All right, the last entry in our first-round live blogs is here; sorry, we're not spending our Friday night live blogging. Lame, we know. Anyway, here are your games: Butler vs. South Alabama, Georgetown vs. Maryland-Baltimore County, Texas vs. Austin Peay and Connecticut vs. San Diego. After the jump, we'll take you home.
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5:54: Speaking of the Lost motif we mentioned in the last blog, we totally feel like we're just typing random numbers into a computer with no rhyme or reason right now.
5:53: No points left in the overtime, one minute in. It has been that type of game.
5:49: All the Tim Brando you can take today: Another overtimer.
5:48: After SD's Devin Ginty once again splits free throws, UConn is fouled. Two shots for Jerom Dyson to tie the game ... and he hits them both. 10.4 seconds.
5:43: We hate to keep harping on this, but Tim Brando really is awful. After San Diego splits two free throws, UConn drives and lays one in to bring the game within one. This doesn't stop Brando from saying the game is tied. Doesn't that guy have an earpiece?
5:42: San Diego really needs to be more careful with the ball. One more foul to go.
5:40: Austrie makes an easy layup for UConn, but they aren't even in the penalty, so they need to foul a couple more times here. Gotta hate when that happens.
5:39: Rob Jones for San Diego puts in a layup to take a four-point lead. Brando: "This ain't Carmen Sandiego!" Christ, man, enough.
5:38: White guys can do reversals in midair past seven footers like that? Who knew?
5:35: Tied up with 2:53. No offense to Western Kentucky, but the value on this win would be classified as "high."
5:31: UConn down by 1 with 3:55 left. We'll take a close one to finish the day, sure.
5:29: Connecticut's players have the Superman problem. Superman is so much more powerful than human beings that he has to be careful when he so much as gives someone a hug, lest they crush him. The Huskies are so much larger than the San Diego players that even a touch looks like a slam to the ground. And they're down by 3.
5:27: Two 3-pointers give San Diego a six-point lead. Brando responds by screaming "Hello! Hello!" like Mike Myers. Appropriate.
5:23: A thought about the Western Kentucky game. Isn't it a shame they couldn't have beaten a big school with that last shot? That game had no bad guys; if Drake would have hit that shot, no one would have felt any differently. Contrast that to the Northwestern State game, which had the thrill of the underdog. this is why there shouldn't so many mid-major vs. mid-major games.
5:21: By the way, the other games are all at final. Only this one remains. But you knew that.
5:18/: Predictably, right when Connecticut's about to take the lead ... they turn the ball over.
5:16: A good point from Brando! One that didn't involve a pun! He points out that Connecticut's run started when San Diego started to slow the game down and milk clock. The prevent defense never works, except in Madden. Huskies within one.
5:14: Connecticut is starting to remember, oh yeah, they're better than San Diego, and a run brings the score within three.
5:11: Do you think Geno Auriemma prank calls Jim Calhoun every once in a while? It seems like something he'd do.
5:08: Connecticut has 12 turnovers, and we'd bet every one of them was brutal and stopped a fast break. They play like the group of freshmen and sophomores they are. Calhoun is not blowing us away with his coaching right now.
5:04: Every other game is still a blowout. In case you were wondering why we weren't updating those.
5:01: UConn is playing hard, doing what they can to come back, but shots aren't falling. It's almost distressing to watch.
4:57: A.J. Price is toying with coming back in. This seems like a bad idea. Not that they have much choice right now anyway.
4:52: San Diego doesn't waste any time by dropping a 3-pointer to start the half. Seven point lead. UConn is in serious, serious trouble.
4:30: We come to halftime of the Connecticut game, and San Diego is up by five, and no other game is close. So we're gonna take a break. See you in a bit.
4:23: UMBC is hanging around, down by 10 with 17 minutes left. But Connecticut is the really screwed Big East team. Price is out for the game, and maybe longer, and they're down by five. Western Kentucky-San Diego for the Sweet 16? We like.
4:18: We find ourselves cheering for every player on Georgetown and San Diego to have unpronounceble names that don't remind Tim Brando of anything.
4:14: We would love to see the 7-foot-3 Hibbert hanging out with the 5-foot-8 Green from UMBC. Would make a fun Billy Crystal movie. San Diego up by two. Every other game is pretty much over. We're cynical today.
4:07: We're gonna go ahead and posit: Connecticut's in serious trouble in this game. A.J. Price is out , they're down by three and, most ominous, San Diego isn't hanging around because they're draining threes. They look like an even match. Unlike the other three games going on right now.
4:03: A.J. Price just went to the floor screaming, terrifying everybody in the building. Everybody, that is, except for Tim Brando, who took about 45 seconds to notice. It's silent in the arena. Except for Brando, of course.
3:57: All year, the conventional wisdom is that Gonzaga and St. Mary's were the best two teams in the WCC. If San Diego hadn't won the conference tournament, they'd be in the NIT right now. (Maybe.) But having watched all three teams today, Sa Diego looks like the best one. And they're up by four right now on Connecticut.
3:52: So Butler's a blowout, Texas is a blowout and Georgetown is leaning that way. It's UConn or bust, people.
3:47: Tim Brando almost ruined the Drake-Western Kentucky game with his awful puns. A reader sends in one from the Texas-Austin Peay game: ""And the infectious chants of 'Let's go Peay!' have been flushed away. " Sure they've never heard THAT one before.
3:43: Connecticut game is tipped off. We're just realizing how easy of a draw Connecticut got. Let's see if they blow it. Butler is pulling away from South Alabama already, and right now, the St. Mary's-Georgetown game is the only one with less than a 10-point lead. It's 3-2.
3:40: We don't want to say the 5-8 point guard for UMBC is small, but we think we heard him give off a Monica Seles-esque GRUNT when he hoisted a three. He missed it.
3:38: Thirteen lead changes already in the South Alabama-Butler game. That makes us dizzy.
3:32: Honestly, Roy HIbbert looks like he could have all five UMBC guys hanging on his shoulders, and he wouldn't notice. Butler and South Alabama are tight still.
3:28: It's pretty wild that UMBC is outrebounding Georgetown right now, considering they have no one taller than 4-foot-3. Texas is up 17-3 on Austin Peay. No matter how old we get, as an Illini fan, we never get tired of watching Austin Peay lose.
3:23: We officially love UMBC. They're up 12-9.
3:19: We're always surprised Patrick Ewing Jr. doesn't play differently. We look forward to someday Jeff Jordan breaking his heart, somehow.
3:16: Maryland-Baltimore County has a white point guard who is 5-foot-8. That can't bode well. That said, they scored seven in a row and are tied with Georgetown early.
3:10: Ty Rogers just made most of the lousy games yesterday all worth it. Let's see how this works out. We are less than optimistic about this slate of games, but, you know, fingers crossed.
3:05: Still in overtime. Man does Drake have a lot of white guys.
2:57: The damned Drake-WKU game is in overtime, so bear with us on this one.
