Great 8 for UConn women

1 minute left in the game, Turner made a two, followed by a Georgia 3, now a Strother foul leads to 2 free throws. Baker makes 1 to go up by 1. Turner missed a tough 3, but rebound and pass to Strother for a 3, Georgia misses a three but rebound and pass to baker in the corner and Georgia up by 1, Time out Uconn 27 secs. left.

Reset shows no time outs for Georgia, 3 for Uconn. UConn needs to work this down for the last shot with the ball in Strothers or Turners (28 points for her tonight) hand for the shot. Its time to ride the seniors.

Uconn offense looks horrible and Turner finally gets the ball and fires up a 3 that goes in the net with 1.8 secs left. Georgia's desperation 3 hits the iron and falls off. What a game!!!!

Go Huskies.

Women UCONN vs Georgia

The eyes of huskyville turn to the womens tournament and the UCONN women are in the midst of a 16 - 2 run that has them trailing Georgia 25-24. Charde Houston (Geno's most inconsistent and hair graying sophmore) just got her 3rd foul and now heads to the bench.

Update 1: UCONN takes a two point lead. The comeback is now complete.

Update 2: Coach Landers of Georgia gets a technical and now Uconn leads by 6.

Update 3: Halftime: Uconn goes on 26-7 run to end the half and now leads 34 to 30.

Update 4: First TV timeout and huskies maintain their 4 point lead. Since halftime husky players have been diving on the floor, double teaming like their dinner is at stake, etc. Lots of activity and it is paying off in maintaining the lead. Only bad news, Houston picked up her 4th foul early.

Update 5: Keep on trading baskets, Uconn got up by 7 at one point but Georgia went on a 7 - 0 run to tie it, then Uconn scored and now back and forth baskets. Uconn is not working its offense very well though.

Update 6: Now Crockett gets her 4th foul, Georgia has a chance to tie up the game again.

Update 7: 1 point game less than 3 minutes left in the game. Houston made a tough shot, then missed a tough shot which led to a Georgia score. 2:00 minutes left, Uconn up by 1 with the ball.

Conference recap after great 8

SEC - 11 and 4
ACC - 6 and 4 (All Teams eliminated)
Big East – 11 and 8 (All Teams eliminated)
Big 10 – 3 and 6 (All Teams eliminated)
Big 12 – 4 and 4 (All Teams eliminated)
Pac 10 – 7 and 3
MVC - 4 and 4 (All Teams eliminated)

Most disappointing big conferences - Big 10 - a major conference like the big 10 should be 500 or better.

Most surprised result - CAA are you kidding me, George Mason in the final 4???

Mmmm pizza

Personally I aggree with the professor, pizza needs to have tomato sauce on it and the more there is the better the pizza tastes. I like the thick crust, followed by pan then thin crust. I have to admit though this pizza recipe at daily pundit sounds really good.

29 reasons to hate america!!!

h/t to East Coast Wisdom

Final 4 is set and again SEC rules

Only seconds left in the Florida vs Nova final with Florida up by 12. First time since 1980 (thanks CBS) that no number 1 seeds made it to the final three games. SEC now has 2 teams in the final 4 again. Will have to look up my tournament facts but this is not unusual in the last 16 years. What a tournament.

Florida up at the half

Villanova scored a bunch late in the half to trail by only 7 at the half. With the half ending I turned my eyes toward bigger things - Dilbert. Here we can find all the answers to life, or at least as Scott Adams finds them.

It took OT but Cinderella lives for another 6 days

Another missed free throw by UCONN and now it looks like G.M. has finally clinched this game in OT (4 point lead with 27 secs to go). Should be a parade to the foul line now, as UCONN has to foul to have a chance. Looks like I will get to work on my 5 reasons why Calhoun should be fired after all.

UPDATE: ESPN's take on the UCONN - George Mason game

GM-UCONN go to OT

Had a post started heralding the UCONN loss, which I decided to go ahead and keep in this post. The only problem is that SKinn missed his one and one and Rudy G. got the rebound and Denham Brown made a lay up as the clock turned to zeroes. So, instead its overtime baby.

