What a Finish

Virginia Tech looked all but dead, down 14 or so to Illinois and basically unable to get a rebound. Then it happened: Illinois couldn't hit a shot to save its life.

VT outscored Illinois 12-0 in the last for or so minutes, winning the game by 2 and advancing over the 12 seed. To these eyes, this was the game of the tourney so far, it's only rival being the Duke loss.

Villanova has an early lead on Kentucky. Because of my Providence connection, I do feel a little affinity toward the Big East teams, but I just don't have a good about them. One game that I wish was being televised? Holy Cross vs. Southern Illinois, a tale of two mid-major conference teams. It's tied 4-4 now.

-PF

Snow Getting Heavy

OK, guys, I went outside to shovel. Let's just say the snow isn't as light as it was when I hit Dunkin' earlier this afternoon. The snow is damn heavy. And my back hurts. To quote the great Mike Tyson, "My back is broken. (It) broke my back. It's spinal."

Anyway, Wisconsin pulled it out in the end, like you would think. So did Nevada. The only day game still going is Oregon vs. Miami of Ohio. The 3 seed, Oregon, is taking care of business, as of now. We'll see.

-PF

Winthrop Wins

Winthrop pulls off the biggest upset of the tournament so far, knocking off Notre Dame. Maybe the Irish players started dipping into the kegs of Guinness a little early. That's my guess.

Wisconsin was the No. 1 team in the country for a time, and it still is having tons of fits trying to come back against Texas A&M - CC. One A&M team is picked to go very far in the dance, but it certainly ain't the one from Corpus Christi. There's still more than 15 minutes left, but this would be the biggest upset of the last 10 years, possibly.

Creighton, a 10 seed, is beating Nevada, a 7 seed, right now. But there's still plenty of time left in this one.

-PF

Cutting That Lead

Notre Dame is clawing back, down only three with more than four minutes left. My bracket will look better if the Irish come back all the way. Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day, so come on.

-Pat Ferrucci

Wisconsin Still Losing

The Badgers are finally on the board, but are still down 25-13. In other action, Notre Dame is down 12 to Winthrop with about nine minutes left. That's another upset in the making.

The Big East isn't long for this tourney, in my opinion. Georgetown is the exception. Tennessee is having no problems with Long Beach State. Interesting stuff.

-Pat Ferrucci

Wisconsin ... Not So Good

Could an upset be brewing?

No. 2 seed Wisconsin has been shut out in the first four minutes of its opening-round game. Texas A&M - CC is winning 10-0. Georgetown started poorly yesterday, too, before winning a blow out. But this could be the first real upset. Doubt it, though.

-Pat Ferrucci

UNLV Wins

Well, as I write this there are six seconds left, but this one is done. There have been very few upsets in these first couple days. We'll see ....

-Pat Ferrucci

Wow

Remember when you were a kid playing hoops in the driveway, when a ball would almost go out of bounds and you'd try to hit it off your opponent? UNLV just did that at huge moment in this tie game.

What a play!

-Pat Ferrucci

GT Has The Lead

Georgia Tech has taken lead, after falling behind badly once it tied this game up. The only problem? GT just took a shot-clock violation. How do you do that in college, when the shot clock lasts like seven minutes?

Well, UNLV just took the lead back on an easy layup. If you can't tell, GT is the chosen team on my two brackets ....

-Pat Ferrucci

GT Ties It Up

For the first time in a while, Georgia Tech just tied UNLV.

Remember when the Runnin' Rebels were incredible? When I was kid, UNLV had a simply sick team, with Larry Johnson, Greg Anthony, Anderson Hunt, George Ackles and Stacey Augmon as the starting five. Four of them played in the NBA, three of which (Anthony, LJ and Augmon) had long, good careers.

Of course, that's when the university was giving out sports cars, money and women to lure blue-chip players. Those were the days ...

-Pat Ferrucci

Up And About

OK, so I finally rolled out of bed. I know, I'm pathetic. I've been looking forward to watching these games and I couldn't get my butt out of the bed until 1:30? Well, actually, I braved the weather and went to Dunkin' Donuts first.

Anyway, looks like everything is going as planned so far today in tournament land. Although, while listening to "Mike & The Mad Dog," I heard some dude trying to explain why Albany won't just win one game, but at least TWO in the tournament. Yeah, that might happen. If Virginia doesn't hit another shot today, Albany still probably couldn't catch up.

-Pat Ferrucci

All in all a pretty boring first day

A couple of 9 seeds won in Xavier and Michigan State and VCU the only upset beating Duke..that was an 11 seed vs. a 6 seed.

A couple of interesting 2nd round games. Texas A&M vs. Louisville should be good to watch as will Xavier and Ohio State. Xavier says they haven't been able to schedule Ohio State and would love the opportunity to play the top-seeded Buckeyes.

Enjoy Friday's second day of 1st round games.

-- STR