The favorites held serve on the opening afternoon of March Madness. In fact, no game was closer than an eight-point differential. Cinderella never answered the bell; at this point we'd settle for Amy Adams' Giselle in Enchanted.

One shining moment: Joe Crawford
Kentucky's senior forward outscored every player in the tournament thus far --not to mention his entire team -- with 35 in a losing effort vs. Marquette. The Golden Eagles won 74-66, meaning that Crawford, a senior, outscored the rest of the Wildcats 35-31. That ties his previous high, which was 35 on March 5 against South Carolina.

Most impressive team: Pittsburgh
The Panthers picked up where they left off at Madison Square Garden, going on an 18-0 run in the first half against Oral Roberts. Pitt went on to win 82-63. Jamie Dixon's team has now won six straight, the last four against NCAA tourney teams.

Longest day: Dionte Christmas
Temple's leading scorer had just three points on 1-12 shooting in the Owls' 72-61 loss to Michigan State. Christmas was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Atlantic 10 tournament just last weekend.

Most exciting game: Xavier 73, Georgia 61
The glass slipper was on the other foot at the Verizon Center, as the SEC school came in as the underdog against the mid-major from the A-10. And when the 14th-seeded Bulldogs went up by 11 in the second half, it began to look as if an upset was possible. But the Musketeers, thanks to 19 points and 11 boards from forward Derrick Brown, clawed back. No one plays more annoying defense than Xavier, whom, you may remember, took Ohio State to overtime in the second round last March.

Record setter: Kent State
The Gone-in-a-Flashes tied a tournament record by scoring just 10 points in the first half of their 71-58 loss to UNLV. Even Tark's teams never held an opponent to that few points in the tourney. Kent State went eight minutes without scoring at one point while falling behind 31-10.

Conference on the ropes: SEC
Two down -- albeit the two lowest seeds -- and four to go for the Southeastern Conference, which boasts the winner of the last two NCAA championships (ahem, that's basketball and football). No. 11 Kentucky and No. 14 Georgia fell this afternoon. Arkansas (a 9 seed) Mississippi State (8), Vanderbilt (4) and Tennessee (2) will dance tomorrow. And Florida, the two-time reigning champ, is still alive in the NIT.

Big time: Short people
Two players who, based on height alone, would be too short to make most high school JV squads acquitted themselves well. Big Sky conference Player of the Year Jeremiah Dominguez, 5-feet-6, had team highs in points (11) and assists (4) in Portland State's loss to Kansas. Meanwhile, Xavier's 5-foot-7 guard Drew Lavender had 13 points in the Musketeers' comeback win against Georgia.

Most disturbing trend: Plenty of good seats available
Why do NCAA first-round sites resemble Arthur Ashe Stadium? We don't have to travel farther than the office copier to know that March Madness is a BIG deal, so how come so many empty seats near the bench? Sure, it's a combination of the start time (11:30 a.m. local time in Anaheim) and comped seats for campus hoo-has, but it just looks bad on TV. The NCAA needs to look into ways to make first-round day game seats more accessible (i.e., cheaper and available) for real fans.

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