The following part of this post is brought to you by the Dr. Who, alternate time machine.

G.M. moves on thanks to missed free throws by Boone and a tip in that was credited to Thomas but was an own goal by the Huskies. Marcus Williams tried valiantly to make up for his mistakes by getting the old fashioned 3, but it was not enough in the end. G.M. deserved this win, came back from being 12 down and played with poise while UCONN melted down the stretch.

Josh Boone once again disappeared in this game. This has been a terrible tournament for Boone.

UCONN - G.M. at the half

Well, UCONN came out and ran off to an early lead only to see G.M. come back and tie the score after the huskies missed 8 straight shots. With the crowd roaring, UCONN scored 6 straight points only to have G.M. come back and take a one point lead.

Huskieville was sure to panic, but fortunately for us, the huskies themselves did not panic. A 3 by Rudy G., a three by Marcus Williams another basket for the good guys, and then an old fashioned three by Nelson and the huskies are up by 9 points at 41-31.

A three by Anderson puts them up by and twelve. George Mason gets an old fashioned 3 point play at the end and we go to the half with UCONN up by 9. Good game by the home team, lets keep the pressure on and move on to the final 4.

Minneapolis and Washington Regionals

First up is the UCONN vs George Mason game at 2:00. George Mason has shown that they belong and will have home court advantage. Normally this is the type of game where you can count on UCONN to come out firing to silence the crowd, however, this is not your typical UCONN team. I fully expect George Mason to lead by 10 early in the game. The question is whether UCONN can recover, I say, they will recover and make it a close game again. UCONNs heart appears to bigger than other teams, so look for a 2 point win courtesy of last minute heroics.

The second game between Florida and Villanova will be interesting because of several other factors:

First let’s assume that UCONN wins the first game of the day. If this is true these two teams will be trying to determine which conference will have two representatives in the final 4.

A UCONN loss will mean that Villanova will be the last Big East team, so a loss by Nova would mean no Big East representation in the final 4.

I expect the guard oriented Villanova team to win this game today, but I expect it to be ugly, ugly and ugly win.

Atlanta and Oakland regional finals

As James Carville would say, "I ain't got no dogs in these fights." Truth is, since both of my final four teams have long been eliminated from this side of the bracket the only reason I will even try to watch these games today are due to the sickness. March madness sickness, and actually I think you should see some real good games today.

The LSU vs Texas matchup should be close and compelling. Once again it will be up to big baby aka little shaq to help control the tempo and the boards. My head says that Texas should win this matchup due to the guards of Texas, however, the SEC in me says that LSU is the more tested team. I also still think that this is the type of game that Rick Barnes' s teams usually underperform. Look for LSU to pull away in the last 2 minutes of the game.

Memphis has shown that they are a better team than I thought they were coming into the tournament. They appear to be a close knit team that has no fear. UCLA has the defense to give the wildcats trouble throughout this game, and the fact that Memphis beat UCLA earlier in the year also weighs against Memphis. Don't forget, Oakland is in California and is only a few hours away, so a home crowd should also play a factor in this game. UCLA should win this game, but my heart is with Memphis (outside of the ACC, UCLA is probably the team I dislike the most). Go Wildcats.

Conference recap after sweet 16 games

SEC - 9 and 4
ACC - 6 and 4 (all teams eliminated - yippee)
Big East 11 - 6
Big 10 - 3 and 5 (all teams eliminated)
Big 12 - 4 and 3
Pac 10 - 6 and 3
MVC - 4 and 4 (all teams eliminated)

So in the great 8 we have 2 big east teams, 2 SEC teams, 1 pac 10, 1 big 12, 1 C-USA, and 1 CAA.

