I'll be hosting for the rest of the evening. I'll have the rest of the Oregon/Miami game. In addition:
12 Illinois vs. 5 Virginia Tech 4:10 PT
16 Niagara vs. 1 Kansas 4:10
9 Purdue vs. 8 Arizona 4:25
13 New Mexico State vs. 4 Texas 4:25
13 Holy Cross vs. 4 Southern Illinois 6:30
9 Villanova vs. 8 Kentucky 6:30
16 Jackson State vs. 1 Florida 6:40
12 Arkansas vs. 5 Southern California 6:40
Okay, lets get it started:
2:49 PT: Oregon/Miami off to an interesting start. Miami gets off to a 9-0 lead because Oregon decides not to play defense. Then Oregon goes on a 20-0 run. Right now, Miami is setting the tempo, and its a slow game. Good shots are hard to come by for both teams. Bramos and Pollitz are doing all the damage for Miami, and its clear that Oregon needs to be more physical as Miami is getting a lot of rebounds. 25-22 Oregon at the half.
2:55: Why is it that most of the country is showing Price is Right or Dr. Phil instead of this game? Stupid CBS.
3:04: Miami is just really pesky and are just playing really tight defense. The quickness of Brooks is saving Oregon right now, because they cannot buy a three point basket. Ducks by five. Pizza commercials were making me hungry, until I realized they were Pizza Hut.
3:13: How is a sub-6'6" post so dominant in this game? This Pollitz guy is pissing me off. Ducks by three, 12 mins to go.
3:20: Three by Leunen, and fast break bucket by Brooks. Mini 5-0 run, Miami timeout. Ducks by seven.
3:29: And we've lost the feed. Oh no. You're killing me, CBS. Ducks by eight at last sighting, who knows now?
3:32: And we have the feed back. That block call was BS.
3:37: This is not the Ducks tempo at all. This is just one of those where you hope to survive. Meanwhile, the pizza ads are now Papa John's. Better than pizza hut, but still have work to do.
3:52: Oregon manages to survive by two. They tried to give it away, and their four free throws in the final minute were the only points they scored in the final 5:00. A Miami half courter at the buzzer made it two instead of five. I am going to take a deep breath, get a fresh beer, and slowly work my way out of cardiac arrest. Now I can enjoy the rest of the night without being in total depression. Winthrop up next, and they are a better style for us.
3:56: Stick around. I'll be doing the networkwide liveblogging for the rest of the games.
4:01: Okay, getting ready for the late games. Here are my predictions: Illinois over VT
Kansas over Niagara
Arizona over Purdue
Texas over New Mexico State
Southern Illinois over Holy Cross
Villanova over Kentucky
Florida over Jackson State
Southern Cal over Arkansas
We'll take you to the end.
4:08: Looks like Kansas/Niagara up first. Any Niagara fans out there want to talk up their team? Billy Packer is talking about how great it was that Niagara was able to experience an NCAA win by playing in the play-in game. Does Billy Packer realize that he is a tool?
4:14: Has anybody actually seen a purple eagle? 8-3 Kansas, and the rout is on.
4:16: Illinois/Virginia Tech has also tipped. This will be your 12-5 upset this year. Its still early, 6-3 Illini.
4:20: And they're switching me over to Arizona/Purdue, which is fortunate, as my ears are spared having to hear a lot more of Billy Packer.
4:26: Arizona and Purdue are playing at a frantic pace. Unfortunately, there seems to be just as many turnovers as points. Meanwhile, Niagara is hanging with Kansas. Jayhawks up four.
4:29: Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Unless you need home insurance in Mississippi or Louisiana.
4:31: NMSU/Texas has tipped. I wish I were watching Durant instead of Mustafa Shakur. Purdue seems to be getting to the rim at well, but Arizona is hitting some lucky shots. 10-9 Boilers.
4:43: I've started watching some of the Texas game online, and am dreaming of Kevin Durant in the red and black of my Portland Trail Blazers. Meanwhile, Arizona/Purdue is at a frantic pace, and Jawad McClellan seems to be everywhere for the Wildcats. 7 points and three boards. Landry and Lutz are the story for Purdue. Radenovic contines to be useless, and looks like the worst player on the floor.
4:47: If I see one more Masters commercial...can anyone tell me how people can stand to watch golf?
4:56: Purdue is on a run, and is pulling away from Arizona a bit. Seven point game, Purdue free throw coming up. New Mexico State is up on Texas, but it is far from time to worry because we know that Durant doesn't turn into Superman until the second half. Meanwhile, notice how much cooler the courts are in the Non-NBA arenas? The colors in Spokane and Buffalo are pretty cool. The United Center's floor is BORING.
