NCAA 2009-10 Hoops: Yo, mah Jordans, nigga

[CountDeMoney]

I don't even have to look at my bracket to realize it's already more broken than a chick with tatoos doing two black guys at once to get back at Daddy.  What a Tournafail.

[jimmy olsen]

Damn, I've done just awful.

EDIT: Wait a minute, I'm winning. WTF?

[Admiral Yi]

Bummer.

[Scipio]

Spectacular Hoya meltdown.

[Valmy]

And the season comes to a merciful end.

Actually there was nothing merciful about how Texas lost that game...but at least I don't have to watch them play another.

[derspiess]

Damn, I've done just awful.

EDIT: Wait a minute, I'm winning. WTF?

You with your 11/16 score = WINNAR

We all got brutalized.  In my Bengals bracket, the guy in 1st place somehow got 14/16.

Big Least is due for a rebound today.  Hopefully the three (almost 4) upsets yesterday were a wakeup call to the rest.  I'm more nervous about WVU playing against a 14 seed now than I would if they were playing a 5 or 6 seed.

[Ed Anger]

LOLZ, Hoyas beaten by the Bobcats. hohohoho.

[derspiess]

Speaking of which, if it would make Yi & Scippy feel any better, I'd be happy to punch a couple Ohio U grads in the nuts here at work.

[jimmy olsen]

Damn, I've done just awful.

EDIT: Wait a minute, I'm winning. WTF?

You with your 11/16 score = WINNAR

We all got brutalized.  In my Bengals bracket, the guy in 1st place somehow got 14/16.

Big Least is due for a rebound today.  Hopefully the three (almost 4) upsets yesterday were a wakeup call to the rest.  I'm more nervous about WVU playing against a 14 seed now than I would if they were playing a 5 or 6 seed.

I picked Ohio, I am genuis!

[Ed Anger]

Speaking of which, if it would make Yi & Scippy feel any better, I'd be happy to punch a couple Ohio U grads in the nuts here at work.

It would make me feel better. Ohio U sucks.

[citizen k]

Day 1: Comebacks and come from behinds

By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports Mar 18, 6:13 pm EDT


Murray State isn't actually its own state, it's located in Murray, Ky., way out in the western part of the state and known for each October holding a heck of a Lumberjack Challenge ("Come smell the nitro and watch the chips fly!").

At least until Thursday.

Athens, Ohio, has been declared one of the 15 most haunted places in America by the people that rank such things. It's good to be known for something because that's a lot higher than anyone ranked the local Ohio University basketball team.

At least until Thursday.

And how disrespected was Northern Iowa? The CBS scoreboard abbreviated their school name "No Iowa." No Iowa? What does CBS have against Iowa? (The network's scoreboard abbreviations were in rare form all day, first encouraging fans to "Rob Morr" and later to "Wake Texas".)

The greatest opening day in the history of the tournament proved to be for the forgotten, the never known and the anonymous. It was for upsets, extra sessions and endless drama. It was for everyone having a chance and many of them stunning the country.

It was paced by the little guys. Ohio beat mighty Georgetown. Murray wiped out prestigious Vanderbilt. Northern Iowa got past UNLV. And that was just the half of it.

This was the NCAA tournament on steroids. Last year, Thursday games produced no significant upsets and just three games decided by 10 points or less.

This year there were victories by seven higher seeded teams. There was one double-overtime game. There were two single-overtime games. There were three games decided by one point and one game decided by two points and three games decided by three points.

There were comebacks, come from behinds and way behind the line prayers answered. There was a true buzzer-beater (ball in the air when time expired).

There was a 5-9, Mohawk-sporting guard from Robert Morris (previous accomplishment: getting the Stamp Act of 1765 repealed) that electrified the Dunkin' Donuts Center.

There was a kid of Iranian descent, Ali Farokhmanesh, draining a game-winning 3 for decidedly Middle America Iowa (previous accomplishment: Kurt Warner went and bagged groceries there).

There was a 6-1, New York Mormon named Jimmer who led Brigham Young to victory by dropping 37 on Florida, which after winning consecutive NCAA titles, now hasn't won a single tourney game in three years.

There was defense too: a key block by Wake Forest's L.D. Williams, shutdown defense by Villanova's Scottie Reynolds and the typical Old Dominion team effort, making Notre Dame (50 points) the 20th opponent to score below 60 on them this season.

It was just that kind of day. There was one surprise after the next.