Sweet sixteen day 2 or the day UCONN lucked out again

So, the second day of the sweet sixteen round ends up with George Mason winning on their home court (sort of), UCONN winning in overtime (whew), Florida beating a game Georgetown and Villanova winning in overtime. Only watched the first half of the Villanova game as I had to catch up on some sleep and wanted to watch the UCONN game. What can I tell you, the tournament has been good with a lot of close games and friday night was just like the rest of the tourney.

I also took a look again at my sheet of intergrity. I ended up with 8 of the 16 teams in the sweet sixteen, and now I have 4 of the 8 left in the great 8 ( thanks Duke and way to blow it Gonzaga). Of course in order to now have 2 of the final 4 and 1 in the championship game I need both UCONN and Nova to win on Sunday and for UCONN to win their semi. Somehow, the way this tournament has gone, I just don't see that happening.

Still, good games mean lots of excitement. So heres to 7 more games being good.

aaaargh

Both West V. and Gonzaga lose on last second shots. ARRRRRRRRRRRRGH

What I am reading now

Got this book just before the tournament, but as you may have noticed, been watching the tournaments and red sox preseason last week. Did get a chance to start reading this though and am impressed. Short, sweet and too the point, with some very good observations. Just started chapter 6.

In the book the prof, talks about the flash crowd and other ways that people have been connecting with each other and it occurs to me that one of his premises about wealth allowing people to spend time on non essential tasks has led to practical purposes when applied to public assemblage. Over the last couple of years we have seen the cedar revolution, the orange revolution and the rose revolution, where one of the main ways that these protestors / freedom fighters communicated was through text messages.

So the question is, and I think the answer is no, if flash crowds hadn't shown how effective text messaging was in creating spontaneous crowds would these revolutions been as successful as they turned out to be?

Duke loses, Coach K. shows class again

Duke loses and another one of my final 4 bites the dust. My picks really stunk this year, with losing a final 4 team and a great 8 team in the first day. Just those two teams losing meant that at best I would only pick the winner on less than 89%. Oh well, its not like I had money riding on it, and I did pick 8 of the sweet sixteen.

Coach K. again showed class after the game, his comments were positive, "we didn't adjust, LSU made the plays down the stretch, we win as a team and we lose as a team." I love this guy after games, whether he wins or loses he just excudes class. I remember the 91 game against Kentucky in the regional. After Laettner made the miracle shot and before he went and cut the nets down he stopped by the Kentucky radio area and went on the air with them and talked about how great that team had played and how proud the Kentucky fans should be proud. Class, pure class.

Sweet sixteen day 1 matchups and picks

Ok, I have Duke and Gonzaga winning their games tonight in my original picks. Presently I see no reason why to change those picks, though Little Shaq does worry me, especially if Shelden gets in foul trouble.

Gonzaga and UCLA will probably be the game to watch tonight. I expect this one to go down to the wire, the keys will be how batista and morrison handle the defensive pressure of UCLA and whether Gonzaga can control the boards. I expect both to happen but figure 1 or 2 point game.

Memphis will struggle but should handle Bradley (heres where the glass slipper breaks).

I had texas losing to Iowa at this point, look for texas to lose to w. virginia.

Women Sweet 16 is set

Well the sweet sixteen is now all set with only Ohio St. being the big upset in the second round.

Day 4 of the womens

I think I will stick to my original picks for this round as I see Purdue, Rutgers, Tennessee, Duke, Georgia, UCONN, Ohio St. and Maryland all moving on to the sweet 16. My heart wants me to pick Hartford over Georgia, but coach landers team has all the horses in this race. Look for Hartford to do better than expected though.

Womens day 3 recap

Well as I predicted earlier UNC, Baylor, Michigan St., DePaul, Stanford, Oklahoma, LSU and Utah all won. Not much sleep over the last two days which meant I dozed off watching the games. So I can't really say much about how these teams advanced but the net is alive with recaps. (what are you going to do fire me?)

Womens tournament round 1 and look at todays round 2

Not looking too bad on the tournament picks. Went 25 -7 for the first 2 days, surprises in the first round were TCU (11 seed), New Mexico (11 seed), and Tulsa (12 seed). Another 11 seed to win was Hartford, but not a surprise since I picked them to beat Temple.

