On Wisconsin!

The Badgers are up 11 on the Kansas State Michael Beasleys early in the second half. They seem to be taking a Michael Jordan approach on Beasley: Michael's going to score, but make the other guys beat you. So far, it's working. Beasley has 17 points and no one else is in double digits for K-State.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Wisconsin's defense is nasty.

Big Big East

Is it me, or does the Big East seem like the cream of the crop in this tournament? Now I'm not going to say that a team from this conference is going to win the whole thing, but between Notre Dame, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, West Virginia, which is in the process of upsetting Duke, and Villanova, a middle-of-the-pack team that took down No. 5 Clemson last night, the Big East certainly has plenty to be proud of. The one exception to the rule could be Connecticut, which looked awful yesterday against No. 13 San Diego. Doesn't make Providence's two wins against the Huskies look that good, does it?

BooooConn!

How cool does the San Diego kid feel right now? Having never been in that situation, I wonder how calm he was before that shot. He might as well have been.
If it were me, I'd be thinking, "We've got nothing to lose. No one expects us to win this game, so if I miss, no one will lynch me. On the other hand, if I make it and we win, we just beat one of the most ballyhooed teams in the country."
And yes, I believe that a lot of San Diego basketball players could use the word ballyhooed.

Then again, if it really were me, I'd probably get swatted or put up an airball.

Duty calls

As much as I love the internet portion of The Daily News, I must call it a day and put out the actual paper. But who knows, I could be on later to add some more of the riveting analysis that gets people through their day.

Late whistles?

Is it me or are there a lot of late, game-changing whistles? I thought refs were supposed to swallow those things in the final minute unless someone gets absolutely decked? Not on a blocking foul with 9 seconds left.

Argh! Never mind, go UCONN!

Just realized that I have UConn winning in the next round. They're up 1 with 38 seconds left in OT. Go Huskies! You lame, underachieving, overrated Huskies!

San Diego? Really?

The No. 13 seed San Diego Toreros are up 58-54 with 50.3 seconds remaining. Just another disappointing year for Jim Calhoun and the Huskies, who haven't won much since Ben Gordon and Emeka Okafor (spelling?) left for the NBA after the 2004 title. It seemed so long ago.

Wisconsin teams in the tourney

I thought my mom's question was worth a new thread.
Sadly, I don't think Marquette or Wisconsin has a chance to get to the Final Four. Anything's possible, but here's the basis for my theory:
Wisconsin can't make it because they can't score a whole lot. Eventually they're going to run into a team (Kansas) that is capable of putting up 100 and the Badgers simply won't be able to keep up. UW's defense is ridiculous, but at best they might hold Kansas under 80, and scoring more than 70 is tough for the Badgers.
As for Marquette, they're going to have their hands full with Stanford and, if the Golden Eagles should somehow escape with a win there, they'll play Texas, which I have in the Final Four.

Of the two, Wisconsin has the best chance, but no one in Badgerland should count on it.

I smell a "Best of the Blog" post

Now that Josh's mother has "Joined the Madeness," the time is now to ask questions about how goofy Josh was as a youngster. I think I know, but I need confirmation.

He ain't Husky, he's my brother

After taking a bit more of a "Josh Krueger 20-minute power nap" in preparation for the night shift at The Daily News, I awaken to see UConn down 46-45 to San Diego, the No. 13 seed. Now this would be a big-time upset, seeing as though Daily News staff writer Matt Sheley, a native of West Hartford, has the Huskies winning the entire tournament. Homer.

Clank! Clank!

I realize that TV networks put microphones near the rims to record all the action going on near the rim as well as the swish of the net or the clank of the rim. But every missed shot in the Georgetown-UMBC game is overpowering. I hope the commentators don't hear that in their headphones, because they'll be legally deaf after this game.
Sounds like someone whacking the side of a piece of sheet metal with an aluminum baseball bat.

*$#%@$@#!

Well, I wanted a crazy last-second shot, and I got it. Too bad it's no good for my bracket. WKU just hit a last-second 3-pointer to beat Drake by two. A great game, and a great example of what makes this tournament so fun. Would anyone outside of Iowa or Kentucky care about a Drake-Western Kentucky matchup during the regular season? Absolutely not. But in March, you can't turn away.

