Mega March Madness Running Blog: Day 1

4:18 pm ET: I have a little system worked out here at work. I have three games going at once, two on the desktop that I am typing on (huge screen) and one on my laptop. The most important/close game out of the three will go on my laptop because I cannot get any sound on the desktop.

Anyway, I will start at around 4:30 ET since that is when my boss leaves. The current games are Murray State vs. Vandy, North Texas vs. Kansas State, St. Mary’s vs. Richmond, and Sam Houston State vs. Baylor.

We have already seen some great action today with No. 11 Old Dominion knocking off No. 6 Notre Dame (I picked that), No. 7 BYU barely surviving against No. 10 Florida in double overtime (Jimmer!), and No. 15 Robert Morris almost shocking No. 2 Nova (Scotty Reynolds couldn’t throw it in the ocean).

Let’s hope this continues. I should join near the end of a couple of the games, so it should be fast and furious. I apologize in advance if it is completely disjointed and impossible to read. It should be a great time for yours truly, though.

Here. We. Go.

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4:35: We come storming into the running blog! Murray State is trying to hold onto a one point lead over Vandy with 57.5 left. Murray State ball.

Vandy is playing straight up with no fouling. Turn over Murray St.! 21.1 seconds left. Time out Vandy, they will have a chance for the win! The Madness has started straight out of the gate this year. How can you not love this!

4:38: Backdoor cut for Vandy and the player gets fouled! Makes the first free throw! Murray St. takes a time out. 12.7 left. Tie ball game.

4:40: We are back. He drills the second. Vandy up by one. Murray St. brings it up and has no time outs. Misses a three but the rebound goes off a Commodore. Time out Vanderbilt. Hopefully we will see our first buzzer beater of the tourney when we come back. 4.2 seconds left.

4:43: Inbounds for Murray under the basket. Aaaahhhhhh!!!!! Buzzer Beater!!!!! Murray St. nails a jumper from the elbow to beat Vandy!

That’s why we watch folks. “Heroes are made in March” quips the announcer. Amazing!

4:47: I needed a few minutes to collect my thoughts. Apparently I came in at just the right time.

What a game. Here is what we have left in this session: Sam Houston St. and Baylor tied at 55 with 3:41 left in the game, St. Mary’s and Richmond tied at 36 at the half, and Kansas St. taking care of business against North Texas 50-31 with 17 minutes left in the game.

We will focus on the Baylor game now.

4:51: LaceDarius Dunn (sweet name) scores on a run out as Baylor makes a little run. Up 61-55 with 1:04 to go.

4:56: The St. Mary’s-Richmond game comes back from half time. I have Richmond winning this game and upsetting Nova in the next one. Not as far-fetched now, huh?

4:58: Baylor’s point guard, Tweety, dribbles out the clock and Baylor wins by 9. I’m glad my final four pick survived the first round. Always a bonus.

5:00pm ET: The Gaels vs. Spiders will now get most of the attention as St. Mary’s is up by 3 with 15 minutes left.

Kansas St is up 56-38 with 13 minutes left. No surprise there. It has been really the only game today that hasn’t been close. Nice to see a major school can still take care of business against a mid-major. Definitely not as fun to watch though.

5:04: Good news. We get Bill Raftery as our color commentator in the St. Mary’s-Richmond game. Love that guy “Onions!” He and Verne just spent a couple minutes dissecting some kid’s bi-colored mouth guard.

5:06: St. Mary’s hits a triple. That’s what they do. 50-42 Gaels with 13:25 left. St. Mary’s whitewash rivals only BYU’s. They also have one of my favorite Little White Guys in Mickey McConnell. That kid can fill it up.

5:10: I am going to take a small break to eat. I should be back in time for the end of this game. UTEP and Butler are about to start as well. Gosh darn it, I love these first four days: basketball heaven. BRB (that’s from my old AIM days. Classic.)

5:15: Some thoughts in between the microwaving of individual pizzas:

One, Bill Simmons is right; Kansas State’s coach does look like he wants to kill someone. Like, really kill someone. Like how a serial killer would look.

Two, Nevermind on my thoughts, my laptop just freaked out and I lost the St. Mary’s-Richmond game. Crap.

