We are just a couple minutes away from the first tip-off. I’ll check in periodically throughout the day with thoughts and such. All times will be mountain time, so add two hours for eastern, subtract one for pacific and so on:

10:20 a.m. – We’re underway with Xavier and Georgia. It is very strange seeing a power conference as a 14 seed. Xavier is out to a very quick 5-0 lead. Hopefully the Bulldogs wake up soon.

10:30 a.m. – Watching Georgia play makes me realize that teams need some creativity in names. Bulldogs – Georgia, Butler, Gonzaga, Mississippi State, Drake. Wildcats – Villanova, Davidson, Kansas State, Kentucky, Arizona. Eagles – Winthrop, American, Oral Roberts (though there’s are Golden), Marquette (also Golden), Coppin State. Throw in two Cougars, a bunch of other varieties of wild felines, two Mountaineers, two Bruins (and a few bears by other names as well), a million teams named after some kind of soldier, and two shades of red playing each other and there isn’t a whole lot of uniqueness going on.

10:50 – The line actually dropped in the Kansas game after it was released (from 25 to 22). Apparently the public loves Portland State. So far it seems hard to understand why – they are down by 13 after 12 minutes.

11:10 – Georgia is up on Xavier by nine at the half after sinking the last six baskets. That is really not good news for my brackets. Dennis Felton is doing the best job of saving his job-in-jeopardy of any coach in the history of coaching.

11:14 – Kansas is up by 23 at the half. They need to find a way to make these 1 vs. 16 games more interesting. Maybe something involving live alligators or water and electricity.

11:20 – Michigan State over Temple by nine at the half. This one was really close for quite a while, and then suddenly it really wasn’t. It is amazing how many easy baskets the Spartans have had.

11:40 – Xavier is down by 11 with 15 minutes left. They badly need a big run soon. The problem is that they aren’t really a team built for a big run. I have a bit of a sick feeling building up in my stomach over this one.

12:05 – Or maybe they can come back. Xavier is now up by three with seven minutes left.

12:37 – All three games are over and all three favorites covered. The public is having a good day so far. I was impressed by how Michigan State came out and took care of business against a pesky opponent, and I was very impressed with how Xavier jumped all over Georgia when the Bulldogs faltered.

1:06 – I’ll send the Mountain West conference some love while I still can. UNLV has jumped out to a nice 9-2 lead in a tough game against Kent State. I think it is a shame that both Mountain West teams were given eight seeds – they deserved better.

1:10 – I know that there were problems with the logo, but Marquette should still be the Warriors. The Golden Eagles just doesn’t sound as good, or have the history.

1:20 – Oral Roberts is leading Pitt more than seven minutes in. Clearly their prayer edge is paying off so far.

1:30 – Marquette by four at the half. This has been a good game, but neither team is playing particularly well. I think that the team that asserts itself first in the second half will take it.

1:31 – Someone needs to call the cops to protect Kent State. The Rebels, a one point underdog, are now up by 21 with three minutes left. This is an epic beatdown so far. Fear the MWC!

1:54 – What does a coach say to a team at halftime which has scored just 10 points in the first half? I would guess that there would be yelling. And chair throwing. And quite possibly murder.

1:57 – Purdue is up by 19 at the half. I’m a bit surprised that it is so one-sided, but my guess is that Baylor will tighten up a bit in the second half. Not enough to win, but enough to make it responsible.

1:58 – Pitt up by 23 at the half. Maybe prayer doesn’t work after all.

2:53 – Two more games over, two more higher seeds (Marquette and UNLV) with fairly comfortable wins and with covers. That puts the higher seeds at 5-0 ATS, and the favorites at 4-1 ATS because people didn’t respect the Mountain West. So far, a monkey could handicap this thing.

3:11 – That’s now 7-0 ATS for the higher seeds after Purdue and Pitt cruised. I guess that means that Stanford is the pick in the only game underway now. I’m okay with that. The Lopez twins look ridiculously huge when they are beside Ivy League guys.

3:23 – Cornell just needs to take a deep breath. They are outclassed, but they can put up a respectable effort if they relax and do what got them here. A 1-for-9 start shooting is not the answer.

4:05 – Cornell shot 5-for-32 from the field in the first half. Not a lot of winning is going to happen when you shoot that poorly. Just ask Kent State.

5:06 – 8-0 ATS for the higher seeds after Stanford crushed the life out of Cornell. Games that one-sided and uncompetitive are not at all fun to watch.

5:17 – K-State has come out swinging. They are shooting well, and their defense on Mayo is relentless. If this pace keeps up then this will be a classic. Beasley got his second foul less than five minutes in, though, so that doesn’t bode well.

