OKLAHOMA CITY - With a whirl and a prayer, Wayne Simien could've just as easily been the next Christian Laettner. Instead, Kansas was left to wonder what might have been after a season that started with so much promise came to a stunning conclusion in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Simien, the Big 12 player of the year, took a long pass from Michael Lee at the free-throw line, spun and fired a 15-footer that clanged off the rim, giving 14th-seeded Bucknell a surprising 64-63 win Friday night against Kansas, the preseason No. 1.

"I got a clean look," Simien said of the shot, which mirrored Laettner's 1992 buzzer-beater against Kentucky in every way except that he missed. "It felt good on the release, but I didn't hit it."

Entering their tournament opener, coach Bill Self said the Jayhawks (23-7) "pretty encouraged." Afterward, they were plenty discouraged.

A banked shot by Chris McNaughton with 10.5 seconds left sealed the win for Bucknell (23-9) and left Kansas with nothing but unfulfilled dreams.

The Badgers (23-8) came out with pinpoint shooting from 3-point range for an early 26-10 lead, but found its lead over 11th-seeded Northern Iowa (21-11) had lead dwindled to three with 4 minutes to play.Sophomore Kammron Taylor scored six straight points in the final minute to keep the Badgers out front for a 57-52 win.

Oklahoma State (25-6), the Chicago Regional's No. 2 seed, got a boost from a friendly crowd to hold off the 15th-seeded Lions (24-9), who were within 49-45 with less than 5 minutes to play before a putback jam by Terrence Crawford and a 3-pointer by freshman JamesOn Curry sealed the Cowboys' win.

The Salukis fought off the demons of consecutive one-point losses in tournament openers the last two seasons to beat St. Mary's

Central Florida (24-9) cut a 19-point lead to four thanks to Gary Johnson's career-high 29 points. But UConn (23-7) held on for its 13th consecutive first-round victory and will face 10th-seeded North Carolina State Sunday.The Huskies got 22 points from Charlie Villanueva in the win to keep their hopes of a repeat alive.

The Spartans (23-6) managed to avoid a second consecutive first-round exit by holding off Old Dominion.The fifth-seeded Spartans couldn't pull away until the final minutes, when Shannon Brown made a spinning layup to start a three-point play.

Julius Hodge carried the Wolfpack into the second round, finishing with 19 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.

The Yellow Jackets, who made every NCAA game an adventure before losing in the title game last season, dribbled out the final minute Friday night George Washington.

The Cardinals (30-4) reached the second round for the second time in three years under coach Rick Pitino, and he had tried to warn his Cardinals that this was the toughest first-round opponent he had seen in 10 tournament appearances.

Villanova nearly ruined a beautiful start after holding 12th-seeded New Mexico (26-7) to four field goals and only 11 first-half points, the Lobos worst total all season.Then Villanova (23-7) blew a 24-point lead by doing the Lobos one better - hitting only three shots from the floor in the second half. The Wildcats had to go to the free throw line where they hit only hit 13-of-20 in the final 3 minutes.

The fourth-seeded Gators (24-7) blew a 20-point lead and nearly lost in the opening round for the third time in four years. But they pulled out the victory with a few breaks, including an air ball that turned into an assist on the go-ahead basket to beat the Bobcats (21-11)

The Cyclones are savoring their first NCAA win since 2000 after Curtis Stinson scored 18 points in Iowa State's 64-53 victory over the Golden Gophers.

Freshman Marvin Williams scored 20 points and Sean May added 19 in the top-seeded Tar Heels' win, a significant improvement from their lackluster showing in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

Shelden Williams had 14 points and 11 rebounds and the top-seeded Blue Devils held off 16th-seeded Delaware State in the Austin Regional, giving coach Mike Krzyzewski his 65th career victory in the tournament.In 21 NCAA tournaments, Krzyzewski is 65-17, tying Dean Smith's total for the most career victories.

Winsome Frazier made six 3-pointers and scored 20 points to lead the Bulldogs.