March Madness: Five key takeaways from the NCAA tournament's second-round action Sunday

USA TODAY Sports recaps the key takeaways following Sunday's eight second-round NCAA tournament games. 

1. Six national title favorite picks are done dancing. Goodbye, blue bloods. Sunday featured no shortage of upsets, as No. 11 seed Syracuse stunned No. 3 Michigan State (a trendy Final Four pick), Texas A&M obliterated North Carolina (the defending national champion), Nevada stormed back from 22 down to clip Cincinnati (another trendy Final Four pick) and Florida State knocked out No. 1 seed Xavier — making it just the fourth time since 1985 that two No. 1s were dispatched in the first two rounds.

Just like that, four national title contenders — cause that's what the Spartans, Tar Heels, Bearcats and Musketeers were considered on Selection Sunday — are gone before the second weekend. Then factor in Virginia's historic upset loss to UMBC and Arizona's staggering upset loss to Buffalo, and six legitimate teams that were in the mix to cut down the nets will be watching the rest of the Dance from home. 

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2. Seriously, who saw Florida State, Syracuse and Texas A&M coming? These head-scratching upsets took elite teams not playing their best basketball, but they also took impressive efforts by teams we didn't expect to be here. The most surprising is easily Syracuse, a bubble team that barely squeaked into the field of 68 as a No. 11 seed. The Orange's 2-3 zone is tough, but this team has far less talent than Jim Boeheim's Final Four team in 2016 that blossomed at the right time. 

Florida State, a middling ACC team, made a statement by knocking out top-seeded Xavier after trailing by 12 with just about 10 minutes to go. Then in crunch time, FSU looked like the better seed. "We were much better than Xavier in the last two and a half minutes of the game," Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton told reporters. "Sometimes when the games are close, that's all that's important."

Then there's Texas A&M, which features an imposing frontcourt of Robert Williams, Tyler Davis and DJ Hogg. For teams that rely on great guard play to advance (that's 80% of the Sweet 16 teams), the Aggies are a terrible nightmare. Just ask North Carolina from its 21-point drubbing. 

3. Kansas State is the villain of March Madness. The ninth-seeded Wildcats sent home the NCAA tournament's most likable Cinderella on Sunday, just two days after No. 16 seed Maryland Baltimore County pulled off the biggest upset in NCAA tournament history. This is a team the country fell in love with as history was made. 

Coach Bruce Weber and Kansas State are a decent team that fought its way off the NCAA tournament bubble and earned an impressive first-round win over Creighton to earn its shot against UMBC. But it's safe to say the Wildcats won't bring the same type of spotlight as UMBC would have in Atlanta. Right now, with the Cinderella dust wearing off, Kansas State has been cast as this March's biggest villain. 

4. Comeback king Nevada has set up a glorious mid-major Cinderella showdown. The two mid-majors remaining in these NCAAs will square off with an Elite Eight on the line, as Nevada meets a dynamic offense and stout defense in Loyola-Chicago. Could this be where Loyola's fundamental, floor-spacing offense gets bested by two versatile 6-7 brothers in Caleb and Cody Martin? Or could it be where Nevada — the comeback king of these NCAAs — runs out of the resiliency that helped the Wolf Pack knock out Texas and Cincinnati? 

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5. Should we stop sleeping on Clemson? The short answer here is absolutely yes. Or at least stop thinking of Clemson as just a football school. Much like Ohio State, the Tigers were considered one of the most vulnerable No. 5 seeds expected to either lose in the first round against a viable mid-major (Clemson handled New Mexico State) or second round by a better-seeded No. 4. Consider the Tigers 31-point beatdown of Auburn a message to doubters. 

"I think it's a statement game," Clemson guard Marcquise Reed told reporters after the win. "I think we showed how hard we can compete defensively."

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE NCAA TOURNAMENT'S SECOND ROUND