Second round starts today look for UNC, Baylor, Michigan St., DePaul, Stanford, Oklahoma, LSU and Utah (had this as a Mid. Tenn. vs Arizona St. game) with Arizona St. winning but I like how Utah is playing. Mini upset in the making 5 over 4 seed.

Blonde Antelope

I just love this video at metacafe

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2453/very_fast_food/

Day 4 wrapup

Well lets see we have Bradley, Memphis (ouch did I really think they would lose), George Mason (bye bye tar heels), UCONN, West Virginia, Texas, Georgetown and Villanova moving on to the sweet 16. Yea baby.

Conference breakdowns:

SEC 7 - 4
ACC 6 - 2
Big East 9 - 4
Big 10 3 - 5 (eliminated)
Big 12 3 - 3 (only Texas remains)
Pac 10 5 - 2
MVC 4 - 2

The SEC, ACC, Big East, Pac 10 and MVC conferences are all guaranteed a 500 record or better in this tournament.

The only real shocker today was Pittsburgh's loss. This was a veteran team that kept on losing its compsure in the second half. From now on I think I am just going to use a coin to determine the winner in a Pitt. game. Chances are I would do better picking the winner.

Update: for a great recap see BRACKETOLOGIST Lunardi's post, just look for not so sweet.

Villanova joins the rest of the beast

Villanova hangs on to win by 4. A good showing by beast of the east. 4 teams in the sweet sixteen. I watched both of the Villanova Uconn games this year and I think that Nova is now playing better than it did in either of those 2 games.

Billy poked a little bit of fun at himself by showing how the big 10 and big 12 underperformed.

On to the sweet sixteen games on thursday and friday of this week.

Belarus elections today leads to protests.

From the pollyanna professor we see the link about the protests in Belarus today, warning protest babes sighted. http://www.publiuspundit.com/?p=2365

Georgetown makes 3

The beast has at least 3 and OSU bites the bullet. All big ten teams have been eliminated. The one that hurt the worst was the Iowa game that was won on the last second 3, of course it only hurt because I had Iowa going to the regional finals. An abysmal showing by the big 10 though.

Currently it looks like Texas will move on to the sweet sixteen also (up by 20 with 2:50 left in the game). The nailbiter is still the zona nova game. 58-54 nova with 11:33 left in the contest.

Big east looking real good

With UCONN and West Virginia moving on to the sweet sixteen the Beast of the East has a good chance of getting 4 teams moving on through the tournament. Presently Georgetown is up on Ohio St. (much to my surprise)at the half by 13 big ones.

Villanova and Arizona are in a tight game though. Lets go wildcats, lets go wildcats.

Cylcone Larry

To our Aussie buds stay safe and if you are in the path of this mother take care.

Update: Looks like Larry hit Innisfall in Australia and is a category 4. God speed

UCONN moves on in a nail biter

I just can't figure out this UCONN team, they had the game in their control, up by double digits and then all of a sudden Ky just starts making 3's and UCONN decides to try matching them. You have big men you know, guys that have been around the block in this tournament before. They have such names as boone, armstrong, and brown. Come on guys. Rudy played well down the stretch and so did williams.

First big East team to move on to the sweet 16 and will be shortly joined by West Va. who are finishing off a game NW St. team.

YO BILLY PACKER still think MVC shouldn't have 4

The people on tv and radio this week should hold Packer's feet to the fire. Call this guy on his idiotic comments when he hadn't even watched any games of the MVC.

It seems like I am beating up on Packer who I usually like but the last couple of years he has made some idiotic comments about the tournament and in both cases it was because his beloved ACC was limited to 4 or so teams. Lets not forget he killed St. Josephs for being a number 1 seed in the tournament and this year he ripped the MVC without even seeing any of their games.

He is also such a big ACC backer it just kills me. The only program I enjoy in the ACC is Duke, the rest just set my teeth on edge.

Good job Bradley!! Keep on dancing.