5:18: Ok, its back. The Gaels are up 59-50 with 9:13 left. My sleeper in this region is betraying me. Stupid Spiders.

5:23: Butler could be in trouble with UTEP. The Miners are a lot bigger/stronger and are dominating inside. Should be interesting. UTEP up 8-5 with 14 min left.

5:23: Richmond absolutely falling apart. Down by 15 with seven minutes left and turning the ball over left and right. St. Mary’s, on the other hand, is making this look like a three point shooting drill.

I probably should have seen Richmond play at least one second of basketball before I picked them to reach the Sweet 16. Oh well.

5:33: Under five minute update: St. Mary’s is up 67-53 with 4:43.

Hey! That’s Ben Allen playing for the Gaels. The big Aussie used to play for Indiana. They really could have used him this year…PSYCHE. He’s a big dude that likes to shoot jumpers. You can’t be that way in the Big Ten. You know, unless you are Mike Tisdale.

5:36: UTEP is up 17-12 over Butler with 8:30 left in the half. They just showed a nasty dunk from a Miner. Butler didn’t see too much of that in the Horizon Conference. Conference USA, on the other hand…

5:41: I like the Ivan Brothers commercial. However, I can say with certainty that, after tonight, I will hate those brothers. Dang you March Madness on Demand (MMOD). St. Mary’s is up 70-59 with 2:50 left.

5:44: Heck of a game brewing between UTEP and Butler. Tied at 24 with 4:20 to go in the first half. I’m excited to hear that game.

You know what else I'm excited for?

Gus Johnson!

He will join us tomorrow. His head would have exploded if he had called that Murray St. upset.

5:47: My boy Mickey has 23 points, making 5 of 8 threes. His shot has St. Louis Arch arc on it. The Gaels are going to hold on here. Another loss for my bracket. I’m usually out of contention for any bracket competition within the first few games.

This year is no exception.

5:53: Sorry, I was sidetracked by a call from my almost two-year-old son. He managed to call me without his mom knowing. We talked a couple of minutes before she even knew. Priceless.

5:54: UTEP leading Butler 28-24 in the only game taking place currently. Feels weird not trying to watch four games at once.

Side note: Butler has a guy on their team named Gordon. You don’t see that name very much anymore. I was pretty sure the Bombay’s were the last people to name their kid Gordon. I stand corrected.

5:57: 1:25 left in the half with the Miners up by five. They are so much bigger and stronger inside than the Bulldogs. They should exploit that. Of course, they lost in their conference tournament to Houston, so they may not understand how to run an in-bounds play…

6:01: UTEP calls a time out with 20 ticks left. They are up 31-27. I will take a halftime buzzer beater, I’m not picky.

Their big guy gets an easy lay in before the buzzer. 33-27 to the Miners.

6:06: I have never been so confused by a halftime show. Where is Gumbel? All the sudden there is this under 20-year-old girl yelling random words at me. She is joined by some serial underachievers. I guess it’s the online halftime show. Wow, I was totally caught off guard.

6:11: Oh man! What a line by one of the online halftime show guys. In reference to Nova almost going down earlier he said, “The only adjustments Jay Wright normally has to make in these early round games is to his hair and his tie.” ZINGER.

6:19: Back from the half and Butler misses their first opportunity. Caracter had 12 pts in the first half. Mack hits a triple for Butler and brings them within three, 33-30.

6:20: Back to back triples from Mack, “he’s heating up.” Mack then fouls a Miner. He just ruined his chance to catch fire. It’s like he didn’t even care.

6:23: Our next set of games starts at 7:10 ET. I know I am going to miss a buzzer beater driving home from work, I just know it.

Some other Bulldog besides Mack bangs a three, making it 34-36 Butler with 16:30 left. The miners answer with their own triple. Under 16 time out. My annoyance level with the Ivan Brothers is rising fast. Especially sense the commercial starts with Seth Davis on camera. He’s a huge DB.

6:26: If I was Southwest I think I would come up with a different slogan besides “Grab your bag. It’s on.” That’s just inappropriate.

