Day 1: Winners and Losers

I love the NCAA tournament more than any sports events...even during days like yesterday. Don't get me wrong, I don't have to have explosions and car chases in everything I watch...but the first day didn't have one game-winning last shot.  There were a couple close games, but very few back-and-forth contests.

One of the only contests that went unexpectedly was UNC Asheville holding the lead for most of the game...and in spite of sleep walking through about 3/4 of the game 'Cuse had the lead in the closing minutes.  But, instead of letting the game run its course, two horrible officials took any chance of winning away from UNCA...it was a sham.  But, so was the play of most of the BE teams.

Jobbed.

'Cuse looked like they'd be the first 1 to lose to a 16, UConn did what UConn do; simply didn't try for the entire first half of the game before waking up and making it a contest...just to lose by 13 to The Mayor's Cyclones.  Louisville struggled to put away an OK Davidson squad.  WVU was lambasted by Gonzaga...and didn't put up a fight.  The lone bright spot for the over-rated, bloated, soon-to-be unimportant conference was Marquette who crushed BYU.

Now, if the B1G had a day like the BE, we'd hear about that non-stop from sports pundits...instead, barely a word about this Mega Conference's garbage day.  It doesn't matter, but inconsistency in the media is tough for me to swallow.

IU played a solid game and kept NMSU at an arms length, or more, for the entire contest.  It was a good win; especially in the wake of what many saw as a potential upset (I didn't see it that way, by the way).  But, IU shill writer, Jeff Rabjohns said the importance of IU beating the 59th-best team in the land on a neutral court couldn't be overstated.  Once again, inconsistency rears its ugly head.  IU fans remind us they're back when they beat aOSU and MSU and talk about IU's heritage as an elite program.  But being "back" would hint at the idea IU might not see it as a big deal to beat a 13 seed 1000 miles away from their home.  But that's not the case, I guess.

aOSU made pretty light and quick work of Loyola (MD)...the only time the game was kinda in doubt was when Matta pre-maturely pulled all starters to see a large lead shrink to 11 points.  When Craft, Biggie and the others were re-inserted, they easily pushed the lead back to 20+ and put away their foe.

The Birdman's squad whipped Montana in impressive fashion during a late-lunchtime tilt.  Montana's beards couldn't combat Wisconsin's shooting...Bucky moves on to the second third round.

The Forces of Good along with UM and MSU all play today.  Purdue will tip-off around 7:30.  LewJack sounds like his wrist is doing pretty well and is not hampered during practice by it...and I've heard nothing negative about Hummel's knee; so they're all-go.  TJohn will have the un-enviable task of guarding the WCC POY, Dellavedova, who makes the team go in every part of their game.

No news is good news when it comes to pre-game/practice updates for our Boilers in the hours leading up to tonight's game...but there was one interesting tidbit from GBI's Neubert- He reported that our pal, Ryne Smith threw down a two-handed dunk yesterday in open practice...The guy is 6'3"...so it's not shocking, but it is kind of a surprise since he's never done in in a game in his four years in God's country.

My Commodores survived and advanced...and Baylor nearly ruined my South region by messing around while playing South Dakota State. I don't have a ton of upsets in my bracket for today, but I'd like to see the 10 beat the 7 and the 14 beat the 3 in the Midwest...I also think Florida could drop one v. UVA since that's what Florida likes to do in the tourney.

The first game tips off in a little over two hours.