Some huge efforts

Players you've probably never heard of had just monsterous games early on the second day. Here's a look and the team's result:

Jack McClinton, Miami, 38 points - W, St. Mary's, 78-64
Stephen Curry, Davidson, 40 points - W, Gonzaga, 82-76
Tyrone Brazelton, Western Kentucky, 33 points - W, Drake, 101-99 (OT)

Let's go, Drake!

Shows what I know about basketball. Down four with a minute and a half left, Drake just came down the floor and jacked up a quick 3. As the shot goes up, I'm thinking, "No! Why would you take that shot?"
Then it goes in. Nice shot, kid.

Ever see a coach verbalize those emotions in that situation? Funny stuff.
"No! ... I mean, great shot!"

Much better

Tennessee won. Davidson is about to upset Gonzaga and Drake and St. Mary's are creeping back. 4-and-0 is not out of reach.

At least he's not crying

CBS just showed a quick shot of Adam Morrison, the former Gonzaga forward best known for his crying fit after the Zags lost to UCLA in the Elite 8 in 2006. Morrison, who now looks like Jesus with his long hair, still has the wear moustache. He was drafted by the Bobcats in the first round of the 2006 draft, but he hasn't played a game since undergoing surgery on his knee in November. WAH!!!

Drake trying too hard

Drake is down 16 with 12 minutes left against the aforementioned big, red, Muppet-like things of Western Kentucky, a No. 12 seed. WKU has all the momentum and Drake looks like its the last two minutes of the game. They're hoisting up shot after frantic shot with little success and pretty much abandoning their offense.
And here I thought a mid-major like Drake wouldn't be susceptible to the 5-12 upset trend, where the mid-major usually plays the part of spoiler.

Bad use of air time

CBS is using the moments in between timeouts to promote two of its upcoming shows: "How I Met Your Mother" and "The Ghost Whisperer." This is a big mistake. Britney Spears, who will guest star on the former, is just a disaster of a person and Jennifer Love Hewitt, the star of the latter, is over the hill at 29. If this was 1998, it would be a great idea. Just a decade late, CBS.

Top of the Hill

Western Kentucky, the No. 12 seed in the West Region, scored 47 points in the first half against No. 5 Drake and lead 47-38. The Hilltoppers shot a scorching 60 percent (20-for-33) from the field in the first 20 minutes, including 7-for-16 from behind the arc. Drake, who spent most of the year in the Top 25, are shooting 37 percent and will have to do much better in order to keep Western Kentucky - which did most of its damage with the starting five on the bench with foul trouble - to keep from moving on.

Day 2: Let's get it on!

Just because Day 1 of the NCAA tournament is in the books doesn't mean we're done blogging.
There aren't many attractive matchups in today's early games, but all four games are relatively close. Tennessee apparently is out to show that it ain't easy bein' a No. 2 seed, only leading American by 3. My Davidson pick (over Gonzaga) is looking OK with the Zags only up two and another of my upset picks, St. Mary's, leads Miami by five.
For some reason, I didn't pick any 5-12 upsets this year, but Western Kentucky is up nine over Drake at halftime. If only I'd remembered that that Hilltoppers' mascot is that weird, big, red Muppet-like thing, I definitely would have picked Western Kentucky.
Normally I don't pick games based on mascots, but that thing is funny looking and should be taken into consideration.

Thank you

Thanks to all who contributed today on the NCAA tournament blog. Check again periodically over the weekend for analysis on the games from the first and second rounds. Here's a breakdown of the first day:

Looking good: UCLA
Looking really, really bad but winning: Duke
Looking ugly: Winthrop in the second half
Feeling awful: Me after 9 Mountain Dews in 12 hours

And just think, we all get to do this again tomorrow!

Correction

When I said the Big East was going to go 3-0 with a West Virginia win, I was completely forgetting about Notre Dame. The Irish downed George Mason 68-50 (2006 seemed so long ago). The Mountaineers won 75-65 and will take on Duke in round 2. This is a matchup between a pair of 3-point shooting teams. Only time will tell ....