Day 4 of the mens ncaa preview

Georgetown vs Ohio St. - The big 10 is down to just Ohio St., and I think conference pride will win out here. Georgetown is improved from previous years and runs a modified Princeton offense with lots of cuts but Ohio St. has the guards to stay with the Hoya's backcourt. Look for OSU to win a close one.

Arizona vs Villanova - Which Arizona team will show up, the one that blitz Wisconsin or the one that had a mediocre season. I think the 4 guard system that Villanova is using will be able to control the game. Look for the Nova wildcats to steadily pull away in the second half.

George Mason vs UNC - UNC is young and athletic with a coach who generally can get the most out of players when they are underdogs. UNC is not the underdog here and past Roy Williams teams have bowed out early when they are the favorites. UNC should win, and I have them going to the regional finals but an upset by George Mason will not surprise me.

UCONN vs Kentucky - UCONN to pull away, after Fridays near loss I think Coach Calhoun will have his players prepped for a monstrous game. Kentucky has some good shooters and outstanding defensive players but UCONN is better at every position. Look for UCONN to take control with 10 minutes of the game left and extend their lead to over 20 points by games end.

Bradley vs Pittsburgh - Defense, defense, defense. Pittsburgh has the defensive mindset and the firepower to dominate this game. Domination will not happen though. Look for a close game that will be decided in the last two minutes with Pittsburgh holding on to win.

Bucknell vs Memphis - Can Bucknell continue to hit its three's. I think they can, Memphis will pressure the Bison’s, but I look for this Number 1 seed to go down hard.

NC State vs Texas - Texas in a rout. My only worry is Rick Barnes, like Roy Williams his teams have a history of underperforming in the clutch. Texas is also the last big 12 team left in the tournament and that is a league that normally has more than one team in the sweet sixteen field. Look for Texas's better personnel to come out firing and establish a lead early that they never give up.

West Virginia vs Northwestern St. - WVA should establish a good lead early and build upon it through out the game, but look out if NW St. can stay close.

Womens First Day

Real quickly only missed 3 games out of the first 16 played on Saturday. Vanderbilt, Utah and BYU all beat the teams I had picked. No big upsets among any of those teams.

Day 3 wrap up

So today we had Duke, LSU, Gonzaga, UCLA, Boston College, Florida, Washington and Wichita St. moving on to the sweet 16. Only Washington and Wichita St. surprised me.

The Wichita St. - Tennessee game was close throughout with the largest lead by either team being the final score. Washington - Illinois was a game of streaks with both teams going on long scoring streaks (Illinois in the first half had one of 19 - 5).

Multiple Conference Breakdowns now look like the Following:

SEC 7 - 3 (6 teams) guaranteed a winning percentage in the tournament
ACC 6 - 0 (4 teams) guaranteed a winning percentage in the tournament
Big East 5 – 3 (8 teams)
Big 10 3 – 5 (6 teams) only Ohio St. left in tournament
Big 12 2 – 3 (4 teams) only Texas left in tournament
Pac 10 5 – 1 (4 teams)
MVC 3 – 2 (4 teams)

Will post a preview of today’s games later.

Good job shockers

Wichita St. pulled away at the end instead of Tennessee. Good job another jab at Billy Packer, time to eat some crow, one more win by either the shockers or Bradley and the MVC can do no worse than .500 for the tournament.

Nip and tuck

Tennessee and Wichita St. has been quite a game. Vols leading by 3 with less than 6 minutes left and that is their biggest lead of the game. Numerous ties and lead changes. If you are a Shocker fan then being in the bonus has to be a great advantage, but shockers need to handle the full court press better than they have been. Definitely the best game of the day so far.

Wichita St. vs Tennessee at the half.

This game is quickly approaching the half with Wichita St. scoring with less than 10 secs left in the half to go up 5. That is pretty much the highest lead they have had today. Tennessee has led 2 by one point. Good tight game with David definitely staying with the goliath

Florida & UW-Mil. at the half

Good game going on, Florida makes a run and gets a little breathing room and then UW-Mil. makes an answering run. Gators leading by 8 at the half. Will need to have a good strong second half if the gators are going to win because UW-Mil. will not quit.