Actually, by the time Wake Forest had outlasted Texas in overtime thanks to a pull-up jumper by Ishmael Smith and clocks in the East read 12:30 a.m., it wasn't a surprise. Of course Smith was going to hit the shot for a one-point victory. That's how it works this year.

Then, for a nightcap, as 1 a.m. approached, New Mexico and Montana naturally battled into the final seconds before the Lobos held on.

There was no way to predict such a day, results baffling even the most studious of experts.

The Big East Conference spent most of the year hailed as the best in the nation. Thursday league teams went 1-3 (Marquette, Georgetown and Notre Dame fell) and the lone victory was No. 2 seed Villanova needing overtime to evade a humbling loss to 15-seed Robert Morris.

Butler tied a first-round record by draining 13 3-pointers as it ran away from UTEP, draining shots like a team full of Jimmy Chitwoods. Then Ohio duplicated the feat in scoring 97 points on Georgetown, the most the Hoyas had given up in 70 NCAA tournament games.

That was a Georgetown team that played brilliantly as the runner-up in the Big East tournament. Ohio, meanwhile, finished ninth in the Mid-American Conference.
Villanova's Scottie Reynolds (1) and guard Dominic Cheek (23) defend against Robert Morris' Karon Abraham (4) during overtime.
(Stew Milne/US Presswire)

So you're not the only one with the blown up bracket – although President Obama survived with a 12-4 record on the day (entertainment purposes only, as far as the IRS knows).

The most telling thing about Thursday was the confidence that the smaller schools displayed. They were rarely in awe of the famous name on the front of the other guy's jersey. They pressed defensively, crashed the boards with purpose and tried to force the action, letting fear of being upset creep into the favorites' minds.

Even Kansas, the prohibitive favorite to win the national championship, got all it could handle from 16-seed Lehigh for much of the game.

The NBA's one-and-done rule has made it nearly impossible for powerhouse teams to build consistent winners – their best players often bolt at first chance. It's how perennial powers such as defending national champion North Carolina, UCLA, Arizona, Connecticut and Indiana didn't even make the tournament this year.

In their place are a number of lesser known, but better experienced teams. St. Mary's isn't just star center Omar Samhan, who had 29 points and 12 rebounds in a win over Richmond. The Gaels start three seniors and a junior, each of whom average double-figure points. Ohio has five double-digit scorers.

Murray State is so balanced it has five players who average between 10.3 and 10.6 points a game. That's what got the Racers past Vanderbilt. On a final-second play they patiently passed the ball around until Danero Thomas had an open look.

(The Racers move onto the second round for a game that sounds like a good insurance agent: Murray Butler. There are 17 men named Murray Butler in America, according to whitepages.com, which should make Saturday a rather schizophrenic experience.)

These are teams, not quickly assembled packages of good recruits. And where Georgetown and Villanova looked unprepared at the start, these clubs were eager for their chance at March immortality.

In their programs' limited histories and in their often tiny towns, they will. Division I basketball is played in 49 states (save Alaska) and in counterintuitive fashion, it doesn't matter how big your city or state is. Neither New York City nor Los Angeles had a team in the tourney. Vermont and Montana did.

That's what Thursday of the NCAA tournament is all about: Players few know and schools many have forgotten stepping up to entertain, to amaze and to surprise. It's about fair play and a level playing field in a country where both are increasingly rare. It is close games and dramatic plays causing people to crowd around break-room televisions, huddle over cubicle computers and sneak off to midday sports bars. It's what caused sleepy schoolkids and bleary work eyes Friday morning.

It's a noon-to-(past)-midnight festival. It's America's tournament, and they've never done it any better than Thursday.

[Admiral Yi]

Speaking of which, if it would make Yi & Scippy feel any better, I'd be happy to punch a couple Ohio U grads in the nuts here at work.

Nah, I'm cool.  It was a pretty good season.

[katmai]

Kansas

And Huskies crusing to sweet 16 in Syracuse next thur.

[crazy canuck]

Kansas

And Huskies crusing to sweet 16 in Syracuse next thur.

I still dont know how Kansas didnt win that game. 

I didnt see the Huskies play until this the tournament.  They play a very nice brand of basketball.  I love the defence and the run and gun.

I hope the Gonzaga does well against Duke.  They have a couple players from my neck of the woods.

[katmai]

The huskies style is usually compared to Nolan Richardson's Arkansas teams

the team really does go 9-11 deep, and had two of five of the Pac-10 all defensive team and the defender if year to boot.