So day one is over, 16 games have been played, and the only upset of any note was VCU over Duke. Only 2 games were decided by fewer than 9 points, both with identical 79-77 final scores - VCU's win over Duke and Xavier's win over BYU, where BYU scored at the buzzer to cut the margin from 4 to 2.
Some thoughts from the Sports Guy's running diary of day one:
Today's early games: Davidson-Maryland, BC-Texas Tech and Stanford-Louisville. We're watching the Maryland game because (A) House is a Terps fan, and (B) Davidson has a starting guard named Max Paulhus Gosselin (sounds like the star from the Dutch version of "Saved By The Bell").
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JackO: "Wouldn't it be excellent if Darryl Strawberry wandered onto the court during this Maryland game like Dennis Hopper in Hoosiers?"
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Gus tells us that Louisville's Derek Caracter missed 16 games this year due to "off-court issues." Sounds like some Caracter problems. Thank you, thank you very much. I'll be here all week.
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CBS is showing these "learn about the schools" graphics -- for Stanford, the famous alum was Sandra Day O'Connor. For Louisville, it was Wes Unseld and Johnny Unitas. "I hope it's Jeffrey Dahmer for Marquette," JackO says.
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Tech cuts BC's lead to five with 1:41 remaining. Meanwhile, JackO is rambling about the fact that we were watching "SportsCenter" last night and they showed scores from the Women's NIT: "The Women's NIT? Did we really need a Women's NIT? Would you even hang that banner up in your school's gym if you won the title?"
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Actual postgame question from Dan Bonner to Rick Pitino after a game in which Louisville had a 26-point lead by halftime: "Rick, first of all, congratulations, it appeared to me your team played awfully well, particularly in the first half. What's your assessment?" Can we take Dan's microphone away?
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Just argued whether Dick Enberg actually thinks Patrick Ewing the dad is playing in this Georgetown-Belmont game. I say yes, House and JackO say no. It's almost more fun NOT knowing.
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Well, VCU's pressure is finally wearing down Duke -- they've cut it to 28-23 and Greg Paulus is heaving like Rick Majerus during a pilates class right now.
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Classic Duke moment: Clock running down, end of the half, Paulus gets trapped near the VCU bench and has to throw up a three-point heave ... and they call a touch foul on VCU. Even Coach K seems embarrassed. Really, we have to rig games for a team everyone hates? That's what we've resorted to? I need a break. Back in around an hour.
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All right, the officiating has been so one-sided in the VCU-Duke game that (A) the fans are booing the refs after every call even though the game's being played in a neutral site, and (B) House just logged online to check out the total fouls. What a disgrace.
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It's getting chippy in the VCU-Duke game -- Paulus just got fouled hard twice and even exchanged a couple extracurricular bumps with Eric Maynor, followed by the obligatory shot of Coach K. carrying on like the VCU players just went after Paulus with a chainsaw or something. I have to say, it's fun to have Duke around. They're fun to hate.
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Here's a sentence that Chad Ford needs to add to his draft profile for Josh McRoberts in the "weaknesses" section: He's the kind of guy who flops for a foul while screaming "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" at the same time.
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We're all stunned that McRoberts has a 21-11 right now. Tie game, 1:30 left. If he's one of the top-20 draft prospects in college basketball, I demand a recount. He's like a homeless man's Darko Milicic, only if he spent the last seven summers at Bill Laimbeer Summer Camp.
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Classic McRoberts: Duke missed a jumper and McRoberts drew a loose ball foul by reacting to a bump under the basket like he'd just been shot. Fortunately, he's about to miss one of these free throws ... and there it is! Thank you, Josh McRoberts. "Coach K. should have spent his summer recruiting instead of coaching the U.S. in the World Championships," House jokes.
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And we're back! Still reeling from the fact that there's an Ainge on BYU (Danny's son Austin). If Danny signed Brian Scalabrine to a $15 million contract, what would he give his own son? $30 million? $40 million? Let's hope we never find out.
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It's Indiana 20, Gonzaga 17, eight minutes to go in the first half ... shouldn't there be cameras in Josh Heytvelt's dorm room right now? He's probably staring at his ceiling and wondering why it keeps turning into a gypsy.
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Jacko thinks Derek Raivio should have one name -- "Raivio" -- like he's Fabio or something. Intriguing idea. Meanwhile Raivio just turned into a giant lizard on Josh Heytvelt's TV.
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One silver lining today: No Billy Packer."That means we get him tomorrow though," JackO points out.
(The room falls silent.)
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Newsflash to Indiana: You don't have to keep wearing your warmups from the Kent Benson Era. You can get new ones.
Day 2 starts in less than 12 hours - 16 more games featuring potential upset specials in (6) Notre Dame vs. (11) Winthrop and (4) Virginia vs. (13) Albany, along with three 5 vs. 12 matchups.
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