5:02: Score-wise, the Illinois-VT game looks like Illinois is pulling away. Anyone have updates on the games?
5:19: All the games are fairly close right now, except the Kansas game. So much for Illinois pulling away, although Pruitt just had a nice dunk. Texas did take the lead at the half. And Purdue is leading a sloppy Arizona team by three, despite the best efforts of Jawad McClellan. Meanwhile, all the pizza commcercials have gotten to me and I ordered a pizza. Ironically, I went for Dominoes. And NONE of the commercials were Dominoes. Seth Grenberg finally got a T.
5:28: Second half of Purdue/Arizona about to start. Despite all the turnovers, this game is right there for Arizona. If they can clean up the ball handling, and not give Purdue so many shots at the rim, they can win this game. It'll be interesting to see what Arizona team shows up in the second half.
5:34: Looks like the bad Arizona team showed up. As the announcer mentioned, it seems like they just don't care at times. Purdue has 13 offensive rebounds and are up nine.
5:45: Arizona's just got bad body language. I know they're only down 11 with 14 minutes to go, but unless Lute lights a fire under their ass, you have to think they're done.
5:54: As soon as I write Arizona off for dead, they tighen up defensively and start aggressively going to the rim. Purdue up six.
5:57: I think we can safely say "Welcome to the second round, Kansas." Its been awhile.
6:00: Purdue player almost travels and instead hits a miracle top of key shot FROM HIS KNEES! Its the first field goal by either team in over three minutes. After playing about two good minutes of basketball, Arizona is back to not caring. Now, Purdue gets fouled and will go to the line after the timeout. Purdue up eight. If the Boilers can keep attacking the rim they should be in good shape.
6:02: New Mexico State within three and hanging tough. I like Kevin Durant, but if Texas loses, does it make it more likely that KD stays in college another year? Thats what I want to see more than anything, unless the Trail Blazers are going to win the lottery (in which case, you need to declare, KD).
6:07: Arizona's going to lose. They suck. They are terrible. I say this because everytime I write them for dead, they come back like clockwork. Purdue by four, five minutes to go. Arizona just committed their 17th turnover, dribbling out of bounds with no pressure.
6:11: Virginia Tech has also come back to make that a two point game. Every game except Kansas is within five right now.
6:13: Landry and Kramer have 15 each for Purdue, as Landry find Kramer wide open under the basket for two. McClellan, who was superman in the first half for Arizona, has done nothing in the second. Purdue by seven.
6:14: Va. Tech gets their first lead with about 40 seconds to go. Time out Illinois. 6:15: Illinois ball, 37.7 left. High screen and roll, jumper is no good. Illinois offensive rebound, put back no good, he was fouled, but no call. Hokies at the line, 1/2. Illinois timeout down two with 17.6. Meahwhile, Kansas/Niagara just went final. Kansas by 40.
6:18: Here goes, Illinois inbounding. Wide open three, no good. But Illinois offensive rebound, and he is fouled. 1 and 1. 6:19: Missed the free throw. VT with the big comeback win, ending the game on a 12-0 run. No token 12-5 upset this year.
6:25: Purdue up eight, and at the line with less than a minute to go. Arizona is officially done, barring a miracle. Thanks for making the Pac-10 look bad, Arizona. Story of their season, they were way too inconsistent and somewhat disinterested. And to think, when they played Oregon in Jan., they were a top-10 team.
6:28: On a side note, does this mean that Mustafa Shakur is officially done, or will he get a twelfth year of eligibility?
6:36: Its official: Purdue beats a vastly underachieving Arizona team. It also appears that Texas will hold on to beat NMSU. Again, lots of close calls, but no upsets (a 8-9 is not an upset). Go VCU in the next round. Obviously, I can't root for Winthrop.
6:48: More Billy Packer for the Kentucky/Villanova game. Boo. Can't wait for the USC game to start so that they take me to a different site. And why did Chicago get all the boring teams?
6:51: Interesting start to the UK/Villanova game. Apparantely, KU has two players with the last name Perry. One is a starter, one a scrub. They acidentally wrote down the scrub as a starter in the scorebook, so he had to start. They fould right after Nova won the jump to get the right Perry in there.
7:02: Villanova up five early, and I just can't get into the game. I'd rather have SIU-Holy Cross, which is tied at four five minutes in. We're holding out for USC-Arkansas here.