Saint Francis-Alabama State highlight beauty of First Four games

It also is a good counter-argument to the idea that the First Four games should only be for the at-large bubble teams that are the last ones in the field. 

This is all about opportunity. It is an opportunity for the smaller schools and players to shine when they would otherwise be overlooked.

It is an opportunity for a school like Alabama State to say it won an NCAA Tournament game. And whether you believe these games count or not, the reality is, it's still a tournament win. It counts. 

On the other side, it is an opportunity for an even smaller school like Saint Francis to experience the heartbreak that can come with a last-second, buzzer-beating defeat in March. 

Under the 64-team format that did not feature the First Four games, schools like this would have never had an opportunity to experience the drama and big-time pressure of a game like this. 

They would have simply been thrown right into the lion's den against a No. 1 seed, lost by 24 or more points to Auburn or Duke, and then went home with a mostly forgettable experience. 

But this? This was the actual March Madness experience in every single way. 

It was two evenly matched teams, playing a tight, close game that came down to a dramatic finish that has one team experiencing the biggest moment in its program history, and another leaving with huge regret and the feeling of a massive missed opportunity. 

It had everything you could possibly want in a tournament game. And it was great.