Best Moments From the First day of the 2024 NCAA Tournament

The First Round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament got underway on Thursday, and as usual, March Madness has already delivered some unforgettable moments. We've already seen major upsets and a remarkable comeback.

Here are the best moments from the first day of the 2024 NCAA Tournament...

Jack Gohlke and Oakland stun Kentucky

We've seen our first highly-seeded team fall in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The 14-seed Oakland Golden Grizzlies, champions of the Horizon League, stunned 3-seed Kentucky 80-76 Thursday night.

They did it behind newly-formed March Madness legend Jack Gohlke. The D-II transfer guard drained 10 three-pointers, becoming just the fifth player in tournament history to accomplish the feat and falling just one short of the single-game record. The Golden Grizzlies as a whole torched the Wildcats, going 15-31 from deep. UK's defense was a liability all season, and it cost them immediately in the tournament.

After 40 seasons as HC, Greg Kampe led Oakland to its first NCAA Tournament win in program history, and he did so in the most emphatic way possible. Meanwhile, Kentucky still has just one tournament win since 2019. Was this the loss that finally pushes John Calipari out of Lexington?

Duquesne rides momentum from A-10 Championship to a First Round upset

While Oakland provided the most shocking upset, the first major upset of the day happened in just the second game of the day. 11-seed Duquesne, fresh off of stealing a NCAA Tournament bid following an improbable A-10 Championship run, carried that momentum into the Big Dance to upset 6-seed BYU, 71-67.

Duquesne led big in the second half before BYU fought back to tie the game with under two minutes to go. Duquesne guard Jimmy Clark III would go on to score five-straight points for the Dukes, including make a vital layup to put his team up two scores with under 30 seconds to go.

Dukes' leading scored Dae Dae Grant (19 points) would drain the clenching free throws down the stretch to close it out. After making their first NCAA Tournament since 1977, Duquesne won their first tournament game since 1969. All in their final season under HC Keith Dambrot, who announced he would retire following the tournament.

Dayton makes wild comeback over Nevada

10/7 games tend to be some of the most competitive matchups of the tournament, so naturally, 7-seed Dayton winning 63-60 over 10-seed Nevada doesn't sound all that surprising.

What was surprising was the manner in which Dayton won the game. Because Nevada seemingly had a stranglehold on this one...until they didn't.

The Wolfpack led by 17 with 7:36 remaining in the game, 56-39. What followed that point was remarkable. The Flyers scored 17-straight in less than five minutes to tie the game with 2:45 left, with DaRon Holmes II and Koby Brea making key plays.

Nevada quickly responded to go back up 58-56, but Holmes answered with a dunk and made free throw to give Dayton their first lead of the half. Nevada would make one final shot to reclaim the lead before a Dayton bucket with 37 seconds left but the Flyers up 61-60. After a Nevada turnover, Dayton hit a pair of free throws and survived a last-gasp possession by the Wolfpack for an incredible win.