NCAA Tourney blog: Day Two (Night games)

Final night of the NCAA Tournament first round is just about ready to tip off.  I'll be blogging for a few more hours and hoping my bracket can stay intact, having lost just one Sweet 16 team (Drake) so far.

Feel free to send your comments via a post on here or e-mail at sbrown@wkdzradio.com

Tonight's early games:

(#11) St. Josephs vs. (#6) Oklahoma

(#1) North Carolina vs. (#16) Mt. St. Marys

(#4) Vanderbilt vs. (#13) Siena

(#8) Mississippi State vs. (#9) Oregon

• CBS' Seth Davis is just throwing darts at a bracket right now hoping it helps him pick an upset.  Last night, his wisdom gave us Arizona over West Virginia.  Tonight?  Siena over Vanderbilt.  He also picked St. Joes over Oklahoma but so did I.  At least he doesn't come away with an East Coast bias.
• Settle down Jim Nantz.  It's just the first basket of the game.
• Under sudden death rules, Siena would have advanced past Vanderbilt.  Ugh.  I have to sit through another game with Tim "the Iron is unkind" Brando.
• Mike Deane was the head coach of Siena when they upset Stanford in the NCAA Tournament first round in 1989.  He also led Marquette and Lamar to the Big Dance.  He now coaches at Wagner.
• Vanderbilt looks a little mortal away from Memorial Coliseum as they trail the Fighting Seths of Sienna 23-13.
• North Carolina may score 200 points tonight if the margin stays between 12-15 points.
• The SEC is playing like a conference that wasn't strong this year, doesn't play a lot of defense, and shouldn't have gotten six teams in the tourney.  Yep.  That about sums it up.
• Celebrity voice over alert- That was Tom Selleck doing the NCAA PSA.
• UNC rolling right along now.  They may hit 100 before the 8:00 TV TO.
• Oklahoma is another team rolling in the second half.
• Kevin Stallings would be one of the highest paid coaches in America if he were paid by the cuss word.  Almost in Coach K-ski territory.
• Stallings still looks like the actor John Carroll Lynch (right), from Fargo and was Drew Carey's brother on the sitcom The Drew Carey Show
• The "No Cinderella" commercial was neat the first 77 times I saw it.  Now, I'm hearing the church bell in my sleep.  Make it stop.
• What sucks about Siena beating Vanderbilt?  Seth Davis picked it in the pregame and we'll have to hear about it all weekend.
• If Vandy does tank the game, no biggie here because I had them falling in the second round.  The SEC was waaaay down this year folks.
• Does anyone else think bringing back Dennis Leary to do the 2K sports game a decade after the EA Sports campaign was like seeing Karl Malone in a Lakers uniform?
• Vanderbilt simply doesn't play defense.  They haven't for most of the year.
• You think Tim Brando has told us enough times that Vandy's Jamie Graham also plays football?  There's a drinking game for you.
• Ollie and Strap have checked in for North Carolina.
• Sidney Greene ready to check in for Sienna.
• Mississippi State/Oregon game is shaping up to be a dandy.
• Verne and Raferty sound asleep for the final minute of St. Joes/Oklahoma.  I guess that's why they let Grandpa Enberg sleep in yesterday at Anaheim and only do the night games.
• Oklahoma 72 St. Josephs 64 - Scott's Bracket 19-6
• Billy Hoyle checked into the game for Vanderbilt
• Tim Brando has called wins for two #13 seeds and a #12 today.  Next up? #12 Villanova over #5 Clemson??
• Siena 83 Vanderbilt 62 - Scott's Bracket 19-7 and sliding fast
• North Carolina 113 Mt. St. Marys 74 - Scott's Bracket 20-7
• Does Oregon not realize that they don't get points for just dribbling the basketball?
• Henderson County's Billy Begley in the game for Mississippi State for some mop up duty.
• The SEC will go to 2-3 in the tournament.
• Mississippi State 76 Oregon 69 - Scott's Bracket 21-7
• So I go from watching the close game between Indiana and Arkansas to watching Memphis just blow out Texas-Arlington.
• What's with all that extra space in the end zones at Little Rock?
• Beep Beep!  There goes Memphis!
• TODD GRIFFIN: The only way Vandy is ever going to win the NCAA Tournament is if they
  petition the NCAA to play every game at Memorial Gym.  Either that, or they need to move their benches to the end zone wherever they play.
• They are mortal away from Nashville, that's for sure.  Vandy is now 9-11 all time in the NCAA tourney and two of those came last year.
• Louisville is looking pretty good.  I still think they will meet Butler in the Sweet 16.
• I wish someone from the nerdery was keeping track on what CBS show they were promoing the most during March Madness.  I'd say the CSIs and How I Met Your Mother with Britney Spears would be at the top of the list.  Two and a Half Men would be close behind.  I think they also carry a fairly important golf tournament also.
• Arkansas is trying to salvage a .500 first round for the SEC.  Tennessee and Mississippi State also won today.
• If the scores hold up, the Big East will be 6-2 and the Big 10 will go 3-1 and the ACC will go 4-0.
• Is Kelvin Sampson that good of a coach?  I know he can text like the dickens but this doesn't look like the same team I saw play twice in December.
• Tim Brando may call another #12 upset win as Villanova has roared back to within a bucket of Clemson.
• You can advance Louisville in your bracket.  They looked good tonight.
• We have a Rollie Massimino sighting in Tampa.  Rollie was 20-10 all-time in the tourney.
• People must not be happy with the game CBS is showing them.  My MMOD feed has slowed down quite a bit and is buffering more.
• Louisville 79 Boise State 61 - Scott's Bracket 22-7
• You can advance Arkansas in your bracket.  The collapse of Indiana is complete.
• Arkansas 86 Indiana 72 - Scott's Bracket - 22-8
• The Runnin' Stiffs of Texas-Arlington just won't go away.  Memphis leads 69-51, which was closer than any game in the C-USA Tournament.
• Villanova 75 Clemson 69 - Scott's Bracket - 22-9
• Memphis 87 Texas-Arlington 63 - Scott's Bracket 23-9
• After a 14-2 first day, I slipped to 9-7 the second day.  I have lost two Sweet 16 teams -- Clemson and Drake.  I still have my Elite Eight intact and feel good about my Louisville pick into the Final Four based on what I saw tonight.
• I had fun blogging the first round.  I'll check in with a few posts from time to time as the tournament continues.  Thanks for checking in.