The ball has been tipped, and here you are.

You’re not running for your life. You’re here because you can’t get enough NCAA Tournament coverage. Obviously.

Day 1 is in the books, but before we turn the page to Day 2, let’s look back.

Here are my 10 takeaways from Thursday of the NCAA Tournament:

1. Jack Gohlke might have superpowers

Never mind the fact that he’s a 24-year-old former Division II transfer. By night’s end, Gohlke could’ve climbed Mount Everest blindfolded. The Oakland sharpshooter was that good. Ten 3-pointers. Ten! Every other play, he came off a screen, pump-faked a Kentucky defender out of the gym, knocked down a 3-pointer and did the Michael Jordan shrug.

With each shot he hit, reality set in. Oakland, which made 15 3-pointers, was in the midst of something special while Kentucky was in the midst of a nightmare.

Speaking of those Cats …

2. John Calipari isn’t ever getting it back

It’s over. Calipari is officially done as an elite coach in this sport after yet another embarrassing NCAA Tournament exit. It didn’t matter that he had the No. 1 recruiting class with multiple future lottery picks. It didn’t even matter that he was against an Oakland program that had never made it to the Round of 32. Nope.

A buyout north of $33 million suggests that Mitch Barnhart isn’t pulling the trigger on firing Calipari — he’s under contract through 2029 — but this is more about his ability to convince anyone that he can lead a deep run. It’s baffling how much he’s struggled in March since the 2020s began. One SEC Tournament game win and 1 NCAA Tournament win is all he has since the beginning of the decade.

This is no longer about Calipari’s ability to adapt to the times with spacing or the type of player he recruits. He’s lost the ability to properly prepare his team and troubleshoot in-game. Period.

3. Betting against Tom Izzo in March was unwise

The guy had 16 wins as a worse seed in the NCAA Tournament entering Thursday’s matchup against Mississippi State. As in, he had the most wins as a worse seed compared to anyone in the history of the sport. In hindsight, it was unwise to discount that, even in a coin-flip matchup against a Mississippi State squad that got off the bubble at the SEC Tournament. Michigan State was disciplined offensively against one of the nation’s better defensive teams.

It also helped that the Spartans seemed to get a favorable whistle.

Consider it another reminder of why he’s one of the best coaches we’ve ever had. UNC could have its hands full in the Round of 32.

4. Long Beach State’s AD could only do so much

Shoutout to Long Beach State athletic director Bobby Smitheran. This man fired coach Dan Monson ahead of the conference tournament, told him he could stay on to coach the team, watched Long Beach State win the conference tournament to clinch an NCAA Tournament berth and then said this (H/T Associated Press).

“My belief and hope is that by doing what I did and the timing of it, they would play inspired, and that’s what they did,” Smitheran told The Associated Press on Thursday, a few hours before The Beach tipped off against Arizona. “I’m not trying to pat myself on the back, but it worked.”

Unreal. What’s the George Costanza line? “It’s not a lie if you believe it.”

Too bad Smitheran couldn’t push the right buttons in the second half against No. 2 seed Arizona, which cruised to a 20-point win.

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5. Live by the 3, die by the 3 … and BYU died

No team in the field attempted or made more 3-pointers per game than BYU. When BYU hit 9 3-pointers in a game, it was 20-4. When it didn’t hit 9 3-pointers, BYU was 3-6. So naturally, the Cougars showed up to a foreign gym and went 8-for-24 from deep in a losing effort against a Duquesne team that hadn’t played in an NCAA Tournament since the Jimmy Carter administration. Even as a double-digit favorite, BYU just couldn’t get over the hump, and honestly, it only fought back because Jaxson Robinson was incredible. Still, down went the 6-seed.

That’s 11 of 14 years in which an 11-seed won a first-round game. That’s the new 12-5 upset.

Speaking of that 6-11 matchup …

6. South Carolina learned the hard way that timing is everything in March

If South Carolina and Oregon played a month ago, the Gamecocks probably roll. But Lamont Paris’ squad ran into a buzzsaw in the Round of 64. Fresh off the run through the Pac-12 Championship, Oregon continued its March dominance.

It had to sting even worse for the Gamecocks because of who did the damage. Former South Carolina guard Jermaine Cousinard dropped 40 on his former team, which usually defends at a much higher level. They said on the broadcast that’s the most points scored by a player from a double-digit seed since Steph Curry scored 40 points in a Round of 64 win against Gonzaga in 2008.

Still, though. South Carolina was picked to finish last in the SEC. Just getting to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since that magical Final Four run in 2017 was a promising sign for Paris, who got a well-deserved extension earlier in the month.

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6A. Apply that same “timing is everything” logic to Texas Tech, which ran into the NC State buzzsaw

Did I say “buzzsaw?” Nah. DJ Burns is a freight train.

Keep that man in March as long as humanly possible, college basketball gods.

7. Even a 17-point lead at the under-8 timeout isn’t safe in March

Dayton-Nevada was over. Like, stick a fork in it, mark it in your bracket, cash the bet … over. And then a 24-4 run to close the game happened and just like that, Steve Alford is still without an NCAA Tournament victory since 2017. How does one blow a lead like that in 7 minutes, you ask? Well, Nevada turned the ball over 4 times and went 2-for-9 from the floor, including an 0-for-4 mark from 3-point range.

That probably won’t be remembered quite like UNC blowing a 16-point halftime lead to Kansas in the national championship, but a Nevada team with 1 Round of 32 appearance since 2008 would probably beg to differ.

8. We will indeed get that Rick Barnes-Texas reunion

Cheers to that.

Tennessee trucked Saint Peter’s and quickly quieted any notion that this would be a repeat of 2022 while Texas had to grind out a win after a slow start against Colorado State. That means Barnes will get to face the program he coached for 17 years. That’ll be the topic of conversation pre-game.

As for the in-game battle, 2 of the nation’s best transfers are facing off against exceptional defense teams. Max Abmas played in 4 NCAA Tournament games at Oral Roberts before transferring to Texas for his final year of eligibility. Fellow transfer Dalton Knecht, however, scored 19 points in his first NCAA Tournament game on Thursday night in Tennessee’s blowout win.

The star-studded matchup will be worth the price of admission, especially knowing that the Barnes-Texas reunion will be one of the juiciest Round of 32 storylines.

9. Will Wade, an American outlaw, didn’t get a March redemption story after all

He, along with seemingly anyone who filled out a bracket, was ready for it. Like, was so ready for it that he trolled media members who criticized him after he was fired from LSU for NCAA violations. But apparently Wade should’ve spent more time preparing for Gonzaga, which wiped the floor with McNeese. That game was over before they even hit the locker room. Maybe it had something to do with a nonconference schedule that didn’t exactly move the needle.

There’s a reason Mark Few hasn’t lost a first-round game in 16 years since that aforementioned 40-point Curry game. Gonzaga knows a thing or two about blocking out the noise in March.

10. Hunter Dickinson is just fine

There were questions about how Dickinson would look coming off that shoulder injury that kept him out of the Big 12 Tournament. Then he had a double-double by halftime and looked every bit like the All-American he is. That’s exactly what Kansas needed, especially with leading scorer Kevin McCullar Jr. out for the NCAA Tournament. Even seeing Dickinson limited would’ve been a tough pill to swallow for Bill Self. It’s a thin group to begin with, much less with its 2 best players banged up.

Fortunately for Kansas, whatever lingering effects of that shoulder injury — Dickinson was wearing a protective sleeve — didn’t seem to hinder his play. That’s all Kansas could’ve asked for to get through Day 1.