And then there were 16.

What a week, huh? Buzzer-beaters, bracket-busters and the greatest upset in NCAA Tournament history*.

Here are 10 things I’m absolutely overreacting to while still carving out an editorial plan for that Kentucky-Duke NCAA Championship Game.

10. The “Fire Tony Bennett!” crowd

History and perspective are great tools. So are facts. Nothing destroys a runaway false narrative faster than facts.

After Virginia suffered the most shocking upset in NCAA Tournament history*, Twitter went nuts with people calling for Tony Bennett’s head. That wasn’t surprising. This was: Some of the venom came from respected veterans who got so caught up in the moment they forgot what Virginia basketball is, and what Virginia basketball most certainly is not.

Look, there’s no sugarcoating a 16 beating a 1 for the first time. It was absolutely shocking and historic and awesome and fun. But as I noted earlier in the week, Kentucky has more 5-stars on its bench than Virginia does on its roster (0).

UMBC has just as many NCAA championship banners hanging in its gym as UVA does.

Just a sample of the nonsense I rejected (Texas A&M style) calling for Bennett to change his ways, now:

Forde, in particular, should know better. He’s been around college basketball long enough to know that UVA was stuck in a mud puddle for 20 years between Terry Holland and Tony Bennett.

9. *Now, as for the actual biggest upset in NCAA Tournament history …

It’s still No. 15 Lehigh over No. 2 Duke in 2012.

That Duke team featured seven players who spent time in the NBA, including four starters that night. Unlike Virginia, which has never won an NCAA title, only gotten to one Final Four and might have only one future NBA player on this roster, Duke was just two years removed from winning its fourth NCAA title. Several starters on the floor for the Lehigh loss were key rotation players for the 2010 champs.

That truly was David slaying Goliath.

No, N.C. State over Houston in 1983 wasn’t it, either. That wasn’t even close to being it. For starters, it was in the national championship game, which meant the Pack had to do plenty of damage just to get there.

But most important, N.C. State was a No. 6 seed in name only. Star guard Dereck Whittenburg missed 14 games with a broken foot. State slumped as a result. He returned for the postseason and the Pack never lost again. That N.C. State team beat Michael Jordan’s Tar Heels twice that season and Ralph Sampson’s Cavaliers twice in two weeks — in the ACC Tournament and NCAA Tournament.

Cinderella, they were not.

8. UNC and Michigan State are really, really bad at trying to be Duke

Not sure why, but UNC and Michigan State decided to ride-or-die with the 3-ball Sunday.

It backfired, and they expired. And how.

UNC ranked No. 121 in the nation in 3-point attempts, averaging 24. The Heels jacked up 31 against Texas A&M, and most of the attempts came well before the game got out of hand.

Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

Michigan State’s strategy was even more surprising. A trendy pick to win it all, Sparty shot an astounding 37 3-pointers against Syracuse’s zone. Coming in, the Spartans were tied for 229th nationally, averaging just 21 3s a game.

MSU’s total was its most this decade and just the sixth time it attempted more than 30.

I wouldn’t be surprised if either program were hit with a bill for damaging the rims, too. Bricks break glass.

That 3-ball is Duke’s game. Why in the world either program switched gears so dramatically Sunday is beyond me.

I’m sure Twitter thinks both programs should fire their head coach.

7. Syracuse’s zone is unstoppable!

Heard a lot of this crazy talk Sunday, too.

Syracuse’s zone is tough to prepare for the first time you see it. Few teams play zone, and almost nobody plays it as well or as aggressively as the Orange. Jim Boeheim recruits big guards specifically for his defense. He wants length on the perimeter to challenge 3-pointers.

However, it didn’t take the better ACC teams long to figure it out. That’s why Syracuse hasn’t sniffed an ACC title since its first year in the league.

Next up: The Cuse gets Duke, which is very much in the ACC. Duke beat Syracuse by 16 earlier this season and is gonna roll by double digits into the Elite Eight.

