End of night 3 thoughts.

Duke's 6th man pulls through again. That call at the end of the game is a phantom call. If the Duke player really wanted to get to the ball, there is no call. Instead, he goes into the contact, flops like a pansy, and the call is given. Bullsh*t. I love soccer, and granted, sometimes soccer players flop to draw fouls, but that flop was ridiculous. Eliot Williams, who will surely have a lackluster NBA career, if he even gets a chance, should consider a move to the EPL or the Bundesliga...actually, his future is clearly in Serie A. Flame on. 

Also, it should be noted that Kate is convinced that Coach K pays the Duke cheerleaders to give BJ's to the referee's,  so that they can get all the calls at the end of games. She's been preaching this for years, ever since Duke bounced her alma mater George Washington from the tournament as the result of a couple phantom calls. She might be on to something here, he has had a lot of success for the last 20+ years......

Ants on a log.

It was snack time in West Philly. And what better way to fill the belly then with a great snack known as ants on a log. If you didn't have these in your childhood, you totally missed out. Its simple. Celery+ Peanut Butter + Raisins= Ants on a log. Don't ask where the idea to make these came from, just be jealous you're not eating one right now. Delicious. 

And way more entertaining than the 2 games currently going on.

To help pass the time during the uneventful games...

An inflatable Raptors mascot is funny. One that attempts to rollerblade down a flight of stairs in front of thousands of people is hilarious.



That video find came from the blog Club Trillion, written by Mark Titus--a sharpshooter who sits the bench for Ohio State and names "pump faking," "being in triple threat position," and "making it rain" among his main interests. It's a pretty funny blog, and worth the read if you've got some time to kill. He hasn't posted since the loss to Siena, but when he does I can imagine it will be comedic genius. This post, about getting stuck in an hotel elevator after a loss to Minnesota, is pretty funny. Oh, and Club Trillion refers to the box score of a player who plays one minute and records no statistics: a one followed by 12 zeros. Good stuff.

Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde - Nova brings the thunder

Nova struggles against American, then takes UCLA behind the woodshed and destroys them by 20. The last time this year that a team scored 87 against Ben Howland's squad? Never. Maybe it's a reflection of Big East vs. Pac-10, or maybe this is just how the tourney goes--performance in one game is no predictor of success or failure in the next.

In EPL news, Arsenal looks like they've regained their scoring touch--3 goals in ten minutes, with 4 other clear chances. It was against Newcastle, granted, but it's good to see them put it in the back of the net.

Fourth in the EPL, through to the FA semis and Champs League quarters....not a bad position for a team that was struggling a month ago.

Picks for the day

• Villanova/ UCLA:   Nova.  Its a home game for the Wildcats. Watching UCLA makes me miss Luc Richard Mba Muoute. Hell of a name.
• Memphis/ Maryland:  Maryland. The Terps will flex their ACC muscle, knocking out last years runner up.
• UCONN/ Texas A&M:  UCONN. I don't like them at all, but they will win regardless of my opinions.
• Washington/Purdue: Washington. You know my opinions of Purdue. Plus, Washington has Isaiah Thomas. Enough said.
• UNC/ LSU: UNC. As much as I'd love to see Psycho T get bounced from the tournament, I don't see it happening yet. Maybe he gets bopped in the nose, Gerald Henderson style.
• Oklahoma/ Michigan. Oklahoma. Blake Griffen is a man. So's his brother. What's his name?
• Gonzaga/ WKU:  WKU. Why, because they're the Hilltoppers, that's why.
• Duke/ Texas: Duke. Expect a shootout here. 

Day 3, Round 2!

Halfway through the best weekend of sports. After last nights fantastic finishes the bar has been set for the rest of the weekend. I'm looking for more nail-biters, and I'd love to see UNC and Psycho T go down today. Expecting great things for the next 10 hours.....

Raw Emotion

Here's how it all went down. Great finishes. More tomorrow.....

Siena Rules!

I called it.

Wow...

Plenty to come, but right now....all I can say is wow. It took two days, but we finally got a taste of the march madness.

Two things:

1) For the record, we called the Wisconsin win.

2) CBS switching away from a last-second potentially game-winning shot was inexcusable. Who knew it was amateur-hour in the CBS control room? After that mistake, I'm guessing there's one more person in the unemployment line Saturday morning....

Pictures to come....

Amazing!!

The hoops action is great! 

Huge CBS f**k up. More on that in a second. 

Go Siena!

Hello Visitors!

So, We've downloaded a function to our blog that tells us where we are getting "blog hits" from. Its awesome. It let's us know you're out there. Thank you for you support......

