NCAA Tourney Running Commentary

1:11 PM CST: Well, after staying up til 4 am watching videos from the Lonely Island (you know you've done it too), I managed to sleep through the majority of the first halves of the opening games. There are now just seven minutes remaining in my featured game and the 15 seed Cal State Northridge is down by just one to Memphis. They've even led the Tigers by as many as six points. I have Memphis and John Calipari's greasy hair going to the Final Four, but I want this to happen.

1:17 PM CST: The Tigers have started to remember that they're a two seed and CS Northridge's random shots have stopped falling. It's now 70-64 Memphis and they have the ball back. This might just be a first round scare after all. A steal and a layup for Northridge has them back within four and that brings us to a timeout by Northridge. They probably need a breather anyways as Memphis has been running the show for the past four minutes..

1:20 PM CST  The Tigers quickly respond with a two and an offensive board. The announcers are already making this sound like a moral victory. CSN makes another offensive board to be followed by a crazy runner to get it back to four, but Memphis answers with a three just as quickly. Northridge misses their response from long range and it's not looking good. Memphis drains some time, hits a three to build a 10-point lead and we're switched to the LSU-Butler game where the Tigers are up 70-66. I have LSU dropping the Tar Heels in the second round, so I need them to hold on.

1:24 PM CST LSU's fouled with 19.3 seconds remaining. If they make their free throws, this should be over. The first one rattled in. The second one swooshed through to make it a 6-points game. Butler comes down and hits another three! 11.6 remaining, but the Bulldogs aren't done yet. LSU drains both foul shots again to get the lead back to five. Butler gets a missed three tipped in to get the game back to three. They're going to have to foul and pray that the Tigers miss both shots. 

1:27 PM CST Back to Memphis now and we're in the fouling stage of the game. The Tigers are up 11 at the line with a minute left, so I don't see that happening anymore. It would take a miracle. Back to LSU and the first foul shot rattles out. 4.5 seconds left. The second one drops and that should about do it. The inbound pass is intercepted and my potential Tar Hell killer is moving on!

1:32 PM CST A quick switch over to Texas A&M and BYU, but this one's already over. I took A&M as did my friend Matt, which will put us ahead of Steve who went the route of picking all 1-8 seeds in the first round. Yes, I'm in just a three-person pool because I have friends that are forgetful or out of town. Big whup, wanna fight about it? It's all about the fun anyways in a pool that's not for money, right? Wink. I'm heading outside for a bit now as it's really nice out and my girlfriend doesn't like sports other than baseball. I'll try and blog more over the next couple of days. My Final Four, by the way, are Louisville, Pittsburgh, Memphis, and Oklahoma with Pitt beating Louisville in the finals. I decided not to put Duke or MIzzou there as it would just jinx them. Pitt already won the Super Bowl so I figured I'd try to carry over some of my luck from that. Happy First Round everyone (It always feels like a holiday to me).