“Basketball really had its origin in Indiana, which remains the center of the sport.”

James Naismith, inventor of basketball

No upsets so far today. We had a few games today where it looked like the underdogs might keep it interesting only to have the favorites pull away at the end. In other news, COVID-19 causes its first tournament casualty.

Quick Game Thoughts And Not-So-Random Musings

• In the first half of the Colorado vs Georgtown game, the Buffalos made eleven three point shots. The Hoyas had eight field goals total.
• Eastern Washington gave Kansas all they wanted in their first round match up. The Eagles featured two brothers, Jacob and Tanner Groves, who provided the majority of their scoring. Tanner looks something like a cross between John McEnroe and Grizzly Adams, but he scored 35 points, the 2nd most ever by a player from the Big Sky conference in the NCAA tournament.
• In the most exciting game of the afternoon, the UC Santa Barbara Fighting Three Quarter Length Slacks lost a nail-biter to the Creighton Bluejays. One has to wonder why the Gauchos didn’t call their final time out on their last possession with about 17 seconds left. UCSB’s Amadou Sow missed a point blank half hook that would have won the game in all likelihood, and the Bluejays survive to play another game.
• I don’t remember the exact statistic, but something like 14 different seeds won a game in yesterday’s action, the most ever in tournament history. Is it just me, or does it feel like the lower seeds are a lot better this year? If so, the question is, why? The answer is probably obvious: COVID-19. Many, many of these schools were not able to play a full season of basketball, with some teams playing half of a season or less. This made the committee’s job even more difficult than usual, forcing them to evaluate teams based on wildly different circumstances. If it’s normally an apples and oranges proposition, this year it was apples and platypuses. Add to that recent COVID issues that some teams faced, limiting practice time and even taking some players out of eligibility, and you have a recipe for even more Madness than usual. Speaking of COVID-19…
• That which we all feared has happened as the VCU Rams have been declared ineligible due to health and safety protocols. Therefore, the Oregon Ducks will advance to the round of 32 due to a no-contest. How disappointing it must be for the young men of VCU to have their tournament aspirations dashed not once (2020), but twice. I have a feeling we are all going to be holding our collective breath as the tournament progresses. And one more thought on the COVID topic…
• If the coaches are going to wear their masks as chin straps, why wear them at all? Regardless of your opinion as to the effectiveness of mask-wearing (I certainly have an opinion, but I’ll keep it to myself), I think we can agree that wearing it under your chin accomplishes nothing besides making you look ridiculous. As Mr. Miyaggi would say, you either mask on or mask off.
• Whatever happened to high top sneakers? I frankly can’t believe the modern basketball players almost universally play in low top shoes, which would have been unheard of as recently as 20 years ago. In fact, now that I think about it, in the last 30 years it seems that the shorts have gotten longer and the shoes have gotten shorter.
• That Rocket Mortgage commercial with actor/comedian Tracy Morgan tickles me when it gets to the airplane scene. Tracy says, “I’m pretty sure these are parachutes” as he hands out kiddie backpacks to the family, and the daughter responds with “Mine has a sandwich.” I don’t know why I find that part particularly funny, but every time it comes on I want to go to the fridge and make a sandwich.

A Few Quick Awards

Per my usual custom, this midday commentary will include just a couple of awards. Stay tuned for the coveted Best Alias awards, which will be coming soon.

• The What Is WRONG With You? award goes to all those Cretans who allegedly issued threats of death and bodily harm to Ohio State’s E.J. Liddell via Twitter. Never mind the fact that the Buckeyes were even in the game largely due to the play of Liddell, who was reportedly playing hurt. That doesn’t even matter, though. Even if he went 0-25, cussed out the refs, and got his team disqualified, it still would not justify that sort of behavior. It’s a BASKETBALL GAME. Calm down. It is my sincere hope that anyone found to have made such threats be arrested, charged, and prosecuted in a court of law. There is no excuse.
• The You Should Be Doing My Job – You’re Better At It Than I Am award goes to my grade-school classmate and long-time contestant Steven “Lec Zorn” McAtee. Steven is a great story teller and sports aficionado who always has great things to say, usually in the contest’s Facebook Page. If you haven’t seen his latest contribution, check it out in the comments on this post.
• The Respect The Beard award goes to Jason Roehl who is also sporting an impressive COVID beard. He’s also tied for 99th in the contest.
• Finally, the Crazy Eights award goes to current contest leader Caleb Coates who managed to get all eight early session games correct today.

That’s all for now. Check your inbox in the morning for the Day Two wrap up.