6. Texas A&M just played its Super Bowl

The SEC has been tough to figure out this year — league-record 8 teams in the NCAA Tournament, yet only Tennessee seeded better than No. 4.

The Aggies were No. 7. They’ve lost 12 times — 7 time by double digits.

But they are athletic and big, two attributes that posed a real and rare threat to North Carolina, which usually leans on those advantages to pummel opponents.

“They blocked 70,000 shots,” UNC coach Roy Williams told reporters afterward.

(Actually, it was only 68,324.)

If Texas A&M plays like that, the Aggies can beat anybody.

But if Texas A&M usually played like that, the Aggies wouldn’t have 12 losses.

Funny thing about the NCAA Tournament: It’s tough to play two Super Bowls, and that clearly was the Aggies’ best performance of the year.

5. Auburn …

You know what, let’s just move on. Charles Barkley did — at halftime.

Terrific season under trying circumstances, filled with “first time since …” references, but it’s time to get back to football.

4. Poor Cincinnati

Cincinnati is a fantastic basketball city with a rich hoops tradition. Oscar Robertson starred there, won an NCAA title there.

Xavier and Cincinnati are separated by 2.5 miles. They like each other about as much as Alabama and Auburn, and they’re closer together than Duke and North Carolina. Their relationship is testy and non-stop — and both sides were looking forward to a potential showdown in the Final Four.

But that’s the thing about chalk. It’s not permanent. It blows away, and within hours Sunday on the same court, no less, No. 1 seed Xavier and No. 2 seed Cincinnati were erased and replaced.

Here’s how Cincinnati Enquirer columnist Paul Daugherty described the nightmare in Nashville, and I’m not even sure he was overreacting.

“NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Sunday was the worst night in the modern history of Cincinnati sports, and I will consider no arguments on that. It was remarkable for its finality and the sadness it produced. Tell me if you think this will ever happen again in the NCAA tournament: Two highly favored teams from the same city, playing in the same gym on the same night lose in precisely the same fashion.

“March Madness? The rest of America has no idea.

“You couldn’t break more hearts if you brought the devil to Valentine’s Day.”

I’m not sure Graeters can make enough ice cream to heal this hurt …

3. Gotta love bracket luck

The basketball Gods are smiling on Kentucky, Duke and Villanova.

Kentucky should be preparing for Virginia’s menacing defense. Instead, the Wildcats get No. 9 seed Kansas State.

Duke should be preparing for Michigan State, a game in which many predicted would produce the national champion. Instead, the Blue Devils get a Syracuse team they beat by 16 the only time they saw them this season.

Villanova has been eyeing its potential Elite 8 showdown with No. 2 seed Purdue. That still might happen, but the Boilers likely will be without their big man, Isaac Haas, who broke his elbow in the opener.

Suddenly, all three look like locks to make it to the Final Four.

2. Game locations don’t mean squat

SEC types did a lot of squawking after the bracket was revealed. SEC teams had to travel too far, they said. Other leagues caught better breaks.

First, the narrative was wrong. Heck, the entire state of West Virginia got shipped 2,000-plus miles to San Diego, where, lo and behold, West Virginia and Marshall won their opening game to set up a second-round clash (which West Virginia won). Nevada got shipped 2,100 miles East to Nashville, yet won twice to reach the Sweet 16.

Proximity never matters as much as execution. UNC and Virginia lost in Charlotte. Michigan State lost in Detroit. Xavier and Cincinnati lost in Nashville.

At least the bus rides back home weren’t too long.

1. Kentucky and Duke are on a collision course

Villanova might be better than both, and Gonzaga is no joke.

But there’s no game either fan base wants to see more than Kentucky vs. Duke, Round VI — 40 years after the Wildcats beat Duke to win the 1978 NCAA Championship.

What better way to cap the end of the one-and-done era?