All right, it’s 9:20 am (PT) and the tourney is set to begin with a good matchup between #10 Seton Hall and #7 Wichita State. I have Wichita advancing to the Sweet Sixteen, so it’s important that they get past the Pirates.
The two other early games:
#11 Wisconsin-Milwaukee vs. #6 Oklahoma
#13 Pacific vs. #4 Boston College
I have UWM pulling the upset and BC going to the Final Four in one of my brackets, so we’re starting with a bang.
9:41 am – Wichita State is up 16-6 behind some great shooting and offensive rebounding. They look like a strong squad. CBS is taking us to the BC/Pacific game.
9:52 am – UWM is leading Oklahoma, 21-14. Hoo-ah! BC is off to a good start, leading Pacific, 13-7. They look sharp, which was a concern since they were scheduled for such an early game.
10:11 am – Wichita State is up 40-24 at halftime. Wow. Oklahoma has tightened their game up and are only trailing by two with two minutes in the first half. I’m using the On Demand feature at cbs.com to watch some of the UWM game and it appears to be a couple of minutes behind the real-time action.
10:16 am – Pacific is giving BC a run, down 28-27 with four miutes to go in the first half. UWM leads OU, 33-31, at halftime. They are having trouble with the Sooners’ zone and their size inside.
10:26 am – Boy, that’s weird. My CBS HD feed is the Wichita State game while the local CBS feed is the BC/Pacific game. They must do one national HD feed. It’s kind of nice, actually as I can watch either game. Pacific up, 33-32, with under a minute in the first half. I’m officially worried about my Final Four selection.
10:31 am – Just saw a promo for the David Arquette CBS movie, “Time Bomb.” It’s David Arquette…in a drama…I’ll be sure to miss that.
10:35 am – Wichita State is up 20 with 17 minutes to go. They pass the ball well (15 assists on 19 made baskets) and have a good inside/outside game. Tennessee will have their hands full in the 2nd round if the Shockers hold on (and if UT can beat Winthrop).
11:09 am – BC has built a 50-39 lead over Pacific and UWM is leading 57-46 over OU. Wichita State still holds a 17 point lead with six minutes remaining.
11:26 am – Games are tightening up. BC has a 7 point lead with six minutes to go and OU has trimmed the UWM lead to six with four minutes to go.
11:31 am – Pacific has cut the BC lead to 2 – UH-OH! UWM still holds an eight point lead, with three and a half to go. UWM is hitting their free throws, which is one of their weaknesses.
11:42 am – The Wichita State game is in the books. Take that, Billy Packer. (Packer was arguing that the Missouri Valley got too many teams in the tourney.) UWM pulls out the upset against OU – have to give my old teammate (UWM coach Rob Jeter) props on his first tournament win. Pacific just hit a 3 with 9 seconds to play to tie the game with BC. The Eagles double-teamed the dribbler and left Maraker and he drained the three. And BC just turned the ball over.
11:50 am – BC/Pacific in overtime. The San Diego games are behind due to a bomb scare at Cox Arena.
12:10 pm – Wow, what an overtime. Pacific built a six point lead in overtime behind some great three-point shooting, but BC battled back and Craig Smith (a 66% free throw shooter) drained two free throws with four seconds remaining to tie the game.
12:19 pm – BC finally woke up in the 2nd overtime and went on a 14-2 run in the period to win the game, 88-76. Pacific went ice cold from the three-point line and BC simply took advantage. Whew!
12:28 pm – #15 seed Winthrop is giving Tennessee a good game so far, 18-17. This was a popular upset pick of the pundits around the country. Florida is leading South Alabama, 7-5, with 14 minutes left in the first half.
12:54 pm – Still waiting on the San Diego games to get going. A bomb-sniffing dog apparently was alarmed, and that was the reason for the delay. South Alabama is hanging with Florida in a low-scoring affair, 19-18, while Winthrop is trailing Tennessee, 36-31, with less than two minutes in the first half.
1:23 pm – In the dreaded 5/12 matchup, Montana is leading Nevada by four with six minutes to go in the first half. Winthrop trails Tennessee by two at half – beware of the Eagles! Alabama is picking apart Marquette and leads by 10 with seven minutes to go in the first half. South Alabama is sticking with Florida and only trails by six at half.
1:48 pm – Winthrop is poised to pull a Joe Dirt-esque upset, trailing Tennesee, 54-53, with under eleven minutes to play. Alabama and Florida are in control, leading their respective games by 14. Montana leads Nevada by 7 at halftime. That has to be a great scene, with the two teams playing in Utah.
2:13 pm – Winthrop is still hanging in there, 61-61, with 2:42 to play. Marquette has shown some toughness and have closed Alabama’s lead to two with 14 minutes left in the game. Nevada has trimmed Montana’s lead to three with 12 minutes to play. Florida is ROLLIN’.
2:25 pm – I questioned Bruce Pearl’s decision to take a timeout with 2.9 seconds left, but he drew up a play that freed up Chris Lofton for a tough, fadeaway two on the baseline. Looks like the Vols are going to escape with the win.
2:48 pm – Marquette trails by only one with two minutes to go, behind some BIG threes. #12-seed Montana is wrapping up a victory over #5 Nevada.
2:58 pm – The Marquette/Alabama game is in the books. Jean Felix was the star of the game, hitting 8/11 three-point shots and scoring 31 points in the process.
3:47 pm – With eight minutes left to go in the first half, UCLA is LOSING to lil’ Belmont, 16-10. Ten points in twelve minutes? I knew the Bruins were offensively challenged, but I thought they could put up more than that on Belmont.
4:08 pm – UCLA has taken control of the game, going on a 23-5 run to close the first half with a 35-23 lead. They finally figured out the Belmont zone (attack, attack, attack!) and have all the momentum heading into the second half.
4:53 pm – After trailing 18-10, UCLA has gone on a 48-10 run to take a 60-28 lead over Belmont. Ouch. Iona leads LSU by 4 with two minutes left in the half, while George Washington and UNCW are in a tight game. #14 Xavier leads #3 Gonzaga by three with seven minutes to go in the first half. That would be a BIG upset if Xavier can pull off the win.
5:08 pm – Boy, this is pretty annoying. Since the UCLA game is a complete blowout, I go online to check out some of the other games on CBS’ March Madness On Demand, and it tells me that the Gonzaga/Xavier game is blacked out for me. But the UCLA game is the one that’s on locally. I’m confused.
