Day One of the NCAA Tournament was supposed to be a soft landing for the top of the bracket. It was anything but.

Four No. 1 regional seeds lost on opening night. Eight of sixteen 2-vs-3 games went to the lower seed. Two regionals — Los Angeles and Tallahassee — lost both their 1 and 2 seeds on the same day. Two games went fourteen innings. The chalk barely made it to dinner.

The Host Carnage

The headline of the day was the wreckage at the top of four regionals.

In Los Angeles, No. 1 overall seed UCLA fell 3-2 to Saint Mary's, the No. 4 seed in the regional. The Bruins entered the night as the most consistent team in the country, with the kind of draw a top overall seed expects to control. Instead, the Gaels held them to two runs at Jackie Robinson Stadium and walked away with the upset of the tournament so far. UCLA is now into a Saturday elimination game with the rest of the country watching.

In Auburn, Milwaukee dropped 13 runs on the No. 4 national seed and stunned the Tigers 13-8 at Plainsman Park. Auburn had what looked like the most manageable host draw of any top-eight seed. The Panthers — a team built for a one-game cameo — turned it into a thirteen-run statement.

In Tallahassee, No. 4 seed St. John's beat Florida State 6-5. The Red Storm came in as one of the most overlooked four-seeds in the field and walked out with a season-defining win over a host program with deep tournament history.

In Hattiesburg, Little Rock took down No. 9 national seed Southern Miss 7-4. The Golden Eagles were one of the more confident hosts on the board after a strong Sun Belt season. Now they are the fourth top seed staring at an elimination game on Saturday afternoon.

Four hosts. Four upsets. All on the same day.

Two Fourteen-Inning Games

The longest game of the early card belonged to East Carolina, who outlasted Tennessee 7-3 in 14 innings in the Chapel Hill Regional. The Volunteers, a tough No. 2 seed and one of the most respected programs in the bracket, were pushed to extras by the Pirates and never recovered.

Then the late card matched it. Ole Miss outlasted Arizona State 7-6 in 14 innings at the Lincoln Regional, in a game that went from a 6-4 Rebel lead in the fifth to a 14-inning grind that ended after midnight Central. Ole Miss survives. Arizona State drops into the loser's bracket against a Nebraska program that had its own walk in the park to open the night.

Two fourteen-inning games on Day 1. Both winners advance with depleted staffs. Both losers have to find arms for Saturday on no rest.

The Other Upsets

The host losses got the headlines, but the chalk-busting did not stop there. Eight of the sixteen 2-vs-3 games went to the lower seed.

Jacksonville State 15, Virginia 7. The Gamecocks ran wild in the Hattiesburg Regional, putting up double digits against a Virginia program that has been postseason-tested for the better part of a decade. With Southern Miss losing as well, Jax State and Little Rock — the two lowest seeds in the regional — meet Saturday in the winners' bracket.

Northern Illinois 12, Coastal Carolina 10 in Tallahassee. The Huskies and the Chanticleers traded runs all night before NIU pulled away. Combined with St. John's beating Florida State earlier in the day, Tallahassee became one of two regionals where both the 1 AND 2 seeds lost on opening day. The bottom half of that bracket is now entirely the lower two seeds.

Cal Poly 6, Virginia Tech 2 in Los Angeles. The Mustangs joined Saint Mary's on the winners' side, making LA the second regional to see both top seeds fall. The bottom half there is also wide open — Cal Poly and Saint Mary's meet Saturday with a regional final in reach.

Texas State 5, USC 4 in College Station. The Bobcats edged the Trojans in a one-run game, knocking off a USC team many viewed as a sneaky favorite to win the regional.

South Carolina Upstate 8, Oklahoma State 5 in Tuscaloosa. The Spartans took down the Cowboys in a regional that now has Alabama as the only top-two seed still on the winners' side.

Washington State 3, Oregon State 2 in Eugene. A regional that was already going to be loud — Oregon hosting its in-state rival — got a Pac-12-coded twist as the Cougars edged the Beavers in a one-run game.

Kentucky 6, Wake Forest 5 and Liberty 4, Boston College 3 rounded out a brutal day for the ACC, with two more close-game losses for traditional powers.

The Top Seeds Who Did Their Jobs

Not every top seed melted down. Several did exactly what they were supposed to do, and they did it loudly.

Georgia Tech 22, UIC 5. A 22-spot in the Atlanta Regional opener. (The Atlanta 2-vs-3 game was the only Day 1 matchup not played.)

Texas 19, Holy Cross 1. The Longhorns set the tone at the Austin Regional with a 19-1 demolition.

Alabama 21, Alabama State 3. Sewell-Thomas Stadium got a 21-run home opener.

Oregon 14, Yale 2, Mississippi State 10, Lipscomb 1, Cincinnati 12, Louisiana 2, Miami 10, Troy 5, North Carolina 8, VCU 0, and West Virginia 10, Binghamton 1 all cleared double digits as well.

Florida survived a real test from Rider, winning 8-7 in Gainesville. Nebraska, Texas A&M, and Kansas got their wins with less drama. Arkansas pulled away from Missouri State 9-5 at Hoglund Ballpark. Georgia was leading Long Island 15-1 when weather suspended the game, and UCF was up 9-3 on NC State in the eighth when its game was suspended as well. Both will be completed Saturday.

What to Watch Saturday

The Saturday slate has a very different complexion than the bracket the committee handed out on Monday.

Elimination games for four No. 1 hosts. UCLA, Auburn, Florida State, and Southern Miss will all play to stay alive in their own buildings. Win one, then win four more across two days. That is the math now.

Tennessee and Arizona State are stuck in the same spot. Both lost fourteen-inning games. Both have to find arms for Saturday's elimination round on no rest. Both could be the second top-two seed in their regional to go out the back door before sundown.

Winners' bracket headliners. Saint Mary's vs. Cal Poly in Los Angeles. St. John's vs. Northern Illinois in Tallahassee. Little Rock vs. Jacksonville State in Hattiesburg. Three regionals where the winner of a 3-vs-4 game will play for a regional final berth on Sunday. Throw in Milwaukee vs. the UCF–NC State winner in Auburn and that's four regionals where a sub-three seed is one win from the regional final.

Resumption games. Long Island and NC State both come back from suspensions in losing positions Saturday morning. The Atlanta 2-vs-3 game has to fit into the schedule somewhere as well.

Day One is not the tournament. Plenty of these stories will get rewritten by Sunday night. But the opening card delivered the kind of chaos that defines the sport in late May — and the bracket that walks into Saturday is barely recognizable as the one that walked in on Friday.