8:38 AM (PT): We’re tipping off with two good matchups (Notre Dame/Old Dominion, BYU/Florida) and a probable snoozer (Villanova/Robert Morris). Jeff Sagarin says that Old Dominion is a really tight matchup, but his numbers don’t take into account how well the Irish are playing of late. Ken Pomeroy’s ratings show BYU to be a top 10 team, so it will be interesting to see how they fare against an SEC team that got new life on Sunday. When I saw BYU play UNLV in the MWC semis, I wasn’t very impressed, but in all fairness, it was essentially a road game for the Cougars. The numbers say they are highly efficient offensively and defensively.

9:14 AM: Seth Davis looks like he has recovered from our chat on Tuesday. Good man.

9:15 AM: Jay Wright benching his backcourt to start the game to make a “teaching point.” Interesting.

9:23 AM: BYU starts five white guys. Uh-oh.

9:27 AM: I’m not clear about why CBS-CS isn’t broadcasting the ND/ODU game — whatever games CBS isn’t showing nationally should be on CBS-CS. Instead, we have four guys — including Wally Szczerbiak, I think — sitting around talking about the matchups.

9:45 AM: Not much defense being played in this BYU/UF game. 24-19 with eight minutes to go in the 1st.

9:47 AM: Trying to switch from BYU/UF to ND/ODU in CBS’ March Madness On Demand, only it’s making me watch the BYU/UF commercials. Ugh. Not really “on demand,” is it?

10:10 AM: Villanova down eight to Robert Morris late in the first half. Maybe this won’t be such a snoozer after all. A Nova loss would be good for anyone with Baylor or Duke in the Final Four.

10:20 AM: I played against Taylor King in a rec league last summer. I wasn’t that impressed.

10:55 AM: Jimmer Fredette reminds me of Ben Woodside of NDSU last season. Ball dominant, good passer and good finisher inside. BYU pulling away (up 13) but a Florida three-point play cuts it to 10 with 8:35 to play.

10:59 AM: ODU hanging with ND. No surprise there. Harangody 0-6.

11:07 AM: Boynton gets hot, UF cuts 13-point BYU lead down to three.

11:15 AM: Two good finishes plus a possible 15/2 upset. March Madness!

11:16 AM: CBS keeps leaving the final two minutes of BYU/Florida to go to ODU/ND. Why they can’t do a split screen in the year 2010 is beyond me.

11:21 AM: Notre Dame falls to ODU, 51-50. Down three with seconds to play, a three was in and out, and Harangody had a tip in as time expired. If he plays decent in this game, the Irish would have won. Man, it’s frustrating that I have to watch commercials before switching over to Nova/RM.

11:32 AM: Robert Morris leading by six with under four minutes to play. Scottie Reynolds is playing terribly.

11:38 AM: BYU/UF in OT, tied at 81. BYU got the ball back with 30 sec to play but Fredette tried to dribble it through three guys at half court and it was stripped. He wanted a foul, but didn’t get it. UF couldn’t get a good shot off to end the first OT, so we’re headed to 2OT.

11:43 AM: Trying to watch the end of the Nova game and MMOD is telling me my video has ended. Great.

11:46 AM: BYU has missed three free throws in 2OT.

11:48 AM: CBS is struggling right now. I was watching video of a UF player get his leg stretched out while Nova/RM was under a minute and in play.

11:59 AM: BYU survives in double OT. Florida is not a smart basketball team.

12:06 PM: From what I’ve seen, Robert Morris is getting jobbed. A couple of very suspect calls for Reynolds late in regulation, and the refs just blew a jump ball call by calling a RM foul instead.

12:14 PM: Redding passed up a wide open layup to run a couple of more seconds off the clock, then he misses a free throw. Not smart.

12:16 PM: Villanova survives.

1:34 PM: Murray State, one of my upset specials, is up one on Vandy with the ball with 1:36 to play.

1:44 PM: Down one with four seconds to play, Murray State runs an inbound play and hits a 16-foot game-winner at the buzzer! Bedlam!

1:48 PM: Anyone with Baylor winning a few games can go ahead and get worried. They’re tied 55-55 with under four minutes to play.

1:54 PM: Baylor up eight with a minute to play. So much for that.

2:08 PM: Baylor survives. St. Mary’s up five with under 13 minutes to play. The Gaels don’t seem bothered by the cross country flight or the early tip-off PT.

2:11 PM: Doesn’t look like K-State is going to have a scare against North Texas. Up 24 with 10 minutes to play.

2:16 PM: St. Mary’s moves the ball really, really well.

2:24 PM: Funny — the CBS promos for The Masters don’t feature Tiger.

2:26 PM: Richmond down 15 with seven minutes to play. The Spiders are in big trouble. Gaels very impressive and showing no signs of jet lag.

2:28 PM: I wouldn’t be at all surprised if SMC upsets Villanova on Saturday.

2:34 PM: Wow, Butler has been really sloppy with the ball against UTEP. Every time I look up they’re turning the ball over.

2:50 PM: Looks like SMC will advance to play Villanova on Saturday. That should be a good one.

3:24 PM: Butler 9-0 run since halftime to take a two-point lead on UTEP early in the second.