6:30: Mack Daddy hits another three and puts Butler up 42-37 with 14:52 left in the game. Time out UTEP, which used to be Texas Western, the focus of the mediocre film Glory Road.

That’s disappointing because it was such a great story. Although, with all basketball movies being judged against a backdrop of Hoosiers, how good can they really seem?

6:34: Mack is unconscious. Bangs another triple. He’s got 19. One weird side subplot to this game: the color commentator insists on laughing every time Mack hits a three. He doesn’t say anything afterwards. It’s fairly creepy.

6:38: Butler distancing themselves from UTEP. It’s a ten point game with 12:15 to go. They are in the midst of a 20-4 run. Yowza.

6:45: The Bulldogs are up 52-39 and the Miners have gone ice cold. It must be all that Black Lung. Oh jeez, Mack hits another bomb. 55-39 Butler with 9:03 left in the game. We need another game to switch to.

6:48: Caracter just completely douched Matt Howard down low and scored on the no call. That was entertaining. However, UTEP allows Butler to come down and score easily. 58-41 with 7:55 left. 20 minutes away from the start of our next session. It can’t get here soon enough.

6:55: Nothing exciting. Oh wait, our buddy Gordon Hayward checks in. 60-43 Bulldogs with 6:22 left.

6:58: “Gordo” update: threw up an air ball. C’mon Gordon. 1…2…3 triple deke. It’s that simple.

7:00pm ET: What? Oh, the score? 64-47 with 4:28 left. I’m passing the time by checking out Simmons’ live running diary (totally different from what I doing. OK, exactly the same and I stole it from him) on ESPN.com.

Good stuff, but don’t go read it. It will just expose how terrible I am. Crap, I shouldn’t have said anything…

7:03: Butler just tied the record for most threes in a first round game. Unfortunately, the announcer didn’t say how many that was. Thanks guys.

I found it on my own, 12-30 on threes for Butler. 68-52 with 2:38 to go.

7:09: Holy face plant! A UTEP player went up for a big one handed tomahawk jam and Gordy was having none of it. They guy almost landed face first, and it was actually a clean block but they had to call it so as not to add insult to injury.

7:11: Yes! The Northern Iowa-UNLV game has started. It’s an 8-9 match up so hopefully it’s a good contest. I have UNI going through. The next game up will be East Tenn. St. vs. Kentucky.

7:15: Butler finishes off UTEP. I am going to move the Kentucky onto “the Main Screen” because I want to see how they start off. I’m sure the other game will be better and will soon take over.

7:18: The Wildcats strike first with a Darius Miller three-pointer. Patterson then gets an easy lay-in. Just as I’m about to switch to a different game East Tenn. St. hits a three of their own. 5-3 Kentucky with 17:40 left in the half.

7:21: Watch out Lexington! Tie ball game. Oops, easy bucket for Patterson again. Let’s see how long it takes to get to a 20 point game. I say with two minutes left in the half.

In my face! The Buccaneers hit a three to go up one, however, Bledsoe answers for the Cats with a triple. Back and forth action! Time out. The Ohio-Georgetown and Marquette-Washington games should start any minute. Madness! (Way too many exclamation points in that last paragraph. Sorry.)

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7:23: UNLV and UNI tied at 10 with 12:40 left in the half.

That has barnburner written all over it.

7:26: Ohio hits a three to open the scoring in their game against Georgetown. Oh, the Washington/Marquette game has been pushed back to 7:40 ET. Thanks for telling me MMOD!

7:30: Ooohhhh, Patterson does the Bucs dirty with a jam and the foul. 19-10 Kentucky with 13:49 left. Yup, I’ve had enough. UNLV-UNI moving to the Main Screen. The Runnin’ Rebels are up 18-12 with 10:18 left until half.

7:34: I hate how you cannot change games on MMOD if one of the games is on a commercial break. I was stuck watching the same commercials on two different screens. That’s just hateful.

7:41: Under eight timeout for UNLV-UNI. 24-20 rebels. Moving the Georgetown-Ohio game to the Main Screen as soon as we come back from commercial. I was to slow again! I gotta step my game up. Hoyas and Bobcats are tied at 15 with 11:03 left in the half.

