The second day of NCAA Tournament games tipped off nationwide on Friday and the screens around Legacy Arena captured the action.

Reporters grouped together to see Xavier narrowly outlast Kennesaw State. Team managers controlled the remotes in locker rooms, making sure the channel was tuned to the closest game. A few Alabama players pulled up the end of the Baylor-UC Santa Barbra on their phones to see if another top-ranked team would lose in the South region.

The Bears held on, remaining the highest-possible seed Alabama could play after No. 15 Princeton beat No. 2 Arizona and No. 13 Furman knocked off No. 4 Virginia. It’s March Madness, which means upsets are lurking for everyone. Alabama is aware of it too and while it enjoys the bracket busting it’s making sure they don’t get surprised themselves in Saturday’s second-round game against No. 8 Maryland.

“So we’ve been on the other side of this. We try to tell them what the mentality of the other side. They’re kind of in a no lose situation. They’re going to play loose. Shots are going to go in. They’ve got nothing to lose. That’s how we were,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said of his time in Buffalo as a Cinderella team. “So we’ve got to play hard. We’re not trying to put any extra added pressure on. I’m sure they’ve got enough pressure. We want our guys to play as loose as they can. Yeah, I mean, shoot, they’re watching games. I was hanging out with them. They’ve got their phones out watching the end of — it’s March Madness. Everybody that’s a basketball fan is glued to a TV set.

“Shoot, when I was a teacher, I made sure those were the days we had worksheets to do so I could leave the TV on. Everybody’s watching these games.”

In 2018, Oats was at Buffalo as a No. 13 seed and the Bills beat No. 4 Arizona in the first round. He explained the recipe for the upset, including allowing uncontested 3-pointers, second-chance shots and transition makes. Though the path may the widest its ever been for the Tide to reach the Final Four for the first time in program history, Jahvon Quinerly said the team is trying to take it one game at a time. But it’s hard not to notice the shockers.

On the other side, Maryland head coach Kevin Willard said its biggest challenge is getting past Alabama and it can’t afford to project a potential future game against a lower seed. The Terrapins are eight-point underdogs in Birmingham tomorrow, but believe its hard-nosed, physical defense can give it a shot against the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed.

“A lot of teams that are high in the categories, high in the ranks, won this, won that, they look at themselves, ‘Oh, this gonna be easy.’ Or they overlook some of the teams that they play against. That can put you in a bad situation sometimes,” Maryland forward Donta Scott said. “I feel like going into the game we can really just lock in and give it our all.”

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Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].