2009 NCAA Tourmanent Running Diary Day 1

3:20- Off to my baseball gig, should be back in time for the 7 o'clock games. Late.

3:10- Did you know that Brad Greenburg's (Radford's head coach) brother is the head coach at Virginia Tech? Not only that, did you know Tyler Hansbrough plays really hard? They really should mention these things.

3:02- You gotta like the opportunistic defense of Purdue. They could be a problem for any of the 3 teams lurking ahead (I'm assuming UConn wins).

2:51- Quote from Dan Bonner in the early going of the Purdue-Northern Iowa game, "Northern Iowa has almost as many turnovers as they do field goal attempts. That's not a good way to start a game, especially the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament." In related news, Dan also believes the AIG fiasco is not a good start for President Obama's economic turnaround.

2:34- Memphis pulls away, Texas A&M cruises and LSU hangs on thanks to Marcus Thornton. Though I doubt winning a 1st round game is cause to celebrate, let's ask former Tiger Glen Davis...



Maybe I'm Wrong.

2:24- Another old song reference by Tim Brando. Tim, Chris Berman is on line 1.

2:20- Northridge cuts back it to 4 after Memphis goes on a 9-0 blitz. 3:48 to play, but with CSN's perimeter shooting today, this one is far from over.

2:09- Butler/LSU turning into a duel as well. Too bad BYU forgot they were playing at noon.

2:07- Northridge up 6 with 10 minutes to go. Might my retarded King Midas of Sports roll be continuing?

2:01- Northridge feeling it from 3. Where would Memphis be without Roburt Salie? Timeout called with the game tied at 55 and Tim Brando goes with a Sammy Hagar reference. If only Jim Nantz could see him now.

1:57- Northridge beginning to impose its will on Memphis. *gulp*

1:56- My apologies to the Double Stuff Racing League, the Windows Rookies ad takes the lead as worst of the year.

1:53- Northridge takes the lead with 13 minutes to play. Can somebody check and see if T.J. Sorentine is on the Matador staff? This is bad.

1:44- Butler takes its first lead with less than 15 minutes to play behind the excellent play of Shelvin Mack. Memphis up 4, but the KC crowd in favor of Northridge, the upset wheels be movin.

1:41- Antonio Anderson gets a layup for his "first deuce of the afternoon" according to Tim Brando. So much potential here, but I'm gonna walk away to do the same.

1:40- John Lennon's music could solve a murder in a Cold Case episode? Gee, I liked it better when it was called Helter Skelter. So long as they put up a "loosely based on a true story" disclaimer.

1:34- Shelvin Mack carrying Butler as they close the gap to 3. A lot of stupid mistakes by LSU allowing Butler to hang around as they may have found their shooting groove.

1:19- Memphis leading by 3 at half, but they do have that look on their face of "Uhhhhh, shouldn't we be up 25 right now? These guys are supposed to be happy to be here, what's going on?"

1:12- Butler gets a 3 at the buzzer to close it to 6 at half, BYU is continuing Seton Hall-like tank job and Northridge is well within range of Memphis, making those like me who picked the Tigers just a smidge nervous. No, the Vermont-Syracuse flashbacks haven;t started yet.

12:58- Butler claws their way back by slowing it down and getting a couple 3's to fall. BYU found out they've already printed the 2009 NCAA Tournament appearence banner for their gym and have checked out against Texas A&M.

12:54- Despite the word that the Big West was average this year, CS-Northridge is staying with Memphis thanks to two early fouls on Tyreke Evans and Robert Dozier. One 15 or 16 seems to make a game of it every year, we might have it here.

12:52- Matt Howard looks like the annoying kid in school that tried to be friends with everyone and yet nobody liked him.

12:42- None of us agreed to another year of Coke Zero ads. Eeeeesh.

12:34- Uncomfortable moment: Middle-age Clark Kellogg just unleashed a "do work" blast. I'm still squirming.

12:31- Butler looks completely disinterested in playing any sort of defense. SEC speed reigns supreme once again so far.

12:23- LSU in front 9-0 less than 4 minutes in. But at least Butler doesn't look like they've never seen this kind of speed before.

12:21 - Nothing against Clark Kellogg (who's a decent studio guy), but I'd much rather prefer the Lundquist/Raftery tandem being the lead duo.

12:11 - Local game for the time being (March Madness On Demand on standby) is Butler-LSU, two teams that I think got the shaft seeding wise (LSU should be a 7 and Butler is miles better than a 9). Interested to watch LSU's Marcus Thornton.

12:00 P.M.- Orlando news on here now. Apparently today is Casey Anthony's birthday behind bars which leads to the inevitable "Mike, we can asusme there will be no cake or candles?" Somewhere, Nancy Grace is tapdancing.