Let The Madness Begin: Thursday’s LIVE BLOG

I will be blogging live during today’s daytime action, so if you’re stuck in the office, and unable to watch the games, MOS is your up-to-the-minute home for the inside scoop on the Tournament’s best action.

Today’s Schedule (my picks are in bold):

12:20 Georgia (14) vs. Xavier(3): Can the Bulldogs keep up the magic that got them here in the first place?  Drew Lavender’s hampered ankle keeps the possibility open, but extremely unlikely. 

12:25 Portland State (16) vs. Kansas(1): The Jawhawks should have no trouble covering the 23 1/2 point spread.

12:30 Temple (12) vs. Michigan State(5): Tom Izzo’s team has struggled offensively outside of the Breslin.  With Temple on a roll, this one could get interesting, but I like the Spartans.

2:30 Kentucky(11) vs. Marquette (6): Marquette reminds me a lot of Vanderbilt and Tennessee, two teams with barely existent post-games and strong guard play.  Kentucky faired pretty well against those two teams.  They better pull this out, or else I’ll be hearing it from ESPN Milwaukee’s and Marquette pbp man Steve “The Homer” True, who is convinced the ‘Cats are out of gas…

2:50 Baylor(11) vs. Purdue (6) Another 6/11 upset could be in the works when the seldom tested Boilermakers go up against the Bears, who are looking to get things right after an embarrassing loss to Colorado.

2:55 Kent State (9) vs. UNLV (8):  If it wasn’t for a loss to Bowling Green, the Golden Flashes could have been a 7 seed.  They’re a ligit team with the ability to win away from home. 

3:00 Oral Roberts (13) vs. Pitt(4): With Lavance fields back in the line-up, the Panthers are a dangerous team right now.

5:00 Cornell (14) vs. Stanford (3): The Big Red live outside the arc, and could keep this one competitive if they catch fire, but they’ll have no answer for the Lopez twins in the end.

12:35 ‘Bout them ‘dawgs!

Georgia’s magic isn’t dead yet.  The Bulldogs lead Xavier by one a little more then 6 mins in.