7:45: I was way off. Kentucky is already up 20 with 7:47 left. The Ohio-Marquette game is finally back from commercial. Wright from G’town strokes the three and gives them the 18-17 lead with 9:40 to go in the half. Ohio answers with triple of their own!

7:48: Have I mentioned that I love Bill Raftery. Well, I do.

7:50: Ohio will not be intimidated! 13-3 run puts them up 25-18. Time out.

Ah! I have reached my limit, I hate the Ivan Brothers!!!!

7:52: Oh baby! UNLV with a steal, a jam, and the foul. They are up two with 3:25 left in the first half. Kentucky is up 40-16 with 5:16 left before halftime.

7:54: Commercials on every MMOD screen. I do NOT like that. I’m switching from the Kentucky game to the Marquette-UW game. Side Note: I love how the online feed comes back before the TV feed and sometimes you hear the announcers talking like we can’t hear them. Lindquist just said “Nope, we will never get that in.” Pretty funny. Oh, and Washington has a point guard named Isaiah Thomas.

7:58: Ohio is up 10 on Georgetown. Banging triples left and right. UNLV-UNI still tight with UNI up 33-31 with two minutes to go in the half. Marquette up 7-5 on Washington early.

8:00pm ET: Verne Lindquist is in rare form. He just dropped “Oh my gosh!” and “Oh my heavens!” 30 seconds apart.

8:02: Wow. Ohio is going nuts. 7-13 from three point land. They are up 39-28 with 3:50 left. And just got a bucket and the foul. Jeez. This is a 14-3 matchup by the way.

8:04: My barn burner pick is living up to the hype. UNLV is up 36-35 on Northern Iowa at halftime.

8:09: 46-31 Ohio with around two minutes left. Lindquist meant to say “you telegraphed it” and instead said “you telescoped it.” That’s hilarious.

8:11: Another former Hoosier sighting. Armand Basset plays for Ohio now, and is playing really well. Sampson sure fudged up that program for awhile. Not that I have a problem with that.

8:13: Halftime for Georgetown/Ohio. Monroe gets a tip in for the Hoyas at the buzzer to make it 48-36 Bobcats. What a bunch of craziness in the first day. Love it!

8:16: The “AT&T at the Half” online halftime show came on again. No under-20 girl this time. That was quick. We need a Title IX investigation, and quickly.

8:20: Isaiah Thomas with the three ball for U-dub. The Huskies (“the big boned team”) are down by one to the Golden Eagles, 29-28 with 7:38 to go in the first half.

8:24: Wait a second? Marquette has a Venezuelan guard that’s good? You never know what March Madness is going to cook up. That guy is nailing threes. I wonder how good his free kick skills are.

To follow up that thought. Matthew Bryan-Amaning just made a bucket for UW. He is from England. My head hurts.

8:28: Announcer after a Washington three “Isaiah Thomas is pretty beautiful too, with that shot.” That came out of nowhere and was very uncomfortable for everyone involved.

8:38: OOOOOHHHHHHH. Alley-oop Ohio. They have their largest lead of the game at 15. It’s 53-38 over Georgetown with 17:12 to go. That was awesome. If they beat Georgetown I may become an honorary Bobcat fan for the rest of the tourney. That WAS my junior high mascot after all…

8:40: It’s drawing nearer and nearer to 9 pm ET when I will have to leave work and go home. Not only will I probably miss a buzzer beater or two, but I will have to rely on the Terre Haute CBS feed to switch back and forth between games. That is a scary proposition. I digress.

8:42: UNLV and UNI are still neck and neck. Right now its 45-43 UNI with 13:22 left in the game. BARN BURNER EXTRAVAGANZA.

8:45: Random Bill Raftery quote “A little discard and he gets the puppies organized!”

8:46: Speaking of barn burners, the Marquette-Washington game is about to go into halftime with the Golden Eagles up one.

8:50: Love me some Ohio Bobcats. They are up 61-44 with 13:30 left. Just forced a turnover with outstanding hustle. Side note: My goal is to get home before the end of the UNLV-UNI game because it is primed for a buzzer beater.