Could Big East go 3-0 on the first day?

West Virginia, behind a strong 3-point shooting performance, is Arizona in check but not allowing the Wildcats to fall too far behind. Still, I think the Mountaineers are going to win this game. Here's to Johnston resident Joe Mazzula, a Bishop Hendricken grad.

Making a statement

With 4:35 to go in the first half, UCLA has a 35-10 lead on Mississippi Valley State. Wow. Kevin Love may be the most impressive freshman of them all, and the Bruins (not Belmont) look like they're ready to make a run at the national title, the team's first since Tobey Bailey and the O'Bannons roamed Pauley Pavillion.

Who doesn't love Gus Johnson?

Score update

Four more games in the books:
Duke 71, Belmont 70
Kansas State 80, Southern Cal 67
Texas A&M 67, BYU 62
Washington State 71, Winthrop 40

Just for the record, Michael Beasley finished with 23 and O.J. Mayo had 20. Enjoy the NBA.

Are you serious?

Winthrop, who had Washington State on the ropes in the first half (tied at 29-29 at the break), completely crumbled in the second half, scoring 11 points .... 11 FREEKING POINTS! Are you serious? This is a team that made the NCAA tournament? I understand it's a mid-major team, but I guarentee you that Rhode Island could have scored more than 11 points in any half it plays.

Blue Devils survive!!!

Despite its best effort to give the game away, second-seeded Duke hangs on to beat No. 15 Belmont. Wow. This is the second year in a row the Dukies have struggled in the first round, but bottom line, it's a win. Here's the problem. If the Blue Devils run into another quick guard that can work his way into the lane as easily as that unnamed player (I'm sure he has a name, I just don't know it) from Belmont did, it's going to be two and done.

Belmont up 1 with a minute left

Speaking of Laettner, who is going to play his role this year? I'm thinking Greg Paulus, aka Steve Wojo 2008.

Why does everyone hate Duke?

Sheila poses a good question, the same one that posed to former Blue Devil Christian Laettner earlier this week by Jim Rome: Why does Duke have so many haters? They're well coached and they're a classy program. What's not to like?

Duke holding on

Jon Scheyer just hit the shot that could keep the Blue Devils alive in the tournament, a 3-pointer from the corner while getting fouled. That put Duke up 5, but if they keep allowing Belmont to just walk into the lane and hit layups, it'll be another "one-and-done" year for the Dukies.

Winthrop showing its true colors

Winthrop hasn't scored in the first four minutes of the second, and Washington State has gone on a 7-0 run to take a 36-29 lead. Maybe Cinderella isn't in Denver.

Big East is 2-0

Yes, I know we're just eight games in, but the Big East is looking like the conference to beat. Convicing wins from Marquette and Pittsburgh have the conference at 2-0. The SEC is 0-2 and the Big 12, Big 10 and Atlantic 10 all have one win apiece. The A-10 also has one loss.

Kudos to Cox

The good Lord knows this cable provider and myself have had some tough times, but Cox really stepped to the plate by showing a number of games on channels 801, 802 and 803. This only became apparent to me about 15 minutes ago, only because I just assumed Cox would be its usual awful self and offer one game. I stand corrected.

He's just missing a T

Michael Beasley is a beast. Hands down. That move at the end of the first half said it all. He's a big guy who can score, rebound and he moves incredibly well inside. On the other hand, O.J. Mayo is a little out of control.

Some halfitme updates:
K-State 37, USC 27
Duke 42, Belmont 35
Winthrop 29, Washington State 29

Good games thus far.

Freshmen a non-factor

Michael Beasley and O.J. Mayo both have 2 points, yet Kansas State is up 27-19 with 5 minutes left in the first half. Too bad both of these teams will fall back into obscurity when they declare they're bound for the NBA.

No. 15 Belmont hanging tough

The Bruins (not UCLA) are within one with 7 minutes left in the first half .... upset in the making? Could Belmont be this year's Hampton from 2001?