So, since you're there, leave a comment for us. Let us know your thoughts. We're looking for some love here. Cheers. 

And come on Wake! If you lose, my midwest bracket is F'd. 

Night 2.

Xavier, Louisville, USC, and Arizona move on. And James is so excited to write their names on our bracket, he has no time for Dave and Scott to move.

Productivity is at an all-time high

When you plan on watching 48 hours of basketball during the first weekend of the tourney, the key to pretending you're being productive is to get a bunch of stuff accomplished in the hour and a half break before the evening games. We took it to the next level today. Here's what we accomplished in less than 2 hours:

Washed the dishes
Shorty got a haircut
Cleaned my bedroom
Washed the dishes
Ran a load of laundry
Folded laundry (from last week)
Picked up the living room
Took a shower

And the best? We picked up chicken cheesesteaks and fries from Lee's for dinner:

Survive and Advance

Offensive Rebounds
ETSU: 20 Pitt: 9

Turnovers
ETSU: 9 Pitt: 18


Free Throws
ETSU: 12/24 Pitt: 17-23

Not much reason for Pitt to win that one, but we'll take it. I think they'll be seeing a lot of zone and plenty of pressing for the rest of the tournament. If ETSU hits a few more free throws or knocks down one or two of those open threes, Pitt's heading home and going down in history (in a bad way).

As it is, we'll take it. Survive and advance--that's what March is all about.

Not good.

Blair gets cute instead of going up strong, 'vance gets blocked on a breakaway, Pitt gets sloppy in the backcourt, and E.TennSt is scoring way too many easy buckets. At this point I don't care about the margin--I'm just rooting for a win. If they haven't made a run by the 10:00 mark, it could get interesting.

Here's what two soul-mates look like:

Big 3 by Sam

Pushes the lead to 4....wait for it....wait for it.....

God bless the internet.

This is what it looks like when you have 5 dudes, with labtops, all watching hoops.

Not concerned.....yet

Story of the first half is too many turnovers. Thankfully that last-second shot won't hold up, but a 3-pt lead at halftime is about 15 points less than anything that makes me feel comfortable. Pitt's known for starting slow and having a big run early in the second half--if that doesn't happen, we'll have a game on our hands.

A few notes:
I hate the technical call on Blair. It's a close call, but I hate that it's counted as a personal.

Critical play: E. Tenn St. forces a turnover, their guard blatantly steps out of bounds directly in front of a referee, then collides with his own player while Sam young gets called for the foul. Not a good sign.

Still, it all comes down to turnovers. Gotta take care of the ball.

Byler just checked in from Scottdale, and claims he may be missing some of the later games to watch the finale of Battlestar Galactica. You can't make up material this good....

A Contest

(Ed. note: this post is from Lucas, our Pittsburgh correspondent)

I have a contest for fellow bloggers and particularly for those who are watching the live stream from CBS Sports. And, for those of you who aren't and who went to Goshen College, you will want to check this out as well. Anyway, I would like every one to pay special attention to the Coke Zero banner ads that are occasionally present on the side of the live stream screen ( note: window must be small sized, not full screen and I don't think it works if you are watching it in "high quality" ). You may have to wait awhile because there are other ads that cycle through there as well ( Pontiac, etc. ). Got it? Ok. Big prize to whoever first correctly identifies the "crazy fan" in the ad. For any disbelievers, it actually is that person, I'm not sure how yet, but I am going to get the full story from said person later this evening and will report back. Good luck!

PS Pitt will win this game going away, they always start slow.

Close call, and excellent guard play

Solid couple of games there--hopefully the tourney is heating up. Kansas is one of my teams and I'm glad they won, but Ben Woodside of N.Dakota State put on one of the better guard performances of the tourney so far. Once again the underdog pushes the higher seed, only to run out of steam and go cold down the stretch.

The comeback has several stages, as best described by the Sports Guy -- check out his explanation here (scroll down to the 10:00 entry)

We'll talk later about the benefits of the extra pass. For now, here's a picture of Sam Young.

Merry Dionte Christmas.

From Heater.

What a start!

Both the Marquette- Utah St and the Tennessee- Ok St game come down to the wire. Closer finishes than anything we saw yesterday. The action is good. I've got a good feeling about today. Maybe that has something to do with the afternoon beers.....

Ps. Kolb is in the house. And he brought whoopie pies. Oh Kolb.....

Lunch Time, the High Life way...

