The first half of day two was a bit less dramatic than yesterday, but still provided a bit of contest drama.  Two more upsets, both double-digit seeds, are in the books, bringing 2010’s first round upset total to 9.  The record of 13, set in 2001, could possibly be equaled this evening, but I believe it is unlikely.

Game Observations

Go Big Red!

If you did not get to see any of the Cornell-Temple game, you missed one of the greatest displays of raw shooting prowess I have seen in a long time.  Both teams were absolutely torching nets, both shooting over 60% from the floor at one point midway through the second half.  Cornell’s Ryan Wittman, son of Indiana legend Randy Wittman, was 4-6 from three point range and finished with 20 points.  Everyone in the East region should be terrified of these guys.

The Human Floor Burn

That’s how CBS commentators referred to Purdue’s Chris Kramer, a tenacious pest with a knack for getting as much in your head as in your face. His style and attitude reminds me of Brian Cardinal, the Purdue alum whom the late Al Maguire referred to as being "one bandage shy of a mummy".  The guys called Purdue’s style of play "physical", which I am convinced is a euphemism for "brutal".  If you can’t beat them with shooting or passing, try jabbing, grabbing, and punching, I always say.  It worked for Purdue as they killed (literally) the poor Siena Saints.

Spy Vs. Spy

Does anyone remember this clever comic strip with the black spy and white spy constantly trying to outsmart one another?  Today we had something similar, March Madness style.  In Tigers vs. Tigers, the Missouri Tigers flattened the Clemson Tigers for Missouri’s fifth straight opening round win.  Meanwhile, in Aggies vs. Aggies, the Texas A&M Aggies destroyed the Utah State Aggies, a trendy pick for a 12 over 5 upset that yours truly fell for.

No Love For Small Dogs

The Wofford Terriers, the school you’ve never heard of, gave Wisconsin a scare in what could have been this year’s second victory for a 13 seed.  This was another game where the Big Ten’s, ahem, "physical" play proved to be a deciding factor.  However, it was not the deciding factor.  Wofford missed 6 out of 7 free throws in the second half while trying to protect a lead.  You do not win tournament games that way.

Clark Kellogg had the quote of the day in this game.  When the play-by-play announcer commented, "I don’t think the Terriers are going to go away," Kellogg quipped, "They’re not going away, just like terriers."

More Fun With Aliases

A continue to be amused at how our contestants provide their own contest commentary using their aliases as a vehicle.  I saw a few today that I just couldn’t pass up.

• Kory "Are These Standings Alphabetical?" Wilcoxson – Nice try.
• Brian "Ferox Coniecto" Pettitt – Ferox Coniecto is latin for "courageous guess".  I looked it up.
• Jason "Perennial Punster, Aspiring Alliterator" Roehl – You got skills, dude.  You got skills.
• Kevin "My wife keeps beating me" Wilson – Yes, but have you stopped beating your wife yet?
• James "The sword is not mightier than the" Penswick – No, but the contest might be.
• Kip "’s bracket went to ObamaCare death panel" Layman – Wow.
• Ryan "shoulda stopped at alias" Helton – You had me at "hello".

You Gotta Hand It To These Folks

The Hand family are contest regulars, and their last name is almost as easy pun-fodder as my own.  So that you can all groan along with me, I’ll share this email I received from Jonathan today.

"You’ve got to ‘Hand’ it to us! We Hands are #1 so far in the Family Feud challenge. Oh, and all our brackets are Hand picked.  Good luck Little man."

They don’t call us Littles for nothing.

More Bandwidth, Please!

CBS is streaming every game on NCAA.com.  This is a great idea.  Unfortunately, it is so great that there is rarely enough server capacity available during peak times to watch anything for more than 3 seconds before it starts buffering indefinitely.  I heard a rumor that Cisco has invented a router that will revolutionize high speed networking.  I wish I had one about now.

Awards

I have just a few of awards to give out right now.  We will have the first round awards after tonight’s games.

• The Fuggetaboutit award goes to Misty "Nottah Loozah" Stepro, whose rank (Tied for 472nd) belies her alias.
• The Hey, This Ain’t Fantasy Football award goes to Gina Buchanan, annual thorn in my side in my fantasy football league and four positions ahead of me in this year’s contest, too.
• The Wishful Thinking award goes to six contestants who have Purdue going all the way: Kristin Detamore, Chris Forey, Haven Gallmeyer, Nathan Kopp, Dawn Lamb, and Bill Randall. Not gonna happen, folks.  Not gonna happen.
• The Are You Related To Coach Kroojawooski? award goes to Shane Vaiskauskas.  I’m guessing he never buys anything over the phone.

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