Carolina fans pull one over on Duke

In searching for Duke's year-by-year results in the tournament, I went to the one site I knew would have the most accurate information - Wikipedia. The Duke men's basketball page has the team's colors listed as white and Carolina blue. Think a UNC fan went on there and offered that information?

Anyway, since they won the title in 2001, the Blue Devils have advanced past the Sweet 16 only once, including last year's first-round lost to VCU. That didn't keep me from picking them to make the Elite 8 this year. Go Dukies!

PS3 trumps Stanford-Cornell

I'm sure that game is over by now, but when I got home Stanford was up 30, so I decided to fire up the PS3 instead of watching more hoops. Now I've been captured by Call of Duty 4 and I may not be able to put it down to eat, let alone watch the night games. I'm going to try, but no promises.

I'm 6-2 after eight games

Yes, Stanford isn't done whipping up on Cornell in the Battle of Smart Kids, but I'm giving the Cardinal a W. That means I'm 6-2 through eight games, losing only Baylor and Temple (yes, I gave the A-10 far too much credit) My two finalists, Pittsburgh and Kansas, won by a combined 39 points, so I'm feeling pretty good heading into tonight's games.

This just in: Bobby Knight not a bad guy after all

You may not always agree with what he's done, or said for that matter, but Bobby Knight is a great coach. No one can deny that, and he has 902 reasons to prove that point. That being said, after watching him on ESPNs college basketball tournament coverage Bobby Knight doesn't seem like a bad guy. He's a guy with a ton of great stories, someone you'd love to go fishing or hunting with .... and I don't even hunt.

Break time

Well, the afternoon games are all but complete. Stanford is up 6-0 on Cornell, but no one needs running commentary on Stanford-Cornell, so I'm going to call it quits for a while.
But fear not, Scott will be back around 7 to offer his insight on the night games. And who knows? Yours truly might stop by to tell him he's an idiot.

As for now, I'm going to take the dog out for a run, while it's still light and not raining, so I can somewhat justify my afternoon of gluttonous behavior.
Then I'll be back, possibly to engage in some more gluttonous behavior (can you say, PS3?) before turning on the night games.

Enjoy the Madness.

Purdue in control

The Boilermakers are firmly in control. The Halon family will rejoice tonight. As will I, because I had them going to the Sweet 16, and maybe further. I can't remember.

Bears coming on strong

Baylor has cut it to 15 with seven minutes left and have outscored Purdue 27-23 in the second half. And second-half scoring serves as the tiebreaker if the game ends in a tie, right?

annoying sports terms

Credit Carter Blackburn and Jay Bilas of CBS for providing the newest entry in my list of sports terms I loathe and never want to hear. All day they've been referring to offensive rebounds and putbacks as "stickbacks." What, putbacks wasn't simple enough? Or was it too simple so there needed to be a more confusing term to make sportscasters sound smart?
You can stick "stickbacks" up there with "chalk," as in picking chalk in the NCAA tournament, which apparently means picking all favorites. Where did this one come from, and can we send it back, or better yet, club it over the back of the head and toss it in a ditch somewhere?

Four Dead in Ohio

With Kent State down 23 with 11:20 to go, and the likelihood of it reaching the Round of 32 in serious jeopardy, I'd like to take this time to remember the four students shot on the school's campus on May 4, 1970. It was long before the tragedies at Columbine or Virginia Tech, and all because they simply wanted to protest America's invasion of Cambodia. The massacre also spawned one of the greatest songs by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

Who said I was just a sports guy?

Knucklehead was right

Baylor, one of my Elite 8 teams, is down 19 at the half. I guess I don't really know what I'm talking about. Well played, Knucklehead3.

Speaking of shameless plugs

I've seen some pretty good shooting today, but not as good as we'll see Saturday, March 29 at the first Newport Daily News 3-Point Shootout at Portsmouth High School!

Kent State heats up!

In just four minutes, Kent State has doubled its point total. Bad news for the Golden Flashes is that they're down 25, which is their largest deficit of the game.