8:55: Time to head home. Be back in a bit. Ohio is up 63-46 with 12 left. UNI up 53-49 with 8:10 to go.

9:21: I’m back baby! 1:22 left with UNI up 66-63 over UNLV.

UNLV ties the game with a triple! 35 seconds left.

9:23: BOOOOOMMM. Little fella for Northern Iowa knocks down a deep three! They then poke the ball away from the Rebels and it goes out of bounds. UNI up by three while the refs decide how much time is left. I’m speechless. What a great first day. And we still have another session!

9:26: Marquette jumped out to a 15-point lead over Washington and Ohio is leading by 11 with a little over a minute left. The Hoyas seem like they will be going home early. Nice of you to not to show up for the Big Dance boys.

9:27: UNLV can’t get a shot off and UNI win the BARN BURNER EXTRAVAGANZA. Another great game on what is turning out to be one of my favorite opening days of all time.

9:28: CBS takes us to the Ohio-Georgetown game. The Bobcats are up 93-81 with 1:02 left. My buddy Kelly has Georgetown in the Finals in his bracket that is going up against mine. Ouch. Good for me though.

9:32: Ohio runs out the clock. Georgetown is sent packing in the first round! Holy Mackerel. Basset finished with 32. What a beat down. What else will we see tonight?

9:34: And we head out to the Washington/Marquette game. The Golden Eagles lead 62-56 with 10:45 left.

9:37: Isaiah Thomas is channeling his inner Isaiah Thomas and willing the Huskies back into the game. They are down by five with 8:30 left.

9:41: Washington (that’s how people in Southern Indiana pronounce it) cuts it to one with under seven minutes to go. Here we go again. This is unreal; I don’t know what else to say so I won’t say anything.

9:43: This game is at a break neck pace. The following sequence just took place in less than a minute: Washington jam, Marquette deep three, Washington three, Marquette turnover. Washington has erased a 15-point deficit and leads by one with 4:59 left.

9:47: Big Marquette three to put them up two. The Venezuelan strikes again!

9:52: Marquette makes two free throws and the Golden Eagles lead by 2 with 3:40 left. I’m fading fast. I am going to need a food break after this game before I can return for the final session of the day.

9:55: Oh dear. Pondexter of Washington missed a shot, followed it, and put it back in to tie it up. The announcer said the following “That is the second time he has followed his own shot. That is stick-to-it-tive-ness.” I wish I was lying.

10:00pm ET: Washington gets the ball after a turnover with a minute left and the game tied.

Huskies miss a shot but get it back. Shot clock is off.

Pondexter with a bucket with 1.7 seconds left!!!! Timeout Marquette. He owes that bucket to his stick-to-it-tive-ness!!!

10:05: Another upset. Marquette cannot hit a half court shot to win it. If anyone picked all these upsets they are either lying, Devine, or a female. Those are the only options. It’s Food Break Time. When I get back we will have the following games to discuss: Texas/Wake Forest, Kansas/Lehigh, Tennessee/ San Diego State, and Montana/New Mexico. Who knows what to expect now?

10:35: I’m back and better than ever. That’s probably a lie, but let’s jumps back in. Wake Forest-Texas is being shown on the TV and I am following SDSU vs. Tennessee on the computer. Wake is up by two with 5:27 left before half and the Vols lead the Aztecs 24-22 with 5:02 to go in the half. Kansas leads Lehigh 25-19, with Lehigh taking the early lead. Unfortunately it did not last. Montana and New Mexico just started their match up.

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10:40: Hmmm. The TV just switched to the New Mexico-Montana game. I’m not sure if that makes sense geographically, but I wouldn’t mind seeing the Lobos play for once. Tied at two early on.

10:45: Tennessee going on a little run here. They are up 32-24 with 1:28 left before halftime.

Side note: Tennessee has two of my all time favorite sports names on its team: One, Bobby Maze, and two, Scotty Hopson. Just great basketball names. Although, sometimes I find myself calling Bobby Maze “Bobby Light.”

10:48: I am trying to limit myself with the score and time updates, obviously if you are reading this you know what happened because this is in the past and I’m in the present. I confused myself. Anyway, I will use those updates simply for reference points. Kind of late to start that huh?

