Mission WSOP

113 points!  They didn’t play much D but who needs to when you score 113!  The Heels stomped on Mt. St. Mary’s.  Below is a picture of six guys who should have apologized as soon as they woke up from their dream where they actually beat Carolina.  Sorry, Mt. St. Mary’s, UNC ain’t from the SEC or Pac-10!

Siena thumped Vanderbilt.  Another crappy SEC team goes down.  Further proof Kentucky didn’t belong and Virginia Tech did.  Nice job committee… bracketology, my ass!

There was an Adam Morrison sighting at the Gonzaga game.  The guy is looking rough these days.  I guess taking 300 jumpers a game can age you quickly.

Oklahomas beat up on St. Joseph’s.  Guess what?  The Masters are coming!  The Masters are coming!  I think there has been about 750 commercials for The Masters and none for the season finale of "Jericho".  Nice job, CBS!  Way to support a great show!  Mississippi State handled Oregon.  Someone had to win that game, I guess.

The conferences that received just 1 tournament bid are 3-14 with 3 more playing in the late games (Louisville, Boise State and Tex-Arlington).  Championship Week is a bit overrated to me.

East: (1) North Carolina 113, (16) Mt. St. Mary’s 74
East: (6) Oklahoma 72, (11) St. Joseph’s 64
Midwest: (13) Siena 83, (4) Vanderbilt 62
South: (8) Mississippi State 76, (9) Oregon 69

Conference-By-Conference

Big Ten: 3-0
ACC: 3-0
Horizon: 1-0
Metro Atlantic: 1-0
Southern: 1-0
Big 12: 5-1
Big East: 5-1
Pac-10: 3-3
Mountain West: 1-1
Sun Belt: 1-1
SEC: 2-3
Atlantic 10: 1-2
West Coast: 1-2
America East: 0-1 
Atlantic Sun: 0-1
Big Sky: 0-1
Big South: 0-1
Big West: 0-1
Colonial Athletic: 0-1
Ivy: 0-1
Mid-American: 0-1
Mid-Continent: 0-1
Missouri Valley: 0-1
Northeast: 0-1 
Ohio Valley: 0-1
Patriot: 0-1
Southwestern Athletic: 0-1

The San Diego Toreros? It looks like a torero is a bullfighter. San Diego pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament so far by knocking off UConn in OT. It was interesting to hear all game how Jim Calhoun only coaches players to win… how else would you coach a team?

The rest of the action was pretty much to form. The Butler did it, G’town dominated and Texas rolled (don’t they always in the 1st round?). The night games should be speckled with upset possibilities. I like St. Joseph’s over Oklahoma. Since I’m local, I get to watch the St. Joe’s game but I’d rather watch Carolina thump St. Mary’s.

East: (7) Butler 81, (10) South Alabama 61
Midwest: (2) Georgetown 66, (15) Md-Baltimore City 47
South: (2) Texas 74, (15) Austin Peay 54
West: (13) San Diego 70, (4) Connecticut 69 OT

Is there a rule that if anything 13 happens good that the media has to talk about how "lucky" 13 is?  So played.

Conference-By-Conference

Big Ten: 3-0
ACC: 2-0
Horizon: 1-0
Southern: 1-0
Big East: 5-1
Big 12: 4-1
Pac-10: 3-2
Atlantic 10: 1-1 
Mountain West: 1-1
Sun Belt: 1-1
SEC: 1-2
West Coast: 1-2
America East: 0-1 
Atlantic Sun: 0-1
Big Sky: 0-1
Big South: 0-1
Big West: 0-1
Colonial Athletic: 0-1
Ivy: 0-1
Mid-American: 0-1
Mid-Continent: 0-1
Missouri Valley: 0-1 
Ohio Valley: 0-1
Patriot: 0-1
Southwestern Athletic: 0-1

The early Friday games were the top games of the tourney so far with 2 upsets and an amazing performance.  Western Kentucky knocked off Drake at the buzzer in OT… it doesn’t get any better than that!  (Admittedly, Belmont beating Dook at the last second WOULD have been better but…)  Then, Davidson upset Gonzaga behind Stephen Curry’s 40 points… he had ice water running through his veins.  He’s the son of Del Curry and could help give Georgetown fits in Round 2. (G’town didn’t win yet but they are up 12 at the moment.)

The other two games were somewhat true to form although American hung in for a while against Tennessee.

East: (2) Tennessee 72, (15) American 57
Midwest: (10) Davidson 82, (7) Gonzaga 76
South: (7) Miami (FL) 78, (10) South Alabama 64
West: (12) Western Kentucky 101, (5) Drake 99 OT

Conference-By-Conference

Big East: 4-0
Big Ten: 3-0
ACC: 2-0
Southern: 1-0
Sun Belt: 1-0
Big 12: 3-1
Pac-10: 3-2
Atlantic 10: 1-1 
Mountain West: 1-1
SEC: 1-2 
Atlantic Sun: 0-1
Big Sky: 0-1
Big South: 0-1
Big West: 0-1
Colonial Athletic: 0-1
Ivy: 0-1
Mid-American: 0-1
Mid-Continent: 0-1
Missouri Valley: 0-1 
Patriot: 0-1
Southwestern Athletic: 0-1
West Coast: 0-2

Talk about a lame first round!  The night finished up with a last second view of UCLA beating Mississippi Valley State by 41!!!!  My brother was saying that a conference that gets beat that badly should have their automatic bid revoked and I think I’m going to have to agree there.  14 of the 16 better seeds advanced and it was fairly safe to go with the favorites today.  I narrowed it down that I had 4 pools going so far. And I was able to check in and see how I did:

Yahoo - 13/16 (With all 16 of Sweet 16 still intact)
ESPN - 13/16 (With all 16 of Sweet 16 still intact)
CBS via AT&T - Can’t access (I did it on my phone)
John McCain - 11/16 (With 14 of Sweet 16 still intact)

I went a little nuts on the McCain pool.  I’m in prime position to do well on Yahoo and ESPN with all 16 of my Sweet 16 left.  At this point, I would figure if you don’t have your Sweet 16 intact, you are close to done.

The last games of the night weren’t even worth their own little blurbs so here were the scores:

East Bracket: (5) Notre Dame 68, (12) George Mason 50
Midwest Bracket: (3) Wisconsin 71, (14) CS Fullerton 56
West Bracket: (7) West Virginia 75, (10) Arizona 65
West Bracket: (1) UCLA 70, (16) Mississippi Valley State 29

Conference-By-Conference

Big East: 4-0
Big Ten: 3-0
ACC: 1-0
Big 12: 3-1
Pac-10: 3-2
Atlantic 10: 1-1 
Mountain West: 1-1
Atlantic Sun: 0-1
Big Sky: 0-1
Big South: 0-1
Big West: 0-1
Colonial Athletic: 0-1
Ivy: 0-1
Mid-American: 0-1
Mid-Continent: 0-1 
Southwestern Athletic: 0-1
SEC: 0-2 

It’s interesting to note that the SEC is 0-2 so far.  Yes, both of their teams were underdogs that played and one was a cinderella automatic bid in Georgia but what did Kentucky do besides lose to Georgia and any other tournament team not from the SEC before getting ousted by Marquette in Round 1.  Kentucky truly did not deserve their at-large bid with an 18-12 record and losses to North Carolina, Indiana, San Diego and Georgia in the 1st round of the SEC tourney.  Meanwhile, Virginia Tech, Ohio State, Syracuse and Arizona State all probably could have made a case to be ahead of Kentucky but were relegated to an NIT bid.