Take it easy, Rick

Admittedly, I'm a pretty angry guy. But Rick McGowan is one of the more inexplicably and unpredictably angry people I've ever encountered. TV timeouts are part of life, man, get used to it. Just switch to another game.

Rick's distaste

Daily News sportswriter Rick McGowan, who has never been a big fan of the TV timeout, is having trouble posting but wanted to sure you all knew this take:

"Congrats to Xavier for advancing. But these marathon timeouts are annoying. With the X-Men leading Georgia 61-56 with 3:13 remaining, the three timeouts the rest of the way totaled more than six minutes. I could switch to the soaps and get more action - 4 affairs, 3 divorces, 2 hair-pulls - than I got during crunch time in this game. And it will only get worse once March Madness gets into prime time."

And who would have pegged Rick as a "All My Children" kind of guy?

Big dunk

While typing, I just missed a monster dunk from Marquette's Lazar Hayward, but it sounded good. Watching the replay, it should make SportsCenter. Marquette up 7 with 13:30 left.

Paging Kent State

The only game I haven't watched yet is, so far, the biggest beat down of the day. UNLV is smoking Kent State 29-8. You usually expect the 8-9 games to be somewhat close. Apparently Kent State didn't get the memo.

Nice commentary

Jay Bilas just referred to a Kentucky player as "not particularly skilled" and was trying to give a compliment. That kid's parents must be proud.

Good start for Marquette

I know it's silly to get excited about a 16-10 game, but Marquette is up by that score over Kentucky and looking good. Again, why did so many people like Kentucky in this game? Maybe it'll become obvious by the end.

Told you so

You scoffed at my proclamation that the Xavier-Georgia game was over when Xavier took an eight-point lead with five minutes left. Xavier won by 12. Who's scoffing now?

One down, five to go

Kansas, the champion in my bracket, made an absolute mockery of Portland State 85-61. I'm just glad the Jayhawks don't have to play Bucknell this year.

Top 25 college basketball players

ESPN has been running the Top 25 college basketball players of all time, and the top 10 go like this:

1. Lew Alcindor
2. Oscar Robinson
3. Bill Walton
4. Bill Russell
5. Pete Marovich
6. Jerry West
7. Bill Bradley
8. David Thompson
9. Larry Bird
10. Wilt Chamberlain

Because I never saw any of these players play in college, I really don't have much of a leg to stand on here. But only Christian Laettner at No. 12 and Tim Duncan at No. 21 have played in the last 20 years. Michael Jordan is No. 13 and Patrick Ewing is No. 16 (although he should be much higher). The question here is hasn't anyone who played during the late 1990s and/or 2000s worthy of being on this list?

Hungry?

What is it about sitting in front of the TV and computer, watching sports and being bombarded with food and beer commercials that just makes me want to eat junk food and drink beer? I really wish Taco Bell delivered.

Who is Sundiata Gaines?

If you haven't heard of him before, you'd be in the majority, but this guy is great. He looks older than Greg Oden, but I like his intensity. I think the tide is turning .... I'm actually rooting for the Bulldogs. Blasphemy!

X-Men coming back

Xavier has battled back. They're down 46-42 with the ball. I don't care that much, since I had Xavier losing next round to Purdue, but it would be nice to get a point from the Musketeers.

Who ya got?

Marquette-Kentucky? At least I'll get to watch one of my home-state teams play today (Wisconsin is on past my bedtime), but I'm rather nervous for the Golden Eagles. As our resident SEC expert, Scott, what's your take on UK?

Not-so-sweet 16

How many coaches of 16 seeds do you suppose give a speech like this before facing the 1 seed?

"Look, guys, we all know that no 16 has ever beat a 1. Whadaya say we go out there and be the first 16 to beat a 1? Who's with me?"

Or, at this point, is it just, "Well, it's been a fun, albeit short trip. Let's just go out there, have some fun and try not to embarrass ourselves."

Michigan State up 35-26 at the half

Judging by the first half, the Spartans look like they're moving on. They're doing a job on the Owls inside. Blog is blocked? How are people supposed be wasting that estimated $3.8 million in productivity if they can't log on?

