So About Last Night...

Carlon Brown and the Buffaloes were the biggest surprise of night one's action.   

Well if you're reading this blog, there's a good chance that you're pissed off at Colorado.  If you actually watched the end of the game, you felt the rush of an exciting comeback and UNLV's 14-0 run.  You were disappointed when Colorado slammed to door.

Or you were one of the few that took Colorado.  Welcome to the NCAA tournament.  

Colorado had to make a statement about their conference and they wound up making one about the Mountain West.  It's overrated.  It's not the A10.  It's not the Colonial.  It's not the MVC.  They played better for 35 minutes and as a result, hung on to win the game.  

For every Colorado that happens, there's a VCU.  In my case, that was a game in which a lot of people took Wichita and I didn't.  The CAA, in my opinion, is the best mid-major conference.  However, this game was the toss up it was advertised to be.  So far, this was the most exciting game of the tournament.

The Big 12 had a good day yesterday.  They went 2-0, or if you're still counting Coloroado, 3-0.  Royce White and Iowa State knocked off UConn last night.  As a guy who has watched Big 12 basketball all year, I saw this one coming.  Iowa State was good all season.  They beat Kansas and Baylor once and were not the easiest games for Missouri this season.  They also played Kansas tough at Allen Fieldhouse and finished 3rd in the conference over Baylor.  The defending champion had been missing their Head Coach for parts of the season.  They were also one of those teams that made the tournament based on the fact that they were solid in Big East play.  Baylor, the 3 seed that finished 4th in the Big 12, was contested by South Dakota State but pulled out a 68-60.  

In the other swing games of the afternoon, Long Beach was knocked off by New Mexico and Vanderbilt knocked off Harvard.  Long Beach was hampered by Larry Anderson's sprained ankle.  In losing, however, "The Beach" donned the best uniforms last night.  Harvard made a late charge at Vanderbilt, but it was not enough to stop the SEC tournament champion Commodores.

As for UNC-Asheville, they were the 16 seed to make a run at a 1 seed this year.  Syracuse ultimately prevailed, but there were some questionable calls that affected the game.  Something that my ex-roommate had said that Syracuse has been the benefactor of all year.

As for my bracket, I went 12-4 last night.  I called Ohio State, Wisconsin, Vanderbilt, VCU, Kansas State, Iowa State, Syracuse, Baylor, Indiana, Kentucky, Marquette and Murray State correctly.  I picked Long Beach, Davidson, UNLV and West Virginia.  Three mid-majors and a homer pick.  I'll accept it.  I'm only two games behind in my bracket pool and Long Beach is my only Sweet 16 team out.