The joy of the NCAA basketball tournament is all the craziness that happens on the first two days. That's exactly why they call in March Madness.

There were plenty of upsets on Thursday, the first full day of the 2026 event. Lower seeds won six of the 16 games and many good teams are already heading home.

No. 6 seeds North Carolina and BYU lost, which continued a weird tourney trend. This is 21 years in a row now that a No. 11 seed has pulled off an upset.

So here's my list of the five worst losses on Thursday. (We'll do it again after Friday's games.)

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This is a clear winner, with the No. 6 seeded North Carolina Tar Heels losing to No. 11 seed VCU 82-78 in overtime. UNC blew a 19-point lead — the biggest ever in a first-round game — so they're the clear No. 1.

It's weird that I have them here because I actually picked VCU in my bracket. They are a legit good team, North Carolina was playing without star Caleb Wilson and they are a blueblood, after all.

But they had a 19-point lead a blew it! And then they played five minutes of overtime without making a single shot. They also missed a bunch of free throws. They didn't deserve to win.

This is a very bad look for Hubert Davis, who's lost in the first round two years in a row now. His job status might very well be a huge topic now. This is North Carolina. And much like Indiana learned with Mike Woodson, beating a great players doesn't make you a great coach at your alma mater. So, yeah, worst loss of the day for sure. 

The SEC had a great day on Thursday, and the league already has five wins in this tourney to just one loss. But the loss was horrific, with No. 8 seed Georgia losing 102-77 to No. 9 seed Saint Louis from the Atlantic-10.

Sure, 8/9 games are often a toss-up, but I hated that Georgia was a complete no-show, losing by 25 points. Star Kanon Catchings, who was a former Purdue commit that now transfers every year as is the son of WNBA legend Tamika Catchings, even had the stats to prove he didn't show up.

Catchings, who played at BYU last year after decommitting from Purdue, was 0-for-11 from the field Thursday and failed to score in 18 minutes. He averaged nearly 12 points a game all year. Georgia had a great year and beat some good teams. Saint Louis is good, too, but this is embarrassing losing by 25 points. 

"I'm disappointed in our effort, starting with myself,'' Georgia coach Mike White said. "Obviously, we weren't very prepared to compete at the level that I thought we would. I did not see this coming., and it's a tough way to end a season. We didn't give Saint Louis much of a game.

"Again, I'm just being honest with you. I did not see that coming. I expected to win the game. These guys have practiced really hard all week, been locked in in our preparation and played as disconnected as we've played all season.''

No kidding. This one will be tough to swallow for a while.

Losing by a point to a mid-major like High Point that's won 31 games and was in the tournament last year, too, maybe isn't so bad, but where this one hurts for me is that the Badgers have really been playing well lately and a lot of people thought they would make a good NCAA run.

Instead, they are heading home already as a No. 5 seed, the highest seed to lose so far. They lost 83-82 and looked bad doing it. Nick Boyd had 27 points and John Blackwell had 22, but they allowed High Point to make 15 threes and blew an early 10-point lead.

When I look at teams that came make a run, I love veteran guards and Wisconsin has two of the best in Boyd and Blackwell. So you just can't lose a game like this, especially when you're up double-digits early. But there were too many defensive breakdowns, especially late. That's been an issue all year. The Badgers were a big disappointment.

I had a concern about BYU being a six-seed, which was probably a little high after an 11-loss season in the tough Big 12. But Texas has been so up and down all year and had to play in a play-in game on Tuesday in Dayton.

This was a win there for the taking for BYU, but outside of star AJ Dybansta, who scored 35 points and 10 rebounds, the rest of the team stunk in a 79-71 loss. It's a quick exit for a program on the rise, and a fast farewell for Dybansta, who's a top 1-2 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. He scored 894 points this year, third-most ever by a freshman.

BYU was just 4-for-22 from the three-point line, a mere 18 percent. They also got rebounded 40-31. Texas, who has 14 losses themselves, was clearly the best team all night, and I wouldn't have said that before the game.  I would have loved to continue to watch Dybansta, and now we won't get the chance.

Saint Mary's plays in relative anonymity in the West Coast Conference all year, and we usually never hear about them until March, where they often make some noise and are a tough out.

They were 27-5 this year and finally got seeded fairly as a No. 7. Their first-round was injury-riddled Texas A&M from the SEC. This should have been a moment for the Gaels to make a statement.

Instead, they only scored 50 points and got drilled 63-50. They only made 18 field goals all night, and shot 38 percent from the field. They were also very sloppy, turning the ball over 18 times. 

It's tough for mid-majors to get high seeds, and Saint Mary's really blew this one. And it could have long-term ramifications for them, too. 

I did see Ohio State trending upward the past month or so, so I was surprised they weren't competitive early in a loss to TCU. A great rally late, but an early exit, too. They almost made my list.

You know who also made my list? No. 16 seed Siena! That's harsh i know, but 16s aren't supposed to be competitive against the No. 1 seeds. But Siena had an 11-point halftime lead against Duke and couldn't pull it off. I think it's a bad loss only from the point that they had a golden opportunity on the grandest of stages and didn't finish the deal.

And what about Friday? Who do I have on upset alert?

I think Kentucky and Texas Tech, for different reasons, better be careful. I like this Miami team — former Indiana star Malik Reneau has had a great year, but Missouri is a difficult team to prepare for. This is a 7-10 game well worth watching.