Well, Kansas is in the middle of their annual first-round scare by a lower-seed, Syracuse is doubled up on Stephen F. Austin, and it's time for lunch. This epitomizes our approach to food this weekend:

Back from School

As you can see below, I'm back from my only class of the day--Public/Private Development, a class almost as boring as it sounds--which ended at noon. I was back on the couch by 12:25, including signing up and paying for a cap and gown rental ($60!!!!! Grad school is a two-year scam). I'm still rocking the jeans, but don't worry, sweatpants are in the forecast.

Here's something for all the Pitt fans out there. We may have lost this game, but we won the in-game dunk contest.

Where we sit-

Since we told you from the start that we'd be keeping you updated on the "action" in our living room, we decided you needed to see where we sit. 

I just have to say it-

Just got to get it out of my system, I hate Eric Devendorf. He, and his fellow Orangemen are on right now. And, he still sucks. He blows goats. Thats all.

Plus, Stephen F. Austin has a dude who's listed at 5'3. That might be generous.  Regardless, he's my new favorite player. 

Breaking News!!!

James is going to be late for the start of the games today. Something about "graduating college" and needing to get a "cap" and "gown".  These terms don't make any sense to me during a time like this. Oh well. 

Day 2 Predictions

James is currently still in class- but that doesn't mean he can't still contribute to the blog.  Here are some of his predictions

• Temple over ASU- "ASU had a strong finish, but we're going with the hometown fav here"
• Dayton/ WVU will be close, but WVU wins it, representing Pittsnogle the whole time.
• Wisconsin over FSU- How do you like that Wade? Oh yeah, and suck it Bowden.

Also, please take time to vote to your right. >>>>>>

Voting ends today!

Check out this sweet dunk.*

* Wearing a Sonics Shawn Kemp jersey. James has had it since he was in 7th grade. I raided his closet while he is at school.

Day 2 begins....

And we're back!  Day 1 was a success, not just in terms of hoops, but mostly due to the creation of this blog. We woke up with bigger and better ideas of how to make this blog more enjoyable. So stay tuned today as we continue to keep you updated on the action on the court and in our house.

Here are things to look forward to today:

• Guest Reports from our Chicago Correspondent and Tourney Ambassador of the Midwest, Jason Heatwole. Look for expert advice, and prepare to have your mind blown with statistical information
• As reported yesterday, we'll be getting a visit from THE Ryan "Standing O" Kolb. Expect many one liners and questions pertaining to college basketball.
• Full details and high lights from the NERF free throw contest. Oh yeah, thats right. No dude-pad would be complete with out a NERF hoop on the door. And we have 2.

40 minutes until tip off!!

Eric Devendorf

Ok, so since there's a slight lull in some of the current action, I've decided to focus on the lamest player in all of college basketball this season. I was hoping to save conversation about him until Syracuse plays tomorrow, but this guy just sucks. Everything about him just makes you want to punch him in the face. That, and he actually hit a girl in the face on campus this year. And somehow, he is still on the team.  This did prompt one of the best student body lead chant I've heard all year- the Pittsburgh fans chanting  "You hit a girl, You hit a girl" anytime he touched the ball. Cheers, Eric Douche-endorf.

Random Notes

We've had 272 hits on our blog since its inception earlier this afternoon.
271 of them are from the United States; 1 is from Brazil. We're goin' international...

Time spent wearing sweatpants today: 9 hours.
Time spent wearing traditional pants: 6 hours.
....that's what the first weekend of march madness is all about....

A former Binghamton (the team currently playing Duke) player posted bail and used an emergency passport to escape to his native Serbia after a bar fight that left a fellow student in a coma. Serbia refuses to allow extradition. True story.

The Summer 2000 chant has been featured prominently in the UCLA/VCU game.

The first 12 games have been flawlessly entered on the giant bracket. Over/Under on the first spelling mistake is set at Sunday evening...

No upsets. Boo.

We need some drama. We need a buzzer beater. We need something that makes us jump out off of the couch and high five. Unfortunately, we've had none of this so far. Some good, close games, but none of the "madness".

Not that we're too upset. We've had some visitors. And they brought food! It keeps getting better. Plus, Kate decided to show us her "basketball skills."

Upsets in the making....

Clemson down in the 2nd half with Michigan runnin' (time for a T.O.!!!), American up 10 at the half, and Akron hanging tough with Gonzaga (in what is essentially a home game for the Zags)....

who pulls off the next upset of the tourney?

Luke Harangody

As excited as I was about the first night of the NCAA tournament, things just got even better with the realization that I can also flip to the Notre Dame NIT game on ESPN2. This is fantastic, because it gives me the opportunity to watch the greatest player not in the Big Dance, Luke Harangody. Go Irish!