10:50: Holy not showing up, Kansas is only up 35-29 at half, and it was 31-29 like ten seconds ago. That is unacceptable from the team I, and everyone else in America, picked to win the national championship. By the way, what is the Lehigh mascot? Found it. Mountain Hawks. Nice.

10:55: Lehigh is in Bethlehem, PA. It’s down the road from Nazareth, PA. Thank you, thank you. I will be here all week.

Every game except the Montana/New Mexico showdown is at halftime.

10:57: Dang! Montana has a couple “big country”-esque players down low. The bigger, more burlier one just pushed some Lobos aside to get to the bucket. That’s terrifying. They go up 17-16 over New Mexico with about 10 minutes left in the first half. I really hope the Rebbecca Lobos get bounced out of the tournament tonight. I feel very strongly that they were overrated all year long.

11:01pm ET – This running blog is approaching the ten page mark, and that’s in Microsoft Word. We are approaching 4,500 words. It’s both epic and mind numbing at the same time. Not that anyone read this far.

11:04: The Grizzlies and the Rebbecca Lobos are tied at 17 with just under eight minutes to play before the half (reference point).

11:09: Just saw the Murray State buzzer beater from early today. Goosebumps. We will see that guy in the “One Shining Moment” montage for sure. Is that my first “One Shining Moment” reference today? Shame on me. I apologize.

11:11: In more current news, a Rebbecca Lobo was down on the court, hurt. Hopefully she, I mean he, is ok. We get sent to commercial. At least the Ivan Brothers are not dominating the TV commercials like they were the MMOD commercials.

11:14: Kansas is starting to act like Kansas and goes up by nine early in the second half. Meanwhile, Montana has opened up a 5 point lead over New Mexico with just under six minutes left before the half. All of the games are back from halftime now.

11:16: Wake Forest is feeling frisky and takes an eight-point lead over Texas a couple of minutes into the second half. I can’t believe how far Texas fell this year. What on earth happened to them?

11:20: The Rebbecca Lobos have rallied to tie the game up at 23 with 3:30 left in the half. So I can’t help posting these score/time updates. Deal with it.

11:25: The Becky Lobos have no answer for the big Grizzlies inside. It’s like they successfully mated an actual grizzly bear with “Big Country” Bryant Reeves and they had three children that went on to play for Montana. And guess which NBA team Reeves played for? That’s right, the Vancouver Grizzlies. (Because they actually have Grizzly Bears in Vancouver, unlike Memphis)

11:32: Stephen Pearl just took the worst shot I have ever seen. It was even bad for a coach’s son.

Montana went into halftime with a one point lead over the Beckys, Kansas is letting Lehigh hang around with the score at 58-49 with 10:30 left, Wake is up 54-47 with 10:38 left, and the Vols are only up by one with just under 10 minutes to play.

11:38: So Kansas has stretched the lead to 11 with nine minutes left, why not go to the one point game between the Tennessee and the Aztecs with nine minutes left? I’m asking you, CBS.

11:40: Hey! They listened to me! And just in time for my favorite Raftery quote: “A little lingerie on the deck!”

11:45 – I’ve been had. It was only a live look in at halftime. How dare they? I guess I will just watch it on MMOD, with all its stupid commercials.

11:50: I’m only managing an update every five minutes now. I have been going at if for about 8 hours. Time to power through. Wayne “Weezy” Chism makes a nice move inside and scores for Tennessee. The Volunteers are up 48-45 with 5:30 to go.

Montana and New Mexico are back from halftime. That is all.

11:53: Gay with an and 1 for the Aztecs. I wonder if every time he or someone else says his last name he feels the need to follow it up with “no homo.” I know I would.

11:56: Just saw a PowerAde commercial with athletes such as Ryan Howard, Sean Merriman, and...the Mexican national soccer team goalkeeper! What? How hard is it to get one of our guys? I get marketing to the Latino community but I’m pretty sure PowerAde is based in America. And I bet that guy doesn’t even speak American.

11:58: OK, this Wake/Texas game is extremely close with less than three minutes to go. C’mon CBS, you aren’t going to step on too many toes if you go away from the Grizzlies/ Rebbecca Lobos game for a little bit.