Blocked blog

Just got an email from my Air Force friend in Vegas, and he said our blog was blocked by his office computer. What's that about? I realize he's supposed to be busy keeping our country safe and all, but how's he supposed to concentrate on that when he can't take a break to come over here for some basketball banter from time to time?
Hopefully no one else is having that problem.

Upset alert?

Georgia is still beating Xavier. Really tells you something about the A-10, doesn't it? How badly would URI have lost in the NCAA tournament if they hadn't lost 8 of their last nine games and finished the season with a loss in the first round of the NIT?

CBS is making a big mistake

Why show the Temple-Michigan State game if we know there is no chance John Chaney is going to strangle anyone? Not only that, but Georgia, which captivated everyone with its run through the SEC tournament, is playing and they're refusing to show that game. Someone needs to inform CBS Mateen Cleeves no longer plays for MSU.

Really looking forward to the USC-KSU game

Two of the top freshmen in the country face off in the first round, with Michael Beasley and Kansas State (anyone know how he ended up on Manhattan?) going up against O.J. Mayo and Southern Cal. I've seen Beasley a few times, and he's as good as advertised, but I have yet to watch Mayo (call that East coast bias). The last time I actually saw Mayo in a game was the youtube clip of him throwing the ball into the stands after a he dunked in his final high school game. There were still 30 seconds left in the game. Is he still a moron?

Game Mix time

Couldn't decide which game to watch, so I opted for all of them at once, thanks to the Game Mix channel, which splits the screen four ways. The picture quality isn't great, but it's still probably better than watching on a 27-inch TV or computer monitor.

Time to find out how good the A-10 really is

Xavier, the Atlantic 10 frontrunner, is currently losing 9-8 to an terrible Georgia team, and Temple is about to play Michigan State. I've haven't been sold on this conference since Lou Roe was in a UMass jersey, but let's see if the Musketeers can live up to that No. 3 seed.

Let's get a look at Kansas

Switched over to the Kansas game in time to see Mario "Super Nintendo" Chalmers drain a 3-pointer to put the Jayhawks up 7-3. I figure I might as well watch this game now before it gets out of hand. Four minutes in, Kansas just scored 7 straight and lead 11-3.

Poll question:

As the person who runs the office pool, is it OK for someone to say to you, 'Here's my bracket, but I don't have $5 on me right now. I'll get you back tomorrow."

Personally, this is a day you should be gearing for in early November, meaning by the time March comes around, you know to carry a fresh $5 bill on you at all times. Now keep in mind, sportswriter Josh Krueger is currently unpaid for The Daily News pool, so I know which way he's leaning. But I'm merely looking to get a broader view.

Which game to watch?

Three games tip off right around 12:30 (Portland State-Kansas, Xavier-Georgia and Temple-Michigan State) and with DirecTV's Mega March Madness (shameless unpaid endorsement) no local TV network tells me which game to watch. Georgia-Xavier starts first, in about 12 minutes, so I suppose I'll start there.
At 12:30, I'll probably head over to watch Michigan State bore Temple to death. Yeah, I know, Big Ten basketball isn't too exciting. But just because they don't score 80 points a game (or sometimes in two games), Big Ten teams can play.
Especially the Wisconsin Badgers.

I already regret picking UCLA

Just tuned in to CBS's pregame coverage, and they're discussing injuries to Kevin Love and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Great.
Then again, it could all be a hoax to get the Bruins' competition overconfident. Yeah, that's it.
Go Bruins?

Kansas is No. 1

If you picked up the paper today, you'll see that I picked Kansas to win the title over Pittsburgh. I know a lot of people - including my two co-workers, Rick McGowan and Josh Krueger - are picking heavyweights UCLA and UNC. Not that Kansas isn't a heavyweight, but they quietly won the Big 12 tournament and lost just three games all season. Bill Self is a great coach, and wouldn't it be fitting for him to bring a title to Lawrence, beating Roy Williams on the way there?

Join the March Madness

Daily News staffers Josh Krueger and Scott Barrett will be offering their insights on the first round of games Thursday. The action starts and noon and continues until 16 teams have punched their ticket to the Round of 32.