Duke moves on

Goodbye GW, you had a good year but got screwed by the committee. Would have liked to have seen you as a 6 or 7 seed instead of the 8 that you ended up.

Duke GW at the half

Half time of game 1 and Duke leads by 11. The good news for GW Redick only scored like 7 points. The bad news - their shooting is terrible. Duke has over 6 blocked shots. Still, for the number 1 or 2 team to only be leading by 11 is OK. Key to getting back in the game is to start taking the ball to the hole and get on the free throw line.

Womens tournament

Real quickly wanted to post my picks for the women tournament:

My official sheet of intergrity goes like this:

1st round
UNC Duke Ohio St. LSU
Louisville Michigan St. Boston College Washington
UCLA Kentucky Mid. Tenn. St. Tulsa
Purdue USC Arizona St. DePaul
Texax A&M Hartford Florida Florida St.
Rutgers Georgia Baylor Stanford
Old Dominion Virginia Tech St. John's Iowa
Tennessee UCONN Maryland Oklahoma

2nd round
UNC Duke Ohio St. LSU
Purdue Michigan St. Arizona St. DePaul
Rutgers Georgia Baylor Stanford
Tennesse UCONN Maryland Oklahoma


Sweet 16
UNC Michigan St. Ohio St. LSU
Rutgers UCONN Maryland Oklahoma

Great 8
UNC UCONN Baylor Oklahoma

Semi Finals
Oklahoma UNC

Finals
Oklahoma 82 to 76 for the score over UNC

Day 3 of the NCAA

A quick look at todays games:

Duke vs George Washington - Too much firepower by Duke, but I think that this will be a lot closer than you would expect. Look for Duke to pull away in the last 5 minutes. However, if GW is within 5 points and less than 5 minutes left in the game, they could pull this out. Remember Duke still has problems with its young point guard at times and if GW can shut down Redick there goes their offense.

Texas A & M vs LSU - Classic SEC vs Big 12 matchup. A & M is on a roll but too much baby shaq for them today.

Indiana vs Gonzaga - Typically, this is the type of game that Gonzaga has been losing the last few years. The key is the foul problems for the bulldogs. If Batista and Morrison stay out of foul trouble and are able to get some bench time in the first half for rest then the zags should win going away. Indiana is a solid team and is playing for their coach. Game is in Salt Lake City though where the bulldogs have lots of backers. My pick for game of the day.

Alabama vs UCLA - UCLA all the way, but look for a slow game as both teams believe in defense.

Washington vs Illinois - Illinois gets the pick here for one reason, the coach. Illinois is the flashier team but I think both teams are evenly matched. Look for the Illini coach to win this one.

Wichita St. vs Tennessee - David vs Goliath in name only. Remember coach Pearl has led a return to the 70 glory days this year. Close game but I think Tennessee will pull away in the last 5 minutes.

Montana vs BC - Boston College has too much power for Montana. BC in a route.

Wis-Mil. vs Florida - Experienced Wis. team that made the sweet 16 last year. Florida is the class of the SEC this year, and I fully expect this one to be ove half way through the second half.

Will post updates on the games later after I get some sleep.

Well first 2 days done so lets review

First off it looks like I was right earlier as the MVC did indeed win two games in the tourney. Good job Bradley and Wichita State!! (see best 3 weeks of bb post)

Hey, Billy P. next year before you open your mouth you might think about watching a few games of the teams you are deriding.

SEC teams 5 -1
ACC teams 3-1
Big East 5 - 3
MVC 2 -2
Big 10 3 - 3
Big 12 2 - 2
Pac 10 3 - 1

Bracket busting day

Insert exploding bracket here. So, I am looking over my picks and the second day has just killed me. 10-6 on the first day, 8-8 on the second day with multiple teams that I had picked blowing up my bracket .