5:31 – Two biggest things I have seen in the USC game so far: 1. When Beasley is on the court he is ridiculously disruptive – Bill Walker is all over the place because the Trojans are so worried about Beasley right now. 2. USC’s cheerleaders are far superior to Kansas State’s.

5:36 – If Belmont could play 15 minute games they would be deadly. They have hung tight early with UCLA and Georgetown before getting blown out in recent years, and now they are a point behind Duke with less than seven minutes left in the first half.

6:03 – Three games head to halftime at about the same time. Belmont hung strong, but the fact that they are wildly outclassed started to show later on, and I expect Duke to roll in the second half. Unfortunately. Winthrop is tied with Washington State at the half. It’s not a fluke. They are playing tough and matching the Cougars blow for blow. Washington State clearly has the edge, but they will have to be alert to avoid an embarrassment. Kansas State is up on USC by 10, and they have beat them up in every way, and without Beasley being the star. I will be watching very closely to see what the first five minutes of the second half look like. If they aren’t significantly different then this could get ugly.

6:23 – Great game between BYU and Texas A&M in Anaheim. The Cougars were down 11-0 to start, but they came back to tie it up at 20 at the half. BYU looks patient and controlled (Go Mountain West!). Now if only they could shoot free throws.

6:35 – Just looking back over the first eight of today’s games you realize how close they weren’t. Seven of the eight were decided by at least 11, and the one that wasn’t, Marquette’s, wasn’t as close as it seemed because Kentucky had no time outs and no choice but to foul in the last minute. Here’s hoping we get some tighter ones the rest of today and tomorrow.

6:43 – USC has answered the bell. They look like a totally different team than the first half, and they have closed the ten point gap in less than eight minutes. Washington State has found their game, too.

6:44 – Belmont is tied with Duke with 9 minutes left. An upset here, with apologies to my wife in regards to our wedding day, would make this the best day of my life.

6:45 – The look my wife just gave me tells me that I should mention that I am kidding. Sort of.

7:12 – Washington State ran away in the second to make it 9-0 ATS for the higher seeded teams. That’ll change in just a second thanks to Duke.

7:18 – Duke is very, very lucky. And I hate them.

7:22 – Very, very impressive win by Kansas State. Their next game against (presumably) Wisconsin will be fascinating. It would be harder to find a bigger clash of styles between the high flying Wildcats and the dull and plodding Badgers.

7:26 – Higher seeds are now 9-2 ATS. Not as good, but still surprising.

7:44 – Texas A&M was able to hold on over BYU in a very good game. That’s another lower seed.

8:00 – I wasn’t expecting to see Cal State Fullerton come out and score 10 in four minutes against the Wisconsin defense. It will be interesting to see if and when the Badgers tighten that up.

8:07 – It’s early yet but it doesn’t look like George Mason is going to be the next George Mason. They are down by 16 to Notre Dame halfway through the first. The Irish are probably just desperate not to repeat the travesty against Winthrop last year.

8:17 – Kevin Love has seven points and three blocks in the first four and a half minutes. His back seems fine.

8:38 – Very odd game in Omaha. Wisconsin looked sloppy early, locked it down and built and eight point lead, then let Fullerton back with an 8-0 before taking the two point halftime lead with a late basket It will be an interesting second half. Maybe. It also could be a Washington State-like second half.

8:44 – Arizona – West Virginia is going to be a great second half. I find the Wildcats very frustrating, but they sure have talent and I am a fan. Notre Dame – George Mason, on the other hand, probably won’t be that good. The Irish are up by 12 and are looking very good.

8:54 – The good news for UCLA backers is that the Bruins are up by 24 at the half. The bad news is that they still need nine points to cover the spread, and they will be playing the water boy and three cheerleaders in the second half.

9:39 – George Mason went down with a whimper. While their was little to learn from this game, it was nice to see that Luke Harangody is ready and willing to step up and carry his team in the tournament.

9:54 – It might be time to give up on Arizona. It’s been a long, long time since that program has lived up to potential, yet I keep falling for them. I can’t quit you, Wildcats.

9:57 – The UCLA game made the Kansas game look like a barnburner.

10:01 – Wisconsin got their act together and played like they can in the second half to cover nicely.

Final thoughts

The higher seeded teams ended up at 13-3 ATS. That is quite surprising to me, but indicative perhaps of how top-heavy the tournament is.

The most impressive performance was Kansas State. Beasley got in foul trouble early, but he had the discipline to calm down, get his act together, and dominate. As impressive – Bill Walker stepped up his game, and the Wildcats showed real depth. If they can do that again then Wisconsin could have their hands full.

There was a one point thriller, a five point game, and the 14 games that were fairly one-sided. This was not a day for dramatic finishes. Tomorrow, hopefully, is another day.

Good night.