Well, my bracket’s shot… FRIDAY’S LIVE BLOG

Before we get into today’s action, as I was out last night, let’s take a look back at just what went down….

Duke narrowly avoided defeat to the hands of Belmont, as a coast-to-coast Gerald Henderson driving layup with 13 seconds left gave the Blue Devils the win, narrowly avoiding an extremely rare 2/15 upside-downer.

With an arena full of pro scouts, Kansas State’s Michael Beasley showed the world he’s the real deal, carrying the Wildcats past O.J. Mayo and USC, knocking my first sweet sixteen team out of the dance.  They’ll take on Wisconsin, who beat a feisty Cal State Fullerton squad to advance.

The way people were picking, Arizona’s loss to West Virginia could have been considered an upset.  Instead the Mountaineers advance to take on a Duke team that just got the very definition of a wake up call.

Texas A&M pulled off a mini-upset, knocking BYU out of the dance and advancing to take on UCLA.  Good luck with that.

Other, not so exciting action included Stanford over Cornell, Notre Dame over George Mason, and Wazzu over Winthrop.

TODAY’S DAYTIME SCHEDULE:

Here’s the games I’ll be following during the daytime session of today’s live blog (my picks are in bold) -

12:15 (15) American vs. (2) Tennessee: American’s first trip to the dance will be quick and painful, as Tennessee should rout the Eagles.

12:25 (10) Davidson vs. (7) Gonzaga: The Wildcats haven’t lost in so long, they’ve forgotten how to.  Winning breads winning, and I like a confident Davidson squad in this match-up.  

12:30 (12) Western Kentucky vs (5) Drake: The day’s other mid-major battle takes place in Tampa as the year’s best story, the Drake Bulldogs, take on the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.  This should be a hotly contested game, but Drake’s close to the season was just too much to ignore.  If they can keep up their hot-shooting ways, they should win this one easily.  SHOULD.

12:30 (10) Saint Mary’s vs. (7) Miami, Fl: Saint Mary’s is mad about coming up short in the WCC Tournament, and should be refocused for this game.  Miami, on the other hand, ended the year on two sour notes, losing to rival Florida State before being upended by Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament.  I don’t like the way Miami ended the year, and based on that, I like the Gaels.

2:45 (10) South Alabama vs. (7) Butler: The first intriguing game of the day tips off as the Bulldogs – ranked 10th nationally – get the shaft and take on South Alabama in Birmingham.  The local fans who bought tickets will surely back the Jags, butting Butler at quite a disadvantage.

2:55 (15) UMBC vs. (2) Georgetown: The Terriors are making their first appearance in school history, and will enter this one wide-eyed and undersized.  UMBC’s tallest starter is 6-8, opening the door for a career day for Georgetown’s 7′2” big man Roy Hibbert to have a career day.

3:00 (15) Austin Peay vs. (2) Texas: It’s show-off time for DJ Augustine, the latest phenom in Rick Barnes’ system.

3:00 (13) San Diego vs. (4) UConn: 3 words: Too much talent.  That’s what UConn has, and they should run away with this one.

12:17 Day Two Begins…

Friday’s action is officiall underway as Tennesse and American tip off.  This should remain competitive for the better part of five minutes.

Here’s hoping today’s results go better for me than yesterday’s horrid guesses gone wrong…

12:26

American holds an early 6-5 lead over the second seeded Volunteers at the under-16.  Can they be the second 15 seed to give a top dog a run for it’s money? 

Davidson/Gonzaga to start momentarily…

12:33 - Action Everywhere

Gonzaga out to a 10-8 lead at the under 16, while American leads Tennessee 11-7.  

Western Kenyucy/Drake, St Mary’s/Miami just underway…

12:41