March Madness: Day One

Class? Are you serious? I'll be here all day with Greg and Aram to provide commentary on the first of four great days.

11:20: Here's what's on tap for today.

11:25: Awful Announcing has posted the announcing schedule for round one. Tim Brando and Mike Gminski will be calling Vandy-Siena tomorrow night.

11:30: Georgia has gone from disgraced to embraced, writes The New York Times' Pete Thamel. After reading this story, I have even more respect for Bulldog coach Dennis Felton.

11:40: A lot of times teams take on characteristics of their star player. Nowhere is this more true than Kansas. Everything about the Jayhawks is smooth as silk just like star wing Brandon Rush.

12:00: Wanna know when you're watching a Big 10 game? When Michigan State is up 19-15 over Temple with seven minutes to go in the first half.

12:10: Kansas looks even better than advertised, leading Portland State 49-26 at the break, while Georgia is up nine on third-seeded Xavier. So much for Gary Parrish's 10-star lock of the century...

12:20: With both Temple and Xavier losing by double-digits in the first round, it's not a good day for the A-10.

12:30: Remember the name: Sundiata Gaines. He's becoming more of a legend in Athens with each passing day.

12:47: Not much to discuss with two of the three games (Kansas and Michigan State) more or less decided. Georgia leads by 10 with 13:43 to go. The last 3 seed to beat a No. 14? Northwestern State over Iowa in 2006.

12:54: Here comes Xavier. They're down four with 11:44 to play. This has the potential to be a great one...

1:06: And you wonder why we love March? Xavier is now up 52-49 with 7:18 to go. I have class in five minutes, but something tells me I won't be going...

1:19: Whether it's Vandy or Clemson or Villanova (I'm not including Siena) advancing to the Sweet 16, they'll have a mighty difficult time beating Kansas, who has everything you want in a basketball team.

1:25: Here's a look at what's coming up next:

No. 6 Marquette vs. No. 11 Kentucky (1:30 CT)
No. 6 Purdue vs. No. 11 Baylor (1:50 CT)
No. 8 UNLV vs. No. 9 Kent State (1:55 CT)
No. 4 Pittsburgh vs. No. 13 Oral Roberts (2:00 CT)

1:33: Don't you love how CBS cuts out of the Georgia-Xavier game to show the start of Kentucky-Marquette? I know the games are free online and we're near Lexington, but can't they wait two minutes? Besides, this is Commodore country.

1:37: The slipper didn't fit for Georgia (sorry for doubting you, Gary). Or Portland State. Or Temple...

Xavier 83 Georgia 71
Michigan State 72 Temple 61
Kansas 85 Portland State 61

1:50: Time for a lunch break so I'll be back in in a bit...

2:40: I'm feeling recharged after some delicious Chinese. Unfortunately, there aren't many close games to watch. The only good one is Kentucky-Marquette (The Wildcats trail by 4 at the half). Purdue is up 16 on Baylor, Pittsburgh is up 21 on Oral Roberts and UNLV is up 31-10 (and no, that's not a misprint) at halftime. I love March Madness.

3:05: I cant remember a time when 3 out of 4 games being played featured 20 point spreads...this is really a disappointing afternoon session, but the great thing about this tournament is we have 4 more games coming up...

3:38: Want to know what game you'll be watching later? Check out the CBS coverage maps courtesy of Awful Announcing...

3:40: Hope Belmont gives Duke a fight, could be a long night otherwise because we're not going anywhere...

3:55: All the talk about Kentucky getting in is pretty meaningless now. They just suffered their first first-round loss in 20 years. Hats off to Joe Crawford though, he left it all on the floor. Too bad for Oral Bobby; I really thought that game with Pitt would have been more competitive. Pitt really looks great now that it has Levance Fields healthy again...

4:00: It's been a pretty depressing first day, but hey, it still beats class. And all it takes is one buzzer-beater to change everything. There have been no upsets through seven games.

Marquette 74 Kentucky 66
Purdue 90 Baylor 79
UNLV 71 Kent State 58
Pittsburgh 82 Oral Roberts 63

4:30: The lone game right now is Stanford-Cornell and it's not on TV, but I'm not complaining. I need a break. I'm actually heading down to Tampa tonight (12-hour drive through the night) so this will be my last post until tomorrow when I'll be blogging all day from the St. Pete Times' Forum. Hopefully there will be some better games on tonight...

