There were three Giant Killings on Day 1 of the NCAA tournament. But it felt like more.

From a pair of 14-seeds going crazy (UAB, Georgia State) to near misses from Boston teams (Northeastern, Harvard), from a goaltending call being analyzed like the Zapruder film (UCLA) to a pair of 12-seeds who came oh-so-close (Stephen F. Austin, Wofford), the entire opening day felt like a treatise in Giant Killing. If our model had sweat glands, it would need a towel.

But when the dust cleared, UAB, Georgia State and UCLA were moving on, and the Blazers and Bruins will actually face each other in a rare 11-14 game Saturday. That doesn’t even qualify as a Giant Killer matchup, so there’s no need to worry about whether the Blazers can do it again. They don’t have to. But Georgia State? They’re back on the board. And they’ve got a heck of a shot.

The Panthers will face Xavier, which is actually a far more vulnerable Giant than Baylor was, according to our model. Credit the Musketeers for topping Ole Miss in a game our model said had a 38.9 percent chance of ending in an upset. But Xavier still has just a 63.2 Giant rating, while Georgia State has a 14.4 Killer rating. As such, our model gives the Panthers a 47.4 percent chance of advancing to the Sweet 16.

How? Well, the Panthers beat a seemingly impervious Baylor squad (93.9 Giant rating) through pressure defense that resulted in 13 steals. That possession advantage helped them neutralize Baylor’s edge on the offensive glass (the Bears grabbed 12 of 25 available offensive rebounds) so that when R.J. Hunter suddenly found his stroke late, the Panthers were at least in range for a miracle comeback.

Now, Xavier does take care of the ball better than Baylor, as the Musketeers only turn the ball over on 17.9 percent of possessions. But they also shouldn’t maul Georgia State on the boards -- while Baylor ranked second in the NCAA in offensive rebounding percentage (41.9), Xavier only grabs 31.4 percent of their own misses.

Instead, this game may come down to more conventional matchups, particularly when Xavier has the ball. Georgia State’s defense is geared toward protecting the paint (they allow foes to shoot just 42.4 percent from 2-point range), and they give up tons of treys in that pursuit (42 percent of opponents’ shots are 3s). But Xavier typically doesn’t settle for 3-pointers, it scores 53.3 percent of its points from 2-point range, and wants to attack Georgia State with its trio of 6-foot-10 guys (Matt Stainbrook, James Farr and Jalen Reynolds). That’s a tough task for a Georgia State team that doesn’t offer that kind of size as resistance, but the Panthers just held Rico Gathers and Johnathan Motley to a combined 15 points and 14 rebounds, so they might be up to the task.

If the Panthers can force enough turnovers to generate a few easy buckets and Hunter can find his stroke earlier, they’re a serious threat to take down Xavier -- even if they’re missing Ryan Harrow again. And with the way this tournament has started, would that even be surprising? Madness, indeed.