March 19, 2010

12:01am ET: This time they did listen to me. Wake up by three with 1:30 to go. I picked Texas to win this match up, but it obviously doesn’t matter any more. Everyone’s brackets are wicked messed up.

Tennessee and SDSU are also only separated by one point with 1:03 left. And now CBS will attempt to switch between both of these games without messing up. The odds of them not messing up are 12 to 1.

12:05: Tennessee goes up by two with free throws with 51.7 left.

Texas with a chance to win….OH! What a block by a Demon Deacon. We have a jump ball.

12:06: Back to Tenn-SDSU. J.P. Prince makes one of two, but the Vols get the rebound.

Goins drains a three for the Vols! Then Goins gets a bogus fouled called oh him while an Aztec was shooting a three. Wow, that was horrible. Three free throws.

12:09: Back to Wake-Texas! 13.6 left and Wake up by one, Texas with the ball. And….Timeout! Jeez.

12:10: Back to Tennessee-SDSU. Nope, back to Wake-Texas. Holy crap! I’m dizzy.

Wow, another bad call, goes against Wake this time. Texas at the line. Makes the first. Misses the second!

12:11: Overtime for Wake/Texas.

Back to Vols/Aztecs. Two-point Tennessee lead with 7.4 seconds. Good golly Miss Molly.

12:14: Wayne Chism at the line for the Vols.

Makes the freebie, SDSU can’t make a three for the tie. Vols escape.

12:15: Back to overtime with Wake-Texas. I gotta catch my breath. It’s too late for all these shenanigans.

12:17: Back to back threes and a steal followed by a shooting foul have opened up a six-point lead for Texas with 3:04 left.

The Becky Lobos are up by five with 8:30 left.

12:20: Ferocious follow up dunk by Woods for Wake. Texas up by 4 and at the line with 49.4 left.

12:22: Misses the first, and the second!

12:24: Texas fouls a Demon Deacon on a rebound after a missed three by Wake. 35.4 left. He hits both and we have a two point game.

The ref goes power crazy and makes every one sit down on the Wake bench before play can proceed. Jerk.

12:26: Texas is fouled and makes both free throws. Four-point lead.

12:27: Stewart drills a three for Wake, BANG. One point game, timeout on the floor.

12:29: Texas at the line…missed the first…and the second!

12:30: Oh my!!!! Wake forest hits a jumper with 1.2 left and wins the game! Are you serious??? (Dickie V voice). You have got to be kidding me. I think we used up all the big shots for the rest of the tourney!

12:33: Now back to the game everyone wants to see: Montana versus New Mexico. Two powerhouses of hoops.

Jeez, this is a one point game, too. Make that two points, in favor of the Beckys. 3:30 left.

12:36: Back to one point with 2:17 left. I forgot about another Indiana connection. Ol’ Steve Alford is the coach for New Mexico.

12:39: Back and forth with NM free throws and Montana jumpers. Back up to a three point lead for the Lobos, and a steal for them as well. Timeout Beckys (three mentions is the longest I can go without throwing in a Rebbecca or Becky, sorry) with 48.2 left.

12:42: NM misses the first free throw and we have another timeout. Why not stretch this to 1 am?

12:44: Makes the second. Down come the Grizzlies.

The referee calls the foul on a Rebbecca Lobo after Montana missed a couple shots.

12:45: 22.4 seconds left. Montana misses the first, but makes the second. And they foul before the ball could be inbounded.

12:46: New Mexico misses both free throws but Montana blows a drive to the bucket and the Lobos go back to the line.

NM makes both free throws and is up by five with 13 seconds left.

Montana can’t hit the shot and the Rebbecca Lobos survive.

12:49: What a flipping day. I am going to just go ahead and say it; this was my favorite single day of any NCAA Tournament ever. So many clutch shots and back and forth games. Today proves exactly why this is the best sporting even in the world. I am absolutely spent. This blog is retarded long and I am going to have to cut out an untold amount of crap to make it even remotely readable. With all that being said, I had a blast. Thanks for joining me; especially those of you who had the wherewithal to stick it out to the end. I commend you.