Of all my years of watching the NCAA Tournament, I don't remember an opening day of that quality. Or any day for that matter. You heard me, I think that might have been the best day in March Madness (and college basketball) history. I mean, starting right at 12:20 pm, we got hit with 3 amazing games and each slate provided a level of excitement, competitiveness, and drama that I simply have not seen before.
Let's start with the early games. We had 15 seeded Robert Morris take Villanova to overtime and the brink of elimination. 'Nova just wasn't ready to play, I think they were looking ahead and probably didn't even watch any tape on Bobby Mo (trademark @sportsguy33). From what I have read and heard, it sounds like the refs were seriously in 'Nova's corner and that was a big factor in their victory. Somehow I missed all of these blown calls because I was too busy focusing on the rest of the madness. At the same time, 7 seeded BYU took down 10 Florida in double overtime. What a game. BYU has a couple of big time players and they're gonna be a handful for Kansas St and whoever else might get in their way. Also going on at the same time, the 11 seeded Old Dominion squad took down the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Yes, the same ND squad I touted as a sleeper final four pick in this very blog. It is amazing that I can love college hoops so much, and watch so much of this sport, and yet come tourney time I can't pick one game right. Amazing. Anyway, ND can blame their loss solely on big man Luke Harangody. The guy is a double double machine in the Big East but he could only manage 2 buckets against OD. Pathetic.
The next slate wasn't quite as good, but it was still money. We had 13 seeded Murray State upset #4 Vanderbilt on a genuine buzzer beater. Again, cue madness. We also had competitive games in Richmond/St Mary's and Baylor/Sam Houston St. but both winners (STM and Baylor) pulled away at the end and allowed the country to catch their breath. We also saw our first blowout of the day as K-State handled their bizness over North Texas.
The west coast filler game, UTEP/Butler, had so much potential. The first half was such a great half of basketball. Both teams looked poised to take it to the next level. Then UTEP took Nyquil during halftime while Butler ate oranges and the Bulldogs just blew UTEP out in the second half. Disappointing.
7:30 pm. What's that, 4 more games are starting now? Word. Since we hadn't seen a buzzer beater or a big upset in a few hours, the hoops gods decided to bless us with a money slate here. While Kentucky came to play, one of my other go to final four teams, Georgetown, laid an enormous brick and got blown out by 14 seed Ohio U. What a pathetic display as they only mustered one mini-run to get it down to 7 points with about 7 minutes left, but then they went right back to falling apart. Upset Special? Check. Ok, then we had the always dramatic 8/9 matchup where Northern Iowa and UNLV played an amazing game of contrasting styles (ya know, NIU kids go to class and church while UNLV kids go to casinos and strip clubs). Oh, I meant contrasting hoops styles. Anyway. one of the NIU kids that looks like everyone else on his team hit a 3 pointer from South Africa with one second left to win it for the feisty mid-major. And then just for good measure, the 11 seeded Washington Huskies mounted a monster comeback against #6 Marquette (damn you, Big East) and took them down with a sick one on one play by Quincy Pondexter with just a few seconds left. Wow - very, very good times.
I'm tired at this point, should I just go home and get some rest? Ha, no chance. The late slate was cash money to fit in with the theme of the day. We had top seeded Kansas get a legit run for their money from 16 Lehigh. We had Tennessee win in the last minute over 11th seed San Diego State. There was another thrilling 8/9 game where Wake Forest hit a deep 3 with 3 seconds left in overtime to take down Texas. And finally, Montana staged a valiant comeback from down 14 in the 2nd half against New Mexico only to lose a very close game at the end.
If today is half as good as yesterday, I will a happy man once again. God bless March Madness.
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