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

Saint Mary’s out to a 9-2 start over the U, Western Kentucky holdz an early 8-7 lead at the under-16, and Tennessee has taken the lead back over American, 14-13…

12:43

Forgot to mention,Gonzaga up 5 on Davidson.  Tennesse up 18-13 now, and look to have taken control…

12:48

Miami has stormed back, and have things tied up with Saint Mary’s at 9.  Butler holding a 20-17 lead over Davidson, while Drake has connected on some long-balls to take a 20-16 lead…

12:58

Western Kentucky trails  Drake by 2 halfway through the first; Gonzaga starting to pull away from Davidson, now up 11, while Tennesse begins to pull away, up 27-21.

1:05

This may be the best session of basketbetball thus far, as all four games are competitive late in the first half…

In other news, I want to punch our station’s engineer in the throat, as he told me I need to shut down my March Madness On Demand screen…we’ll see how long that lasts…

1:08 -lunch

I’m out for a little bit…I’ll be back early in the second half…

2:08 – Long lunch…

With my shotty engineer going on a control trip w/my streaming video, I took a longer lunch to watch some games, and boy do we have some dandy’s:

American only trails Tennesse by 6 at the under 4, they’re not hoinh away.  Davidson star Steven Curry hasn’t disapointed, putting 32 points on the board and keeping Davidson alive, they lead Gonzaga by one with 8:19 left.  Miami has outscored Saint Mary’s 25-6 in teh second half, and now lead 52-28, and Western Kentucky looks primed to pull this year’s 12/5 upset, as they lead Drake 68-53.

2:13
Davidson and Gonzaga are tied at 70 with 6:07 left.  This could get fun.  St. Mary’s on a mini-run, now down only 12. 

2:17

Go ahead and advance the Vols to the second round, as Tennessee leads American by 9 with 90 seconds left.  Gonzaga/Davidson still locked in a dogfight…

2:50

Sorry for the delay, there’s work to be done here.  Davidson pulled the 10/7 upset on Gonzaga, Miami took down Saint Mary’s, and WKU and Drake are headed to OT…I love this…

3:15 WELCOME TO MARCH

This tournament just had it’s moment!  Down by one with 5 second left, WKU took the ball across the court, where Ty Rogers burried a 27 footer for the win.  This is what March is all about!

3:36

The next set of games are underway, and Texas is running wild on Austin Peay midway through the first.  Butler and South Alabama are locked in a battle, as anticipated.  Georgetown out to an early 21-17 lead over UMBC.

3:51

Butler is building a lead, as the Bulldogs now lead South Alabama to the tune of 42-31 with a minte left in the first; Georgetown and Texas beginning to pull away in thier 2/15 match-ups; San Diego hopes to make it 2-for-2 in Tampa as far as Upsets go.  The Toreros tail UConn.

4:04

Back to boring, for the most part.  Texas, Georgetown, and Butler are all sitting on comfortable leads at the half (so much for South Alabama’s BIG home court advantage).  Meanwhile, San Diego is representing the WCC well, as they sit tied at 16 with UConn halfway through the first.

4:16

5 Minutes left in teh frist, and San Diego’s up 4.  I’m about to get sick…

4:21 – Jeremy’s comment

I couldn’t agree more.  I put more time and research into this bracket then I ever have in years.  I thought it through, compared match-ups, and tried to way X factors.  The result: one of the worst bracket’s I’ve ever filled out.  This is getting ugly, and if San Diego can pull this out, it’ll get even uglier.

4:33

Chances are if you had Western Kentucky/San Diego in a second round 12/13 showdown, you’re feeling pretty good right now.  The Toreros aren’t going away, UConn is!  The Huskies aren’t out of it by any means, but look flat are go into the half trailing by 5.

4:52

UMBC tried to make a mini-run on Georgetown, and by that I mean they aren’t getting destroyed in the 2nd.  Meanwhile, you can go ahead and advance Butler and Texas, who are both on the good side of blowouts.

San Diego and UConn about ready to start the second half…

5:00

San Diego needs to hurry up and remember THEY’RE SAN DIEGO.  They lead UConn 40-31 with 17 left…

5:18

As this session begins to wind down, let’s look at the night’s action:

7:10 (11) St. Joe’s vs. (6) Oklahoma:  When two inconsistant teams match-up, you get uspets.

7:10 (16) Mt. Saint Mary’s vs (1) UNC: Will The Mount be within 10 at the first media timeout?

7:20 (13) Sienna vs (4) Vanderbilt: The Commadores are too much for the MAAC champs, and should take this one easily (that’s what I said about UConn, and Drake…)

7:25 (9) Oregon vs (8) Mississippi State: The scary thing here is Oregon has a chip on it’s shoulder after hearing everyone ask what they’re doing as a 9 seed all week long.

9:30 (9) Arkansas vs (8) Indiana: Eric Gordon and DJ can lead a free-falling IU squad to one win before UNC ends thier run.

9:30 (14) Boise State vs (3) Louisville: If Rick Patino wants it to be, this could be the ugliest game of the day.

9:40 (12) Villanova vs. (5) Clemson: Again, two inconsistant teams meet up, and again it will result in an upset win for the last team in the field.

9:40 (16) Texas-Arlington vs (1) Memphis: If UTA holds the Tigers under 100, they should raise a banner…

Back to the action at hand, UConn has started to wake up, and only trials by one.  Texas, Butler and Georgetown have all gone final in blowout wins…

5:25

With San Diego on top by 3 and 7 minutes left, it’s time for me to punch out and get my holiday weekend started.  I’ll be back on with updates later this evening.

7:53 – There’s something in the water in Tampa…

The night session is in full swing, and once again, there’s an upset brewing in Tampa.  The same site that saw Western Kentucky knock off Drake and San Diego knock off UConn now shows 13th seeded Siena up by 11 on 4th seeded Vanderbilt…although the Commadores are chipping away…

7:59

Oregon is during a good job of shutting up the doubters (namely me) who contend that the Ducks don’t deserve a nine seed, as the Nike Warriors lead Mississippi State by 8 (I wonder which game the Hansbrough parents are at….)

Oklahoma heads to the break with a healthy 12 point lead over St. Joes, while Siena is still leads Vanderbilt by 11.

8:18

All games are at halftime, but none are more suprising then Siena’s 46-34 lead over Vanderbilt.  The same Vanderbilt team that knocked off the #1 team in the nation a just a few weeks back.  UNC is set to start the second half, my money is on them breaking the century mark with 1:53 left.  Saint Joe’s hopes to mount a comeback, and will need to do it fast here in the second half. 

8:25 Already Over…

Go ahead and advance UNC in your bracket, as the Tar Heels hold a 25 point lead early in the second.  St. Joe’s is in danger of going down 20, and burry any hopes I have of winning any of by brackets…

8:32

Saint Joe’s is in obvious three-point mode, but there’s one problem; they can’t get a good look.  The Sooner’s in-your-face-defense is stifiling any hope for a Red Hawks comeback…

8:47

Vandy and St. Joe’s mounting mini-comebacks here, we’ll see what comes of it…

9:01

Saint Joe’s only down 6 with 4:31 left….

9:04

This one’s snuck up on me here, Mississippi State has used a 12-1 run to go up 55-52.

9:14 UNC goes final

The Tar heels advance, beating The Mount by 50, Oklahoma is putting the finishing touches on St. Joe’s…

9:19

Oklahoma officially advances, while Siena is putting the finishing touches on thier upset of Vandy.  Missippi State leads Oregon by 5 with four left.

That’s it for tonight’s blog, recap of the night’s action coming in the morning…