For those who comment: Avatars are now an option! Technically, they are known as gravatars. I’ll have a post up explaining the whole thing later on. A nice little wrinkle I’m throwing in to the site to make it more reader/commenter-friendly.
No. 1 North Carolina , UC Santa Barbara . Hansbrough saw his first action of the seaosn, including a very white-boy type dunk and a nice block. Heels escape a potentially dangerous trip out west and get a W.
No. 2 Connecticut 89, LaSalle 81. UConn is at the top of my Suspect List. Plenty say I’m crazy, but I want to see how deep this team is, how good Thabeet has become (if there’s much improvement at all) and how the team responds to tough non-con challenges.
No. 4 UCLA 77, Southern Illinois 60. Was en route to my lady’s house when I get a call from my suddenly enthused brother. “Yo, are you watching this?”
“No. I’m in the car. What’s up?”
“UCLA and Southern Illinois are tied with 10 minutes to go.”
I get to a television 10 minutes later and the Bruins are winning by 15. Good thing for them they won, too; there are already thoughts of how overrated this team is.
No. 6 Pittsburgh 86, Akron 67. Turned it off after Pittsburgh was clearly on its way four minutes into the game.
No. 8 Notre Dame 65, Loyola-Marymount 54. Keeping up with all these Big East teams is going to be tough. Some think 10 can make The Tournament. I say no way. I do think Notre Dame has 3-seed potential, however.
No. 10 Duke 71, Michigan 56. Blue Devils looked ready, alert and seemed to smell blood. That’s good. You always want to build Duke up; it’s better when they fall in March after a steady uphill climb.
No. 13 Memphis 84, Seton Hall 70. John Calipari will not let this team settle for less than 25 wins by Tournament’s end. Bookmark this quote.
No. 14 Tennessee 76, Middle Tennessee 66. Sixteen turnovers and a 10-point win. It’s how they got so many of those last season.
No. 17 Miami (FL) 70, Southern Mississippi 60. A lot of people are buying what the Hurricanes are selling right now. I’ve yet to see them play, but am certainly intrigued. Is this a possible Sweet 16 team?
No. 19 Southern California 73, Chattanooga 46. Damn. Taj Gibson with 17 and 15 to go along with five swats.
No. 21 Davidson 97, Winthrop 70. The information you’re looking for: Curry had 30 points and 13 assists. This team better not drop out of the Top 25 come Monday afternoon.
No. 25 Wisconsin 60, Iona 58 (OT). The Gaels were an absolutely dreadful Division I team two years ago; they went 2-28. To go from that to an overtime loss against a Big Ten team in 18 months is an achievement. Wisconsin show 31 free throws! They also shot less than 32 percent from the field. No surprise. Sixty in an overtime game? Big Ten basketball: avoid that fever.
Notable:
Xavier 63, Virginia Tech 62. The video is below. Sean Miller’s team finding ways to win again this season.
Maryland 89, Vermont 74 (OT). The Catamounts took the Terps to OT, which is a good sign for the favored Tournament representative from the America East.
San Francisco 74, Academy of Art 23. Unacceptable. You allow an art school to break the 20-point barrier on you?? San Fran should be put on a two-year probation for even scheduling this game.