The Kansas loss to Bradley really torched the sheet since I had them as a final 4 team. Hey, Billy Packer, still think that the MVC shouldn't have gotten 4 picks.

Iowa losing on that last second 3 to NW state also hurt since I had them going to the Great 8. Every year it seems like one of my great 8's lose on a last second shot.

Michigan St. also did their part by losing to George Mason. A normally solid tournament team that seemed to lose their bearings at the end of the game. They kept on trying to sink 3 point shots when going for the 2 points would have been a better play, especially since George Mason kept on missing their free throws. Another Great 8 bit the dust.

So here I am looking at all of my teams having to be perfect from now on just to get the following results:

Sweet 16 - 12 out of 16
Great 8 - 5 out of 8
Final 4 - 3 out of 4
Final 2 - 2 out of 2

Chances of this actually happening - well, lets just say that I won't be making any Visa commercials about something being priceless.

NCAA day 2

Uconn wins a squeaker. You gotta be kidding me.

Day 2 of NCAA

Just got home in time to catch the last minute of my Razorbacks and the Bison of Bucknell. Sounded like a good game on the radio so am not going to feel too bad about the season. A good season overall so will take the year. Lets do some recruiting Coach.

Iowa (busted my bracket) loses on an impossible 3 after a scramble for the ball and then miss their own winning shot while NW state was celebrating. Indiana - hire Steve Alford - Iowa fans hate him, Indiana fans will love him.

Arizona blows away Wisconsin, not a big surprise even though I had Wisconsin winning. Oh, well.

Davidson gives Ohio St. a scare before the number 2 seed pulls away at the end.

Wells - Shut up

Dear David,

First you want to be traded, then you decided to stay around. Listen Dude, I like you when you are on the mound but geeze. Just shut up for now.

Day one of the tournament wrap up.

Some good games. Best ones appeared to be the Boston College, George Washington, Gonzaga (I had some good posts on that game until blogger went belly up) and the Indiana game.

Gonzaga trailed almost the entire game and didn't overtake Xavier until Morrison overtook the last minute and half of the game. For my money, if I had to pick between Morrison and Redick its going to be Morrison right now due to his ability to create his own shot.

Bracket isn't looking too bad, first day I went 10 - 6 and only Marquette was picked to win one more game. Not a great first day, but not completely bad. Will take it for now.

Arrrrrrgh

Not sure what happened but after my GW gloat / post blogger wouldn't let me post. So we moved the act up stairs so that I could watch on the comfy recliner.

AAAARRRRRGh.

test

GW

Spoke to soon, GW 15 - 0 run closes the gap and now trail by only 3 with 7 and half minutes left. Nail biting time again.

Gonzaga do you know how to do the little things?

Well, 16 miutes left in the game and within 1 minute we have 3 fouls called on the Zags. 2 by Batista and one by Morrison. Leaders of their team are supposed to calm down their teamates not make silly fouls.

Mark another one in the win column

Well not sure what was said at half time by the wilmington coach but it worked. Looks like you can color GW gone and another correct pick for me.

Half time recaps

Well all 3 games are at the half and the Air Force - Illinois game hasn't started yet. Quick recaps, it appears that George Washington's best player is doing Ok for his team and the game is tied at the half.

Iona is leading by 5 over LSU. Once again the MAAC shows its mettle (remember Manhattan a few years ago?).

Xavier leads Gonzaga by 3 but the zags have a few people in foul trouble.

High seeds in peril again

Well, we have the zags trailing by 9 and playing like crap against Xavier could a 14 over 3 be in the cards?

Meanwhile Iona with former bad boy Ruland pacing the side line goes into the half up by 5. These scores hold up and we would have a 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 seed all win on the same day. I wonder if that has ever happened before?

Tv time outs

The thing about tv time outs is that chances are both games will be showing commercials at the same time. Its too bad that BB can't be like soccer and restricted to running the commercials as little banners at the bottom of the screen. Still, the tourney is off to a good start with an 11 seed, 10 seed and for the 17th time in the last 18 years a 12 seed winning. Good games by 13 and 15 seeds also.

