday evening. March Madness wouldn't be complete without some huge upsets, but not many saw the demise of the Pac-12 coming so early in this year's tournament, as all five programs that have lost were seeds eight or below.
Nothing is certain when it comes to March Madness, as early favorite, No. 2 seed Michigan State, fell to 15th-seeded Middle Tennessee on Friday showing that any team can lose in any given game.