I'm pretending that the Notre Dame fan about to hug 'Gody is Heater.

America, f**k yea!!!

The American Eagles, team colors are red, white and blue. Gotta love it. Personally, I think their mascot should be the Flags. This guy could be their mascot.

Too bad it's a home game for Villanova, b/c American looks pretty good--good ball movement, everyone working hard and rotating on defense, and they've got a guy 5'9" running point--always a recipe for a fan favorite.

And we're back!!!

The night games begin. We're tipping off with Michigan and Clemson. I'm a big fan of Raymond Sykes, the Clemson big man. I think its mostly because he has dreads, and I'm drawn to dreads due to my time spent on tour with Lotus. Ahh.... hippies.

Also, Terrence Oglesby thinks he's the second coming of JJ Reddick. We'll probably cut to the Nova- American game here soon, thank goodness for the internet and the ability to watch any game you want.  What games are you watching loyal blog followers?

What's up, Ryan?

News Flash!

Just got word that this guy will be joining us tomorrow for the afternoon games. Kolb!

Goran

A classmate and friend of mine dates Goran Suton, starting center for the Michigan State Spartans, (a team I'll never forgive for being one half of the worst final four game of all time). Goran missed being the Big 10's leading rebounder by 1/2 a board, which is pretty cool, but with my Big East bias, I can't be too impressed by 8.1 rpg leading a league. C'mon Big 10, step it up. Regardless, I try to get inside information from her on a daily basis and use it to make fool-proof sports bets, but it doesn't work. Oh well.

Interesting side note: if you do a google image search for him, this is the second image that comes up. Nope, not him. Here's a more appropriate picture.

Snacks

No NCAA tournament would be complete without snacks. And since we've done this before, we planned ahead- so that we don't have to leave the house for the next 4 days. Here's a glimpse at what we'll be munching on.

And for those of you concerned about my high cholesterol, there are plenty of veggies and fruit in the fridge. They're not as pretty in pictures though. 

Ugh.

Purdue eeeks one out. I still don't like them. Maybe it has to do with them being in the tournament and not the Irish. The Maryland- Cal game is 51-50 with 12 to go, and the other 2 games are absolute routs. Seriously, UNC is up on Radford 60-20. Thanks for showing up to play Radford.  

Question for our loyal blog followers- Should I attempt to engage James in a conversation about how Roy Williams has no class and runs up scores against helpless teams?

Dear Purdue

I hate you.  I don't know what it is, but I've never ever liked you. I just wanted you to know. 

Also-

I feel it necessary to point out that James is in the dining room, attempting to do "work." This is not what I signed up for when we started our blog. James- you got called out! Snap!

Afternoon Games...

4 hours into day 1, and we've got some good afternoon action going on. At 4:00 pm, It's Maryland up 3 at half over Cal, 34-31. Both #1 seeds play, UConn and UNC are absolutely running away with their games, both at halftime. And Purdue- Northern Iowa game is 50-42 with 7 minutes to play. Hoping for a little run from NI to make things interesting. Apparently Dave is not into this game.  

And the winner is......

One Shining Moment, in our living room.

Day 1.

Also, Number 1. 

"If there's anything I've learned from years of college basketball, it's that a lot can happen in a minute"- Brian Short

Now _this_ is a bracket...

This says it all....

First Round of Games, Day 1

No Madness yet. Both the Butler-LSU and the Memphis- Cal St Northridge games stay close until the end, but no real drama. I am briefly devastated by the Butler loss, as I was hoping for some Indiana Hoops representation, but I'm over now. Thanks to a Miller Lite and the creation of this blog. 

- Shorty

Living a dream.

James and I realized that this might be the last time in our lives that we would have the opportunity to watch the first weekend of the NCAA tournament, in its entirety, until we are retired. So we've decided to go all out. Stay tuned for the next 4 days, as we keep you informed not only what is taking in place in the games, but what is taking place in our living room. Expect raw energy and emotion, in blog form. You'll get to experience the highs and the lows, the heartbreak and the excitement that is college basketball, as experienced by us. Enjoy!

The Ball is tipped....

It's Go Time...

We've got four 12-hour sessions of basketball watching staring us in the face, and we're ready. We've got groceries for nourishment, adult beverages for courage, and a 12-square foot bracket complete with school logos and actions photos hanging from the wall.

We'll be documenting our epic run of NCAA tournament-watching throughout the weekend and beyond, providing expert commentary and unsolicited bracket advice as well as plenty of helpful pointers on life in general.

Stay tuned.