Round 2 Action--Saturday

So round one had some huge upsets and some teams plugging along like these games are just more games in the season. Let s see how I did this day.

Washington State v Notre Dame--Washington State was clearly the better team today. The Fighting Irish didn't put up much fight in this game. Harangody was horrible and looked nothing like the Big East POY, which is the major reason the Irish were never in this game. Final score--Wash St 61, Notre Dame 41. My pick--Wash St, 1-0 today.

Kansas v UNLV--UNLV kept it close until halftime and only trailed by five going into the second half. KU stopped toying with the Runnin' Rebels and put this game out of reach early in the second half. Of course UNLV made it easier with tow of it's 10 players fouling out with around 9 minutes left in the game. Final score--KU 75, UNLV 56. My pick--Kansas, 2-0 today.

Wisconsin v Kansas State--Michael Beasley did his best to keep K-State in this game. He scored 23 of the Wildcats 55 points. Too bad Wisconsin scored 72. K-State never really got into this game as the Badger D kept them out of rhythm the whole game. Final score--Wisconsin 72, K-State 55. My pick--USC, 2-1 today.

I would have picked K-State if I had picked them to win the first round game.

West Virginia v Duke--Duke was way over-seeded in this tournament. They had a good year, but they should have been a 4-5 seed, where they probably would have been upset in the first round the way they played. WVU had no trouble sending Duke back to North Carolina to watch the rest of the tournament from their couches. Final score--WVU 73, Duke 67. My pick--WVU, 3-1 today.

Xavier v Purdue--Good close game throughout. Xavier hit some clutch free throws and shot 54% from the field for the game to edge the Boilermakers. Final score--Xavier 85, Purdue 78. My pick--Xavier, 4-1 today.

UCLA v Texas A&M--The Bruins survive their second round match-up and I do mean survive. They trailed by three at halftime and had to rely on a key block to keep the Aggies from sending the game into OT. A&M almost beat the number one seed despite shooting only 43% from the charity stripe and having their shots blocked eleven times. UCLA's Kevin Love had 7 blocks on the game, many coming towards the end of the game. Final score--UCLA 51, Texas A&M 49. My pick--UCLA, 5-1 today.

Pittsburgh v Michigan State--DAMMIT!!!!! Son of a bitch. Michigan State out rebounded the Panthers and help Pitt to a dismal 12% shooting from behind the arc and just 33% from 2-point land. Neitzel couldn't be stopped in the closing minutes as he helped the Spartans hold off a late Panther rush. Final score--Michigan State 65, Pitt 54. My pick--Pittsburgh, 5-2 today.

DAMMIT all to hell!!!! I had Pitt going all the way to the finals. Nothing like having one of your favorites lose early to fuck up your bracket.

Stanford v Marquette--The Cardinal rallied to force OT then waited until the last second to finish off a tough Marquette team. Brook Lopez finished off an amazing night by hitting the go ahead jumper from the baseline with about 1 second to go. Trailing by 6 at the half and without their coach for the second half and OT, the Cardinal climbed aboard the Lopez train and rode it to the finish. Final score--Stanford 82, Marquette 81. My pick--Stanford, 6-2 today.


Aside from the Pittsburgh debacle I did rather well today. 6-2 today and 29-11 overall.