3:41 PM: 18-point swing in this Butler/UTEP game. Butler down 6 at haltime, up 12 with 11 minutes to play.

3:53 PM: Butler 11/27 from three-point land, leading by 15 with under eight to play.

3:54 PM: Barely get time to catch your breath and take a shower. We have UNI/UNLV and Marquette/Washington coming up in a few minutes!

4:30 PM: Anyone else get the feeling that Bill Raferty and Verne Lundquist are throwing a few back on the sly during these games?

4:43 PM: I just saw a kid from Ohio shoot a free throw right handed with his left foot forward. You don’t see that very often.

4:45 PM: I think Patrick Patterson is going to make some late-lottery team very happy.

4:50: PM: Eglseder (UNI’s seven-footer) is controlling the paint against UNLV. Ohio up 25-18 on G-Town.

5:06 PM: Ohio all over G-Town, 41-28. 7-14 from three — just 36% on the season from long range. Under 4 min to play in the first half.

5:23 PM: Announcers keep calling Isaiah Thomas (WAS) “the little guy” at 5′9″. Maurice Acker is guarding him and he’s 5′8″. Side note: MMOD has completely crapped out on me. I’m getting video from 20 minutes ago.

7:10 PM: Predictably tight Washington/Marquette game. The Huskies prevailed by two.

8:17 PM: Second half of SDSU/Tennessee game tipped off at 11:15 PM ET. That’s late…for the Vols. We’ll see if they tail off in the second half.

8:22 PM: Chism’s headband bothers me. Chism’s lack of headband consistency bothers me more.

(All times ET.)

1 PM: #2 Kentucky/#13 Tennessee – ABC
1 PM: #17 Temple/Rhode Island – CBS CS
1:30 PM: #4 Duke/Miami – ESPN
1:40 PM: #7 Ohio St./Illinois – CBS
3 PM: #23 Vanderbilt/Mississippi St. – ABC
3:30 PM: Richmond/Xavier – CBS CS
4 PM: #5 Purdue/Minnesota – CBS
6 PM: #1 Kansas/#9 Kansas St. – ESPN
6 PM: Washington/California – CBS
7 PM: San Diego St./UNLV – VS
9 PM: #6 West Virginia/#22 Georgetown – ESPN

Every team listed is either a tourney team or a bubble team, save for Miami, who are hoping to get an automatic bid by winning the ACC tournament. There are two future #1 seeds (Kansas and Kentucky) along with five wannabes (Duke, Ohio State, West Virginia, Kansas State and Purdue).

It should be a fun Saturday indeed.

12 PM: #4 Duke / Virginia – ESPN2
12 PM: #7 Ohio St / Michigan – ESPN
2 PM: #18 Wisconsin / Illinois – ESPN
3:15 PM: #13 Tennessee / Mississippi – ESPN360
7 PM: #22 Georgetown / Marquette – ESPN
7 PM: #1 Kansas / #24 Texas A&M – ESPN360
7 PM: #19 Maryland / Georgia Tech – ESPN2
7:30 PM: Florida / Mississippi State – ESPN360
9 PM: #8 New Mexico / San Diego St – CBS CS
9 PM: #6 West Virginia / Notre Dame – ESPN
9:30 PM: #9 Kansas St. / #20 Baylor – ESPN360
11:30 PM: #15 BYU / UNLV – CBS CS

Why ESPN isn’t utilizing ESPNU to broadcast these ESPN360 games and the Minnesota/Michigan St. game (in which the Gophers are fighting for a bid) is beyond me. Instead of Kansas/A&M, we’re getting women’s college bowling. Seriously, look it up.

I’m sorry — but it really bothers me anytime there’s a top 5 matchup that isn’t on national television. And it’s not like ESPN didn’t have the rights — they did. They just elected to broadcast the game on ESPN360 instead one of the four networks that I get in high defnition.

Oh, by the way, Kansas won, 82-65, but I can’t tell you anything about the game because I didn’t get to watch it.

The game is on ESPN at 9 PM ET.

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According to the Big Lead, the NFL Network is heavily pursuing ESPN talking head Chris Berman, whose contract expires at the “World Wide Leader” in three months.

If Berman were to move to the NFL Network, it would reunite him with longtime ESPN associate Steve Bornstein, who rose in the ranks alongside Berman in the 80s. A separate source says that Berman and Bornstein – currently President of the NFL Network – are very close, having known each other for almost 30 year.

The question for Berman is simple: Will the lure of more money for less work trump Berman’s love for baseball and the significantly broader audience at ESPN? In addition to Berman’s NFL duties at ESPN, he’s been calling the Home Run Derby for over 20 years and occasionally calls baseball games for the network as well as hosts Baseball Tonight from time-to-time. Two years ago, ESPN VP of production Norby Williamson said of Berman, “He is our most important person, he is the face of ESPN.”

Berman stopped being funny in the late 90s and his shtick is old. He’s a shell of his former self and I don’t know why any network would fork over tons of dough in order to woo him into their broadcasting chair. But hey, that’s just me.

The kicker is that DirecTV is also rumored to be hot and heavy for Berman, too. Apparently neither network has watched ESPN since 1998. That’s the only reason I can think of as to why both the NFL Network and DirecTV would fight (if you can even call it that) over Chris Berman.

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