Cinderella is alive and well on the first day of the tournament.

3 pod of the day that I will be rooting for

Well the next couple of hours will be rooting for the Zags, LSU, UNC-Wilmington, and Illinois. At least for my bracket picks I'll be rooting for these 4 teams.

Would not break my heart if the cadets beat Illinois though especially since I only have them winning 2 games in the tourney. I love the underdogs. Would normally even root for Iona over LSU, but hey, SEC loyalties beats the dogs loyalties.

Iona vs LSU on the big screen and Gonzaga on the puter

Ok, I just might give CBS a break, like I thought, Iona is on the boob tube, but thanks to March madness on demand Gonzaga will be on the small screen. God I love the internet.

Bruins vs Bruins.

UCLA is struggling I see, trying out the CBS stream, might come in handy later depending on what game is being shown here in the CT region. Figure its probably going to be the Iona - LSU game. Xavier and Gonzaga might be shown (Atlantic - 10 conference) is also part of this area thanks to Rhode Island.

UCLA is starting to pull away, maybe I brought them good luck.

Some times it pays to read hugh hewitt

Just found out that CBS is streaming all of the games for the first three rounds (Arkansas here I come, right back where I started from). I might even start liking CBS.

Time to switch to sportscenter

So Bama holds on which ends the CBS part of our schedule for an hour. Nevada loses to Montana, ouch, bracket is starting to look ugly as I cross out another team. Still I will take going 5 - 2 so far. Will be back around 7:00 EST.

3 for 3? ? ?

Could the SEC get another one through? If Alabama holds on to win this game that would make the SEC 3 for 3. Would be bad for my bracket but the SEC in me says go for it boys.

Man I hate CBS tournment coverage

So, here I am with the dashboard open so that I can post these entries with the window half sized so that the ESPN real time NCAA scoreboard is always visible, man I hate the way CBS refuses to do split screens or switches during these games. Marquette was down like 14 points at the half and came back to take a temporary lead and you wouldn’t have realized it by just watching CBS.
I know the Tennessee and Winthrop was a close game and that is the big possible upset of the tournament, but that is what you have split screen technology available to provide you. Quick update, showing the split and then boom back to the Tennessee game. ESPN used to do that all the time back when they were in charge of the first and second rounds. How about it CBS??

SEC starts its move

Glad to see one SEC team move on, way to go Gators!!!!!!!! Presently, Alabama is losing to Marquette by one, that’s a heck of a comeback, wish I could be watching that one instead of the Winthrop / Tennessee game (hey I live in CT, the only reason why I even root for Tennessee is due to that SEC thing). Ohhh, myyyy, what a shot by Tennessee with almost no time left. Could be moving another one through.

First round shockers already

Seton hall losing is an upset?? Excuse me, which team was seeded higher. True upset done by that Wisconsin-Milwaukee school, I guess Bruce Pearl didn't leave the cupboard empty up there in the frozen north. Glad I picked those farm boys to win. (you can look up my picks at USA today march mania just search for exsubmariner).

Would have liked to have seen the Boston College (the big east in me says go down hard, go down early BC), Pacific game, listening to it on the radio is just not the same as watching it.

Tennessee in a tight one, oooohh, glad I only picked them to win only 2 games, I hate when My bracket gets blown up on the first day.

The best 3 weeks of college BB

Haven't had the time or urge to blog lately, but this is a good time to try to get into some kind of rhythm. I’ve loved the tournament for a long time. While in the navy we used to do the picks for six pack of beer as the winner. Just love this stuff.

How do I think it will go down this year? Look for the MVC to win a couple of first round games, thereby quieting the outrage by the big six conference backers.

I fully expect two or three of the big east teams to be knocked off in the first round. The unbalanced schedule where some teams in the Big East did not play each other has made some teams over rated (I’m talking about you Seton Hall and you Marquette and you Syracuse.)

Look for UCONN to win it all though.