If you’ve been following the blog, you know that I spent most of the day today in Purdue country at my oldest daughter’s Junior Bible Quiz competition.  Her team finished third in her division, and she also finished third individually, so it was a good day.  Thanks for asking.  :)  I dug out my old 2″ portable Casio color TV in hopes of keeping up with the games.  Have you ever tried to watch basketball on a 2 inch TV?  The ball is the size of a pinhead, and the score is completely indistinguishable.  Nevertheless, there I was in the middle of a small crowd of squinting men and teenage boys, witnessing what we thought was going to be the first big upset of the tournament.

• Shhhhhh! – As the Ohio State, Xavier game came down to the final seconds, Caleb Davis and I were watching my mini-TV intently in the back of the church sanctuary as a few announcements were being given.  Ron Lewis hit his buzzer-beating 3-pointer to tie the game, and Caleb and I shouted “Yes”.  It was like one of those Southwest “Wanna get away?” commercials as about 50 heads turned around to see what was going on.  Giggling like a couple of teenagers (I guess that was appropriate for one of us) we slinked to the back of the room to watch the rest of the game.  Speaking of which…
• Let’s Hear It For What’s-A-Matta-U – In the grudge match of the day, Ohio State was about to get bounced by their cross-town rivals and the team Thad Mattaformerly coached.  Talk about the one that got away.  The Oger had fouled out (and it should have been an intentional foul, but I digress).  Xavier was on the line with a chance to put the game away.  But they didn’tput the game away, and hence the game got away.  You know, sometimes an early close call like this tends to steel a top-seed and propel them to a championship.  Keep that in mind as we watch the Worthless Nuts (look up buckeye in the dictionary) march toward the Final Four.  Right now, let’s go ahead and talk about the other one that got away…
• Virtually Collossal Upset  – After being down 19 points, the VCU Rams and Jesse “Villa” Pellot-Rosa came roaring back to force the second overtime of the day.  This would have been another 8-point upset, but it just wasn’t meant to be for the 8-seed-under crowd today.  This is a virtually iron law of the NCAA tournament.  Overtime favors the favorite.  This game was especially painful for the contest manager, as VCUwas my last remaining Sweet 16 dark horse.  Speaking of disappointment for the contest manager…
• The Undeserving Goat Of The Day award goes to Louisville’s Edgar “Call Me Sammy” Sosa, who unfortunately will be remember not for the 15 out of 15 free throws that he made, but the last two that he missed when his team needed them most.  The Aggies of Texas A&M must have been scratching their heads, wondering exactly how they were being rewarded with a 3 seed by playing Louisville in Lexington, KY.  Still, Louisville couldn’t escape the long arm of Acie Law IV, whose 26 points helped seal their victory.
• Saves And Shots On Goal – That’s the stat line I was looking for after the first half of the game between Indiana and UCLA.  “Defensive battle” is a euphemism too kind for this thing.  It was downright ugly.  I dozed off for most of the second half.  Imagine my surprise when I awoke to find Indiana in a position to tie the game, which they did.  Unfortunately, and perhaps inexplicably, both teams had expended all of their timeouts.  I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a game where the final two minutes are played with neither team having a timeout to use.  It was interesting to see the players actually have to figure out what to do, which in Indiana’s case, they didn’t, throwing the ball and the game away on their final chance to tie.
• Every Dog Has His Day, and the Mascot Watch shows that the Dogs are 6-2 this year.  Included in those 6 wins are the Butler Bulldogs, who held on to score the mild upset over the Maryland Terps and their volcanic coach, Mount St. Williams.  Anyone who doesn’t think Butler has a chance to make the Final Four really isn’t paying attention.
• The Bad Call Of The Day award goes to the officials of the game between Vanderbilt and Washington State.  In the closing moments of the firstovertime of this marathon, Vanderbilt’s Derrick Byars dribbled off the ankle of a Washington State defender, but the replay clearly showed that the ball immediately bounced off his own foot and out of bounds.  The officials awarded the ball to Vanderbilt, who failed to score anyway, and sent the game to the second overtime, where Vanderbilt scored the only significant upset of our contest today.
• You Don’t Know Dudley, and Georgetown didn’t care about Boston College All-American Jared Dudley.  Despite Dudley’s 19 points and an 8-point lead in the second half, the deja-vu version of Georgetown with familiar names like John Thompson and Patrick Ewing are looking to reproduce some of that mid-80’s Georgetown magic.

You know what I find especially interesting about this year’s contest?  With so fewupsets, it makes those upsets that do happen that much more valuable, and gives them a much greater impact upon a person’s position.  There was a lot of movement in today’s standings, and that was largely due to just a couple of games.  I’d love to do some analysis and hand out a few awards, but I gotta tell ya’…I’m wiped.  Gotta get some sleep.  Church tomorrow.  Look for the second round awards and other fun stuff in tomorrow’s blog entry.

Exhausted Contest Manager