March Madness: Thursday Schedule

Hopefully you've called in sick from work or e-mailed your professor an excuse because the best day of the year has arrived. Here's a look at what's on tap:

No. 3 Xavier vs. No. 14 Georgia (11:20 CT)
No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 16 Portland State (11:25 CT)
No. 12 Temple vs. No. 5 Michigan State (11:30 CT)

No. 6 Marquette vs. No. 11 Kentucky (1:30 CT)
No. 6 Purdue vs. No. 11 Baylor (1:50 CT)
No. 8 UNLV vs. No. 9 Kent State (1:55 CT)
No. 4 Pittsburgh vs. No. 13 Oral Roberts (2:00 CT)

No. 3 Stanford vs. No. 14 Cornell (4:00 CT)

No. 6 USC vs. No. 11 Kansas State (6:10 CT)
No. 2 Duke vs. No. 15 Belmont (6:10 CT)
No. 4 Washington State vs. No. 13 Winthrop (6:20 CT)
No. 8 BYU vs. No. 9 Texas A & M (6:25 CT)

No. 3 Wisconsin vs. No. 14 Cal State Fullerton (8:40 CT)
No. 7 West Virginia vs. No. 10 Arizona (8:40 CT)
No. 5 Notre Dame vs. No 12 George Mason (8:50 CT)
No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 16 Miss. Valley State (8:55 CT)

I'll be live-blogging throughout the day so make sure to check back often.

W2W4: Survival Day+1

The drama continues for the squads on that unforgiving Bubble. All of these games involve teams clinging to tournament hopes. Wins are crucial. Losses are devastating. The Madness continues.

Big East Tournament
Villanova (20-11, 9-9 Big East) vs. No. 9 Georgetown (25-4, 15-3 Big East)
11 a.m. CT

Villanova pounded Syracuse 82-63 yesterday to keep its tournament hopes alive. If the Wildcats find a way to beat Georgetown, they've got a strong case to make the tournament. Villanova came achingly close to beating the Hoyas earlier this season, but a suspect foul call with 0.1 seconds left gave Georgetown two free throws and the win, so the Wildcats are quite capable of taking Georgetown down.

Atlantic 10 Tournament
Dayton (21-9, 8-8 A-10) vs. No. 10 Xavier (26-5, 14-2 A-10)
11 a.m. CT
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Pretty much the same story as Villanova for the Dayton Flyers. After barely beating Saint Louis yesterday, they can most likely punch their ticket to the Big Dance by beating the bad boys of the conference, the Musketeers. However, Xavier smothered Dayton in their last meeting back on Jan. 24, 69-43.

Pacific 10 Tournament
Arizona State (19-11, 9-9 Pac-10) vs. Southern California (20-10, 11-7 Pac-10)
2 p.m. CT

The Sun Devils have made a remarkable turnaround from last season to put themselves in contention to make the NCAAs. USC has sharp-shooting freshman O.J. Mayo, but ASU has one of their own in James Harden, and the teams split their season series. ASU has a lousy RPI but nine wins in the Pac-10 aren't bad.

Oregon (18-12, 9-9 Pac-10) vs. No. 21 Washington State (23-7, 11-7 Pac-10)
8 p.m. CT

Washington State has beaten the Ducks twice this season, but that was in the regular season. The Ducks won the Pac-10 tourney last season and have won three games in a row coming into today, the kind of momentum you need heading into the postseason. A suspect RPI (52) makes this game a must-win for Oregon.

Arizona (19-13, 8-10 Pac-10) vs. No. 11 Stanford (24-6, 13-5 Pac-10)
10:30 p.m. CT

The Wildcats took care of business against Oregon State to set up another showdown with the Cardinal, who've beaten Arizona twice in close games this season. Given Stanford's recent sluggish play, don't be surprised to see Arizona pull the upset and solidify its tournament hopes.

Check out Eric Silver's previews and predictions for the SEC tournament below. Happy watching.