NCAA Tournament Thoughts: Thursday Night

Kentucky's domination was so complete CBS didn't even show a minute of it and I didn't bother to check in on it with March Madness On Demand, which by the way would be the best thing since sliced bread if it weren't sooooo much better than sliced bread that it's an almost an insult by comparison.

Shocked about the way Georgetown got completely dominated by Ohio. They played no defense at all. Amazing they looked so good against Syracuse and then run off the court by Ohio. Usually these monumental upsets start with the Cinderella getting a big lead, blowing it all then hanging on. But Georgetown never got within more than seven.

I really thought we were going to have an incident when Kevin Harlan said Ali Farokhmanesh is terrorizing UNLV with his bombs from deep. Thankfully he never said that. But I really thought he was headed down that road.

Big win for Northern Iowa though I really wish the committee would start to consider conferences when matching teams up, especially in 8-9 and 7-10 games. I would rather see Northern Iowa, UNLV, Richmond and St. Mary's get a crack at Georgia Tech, Oklahoma State, Texas and Wake Forest than matching up against each other.

The Washington-Marquette game is a contrast in coacing styles. There is the manic near-breakdown intensity of Buzz Williams and the cool of LoRo. How has that nicknme not caught on yet? We can call a grown man Buzz but we can't call Lorenzo Romar LoRo?

But the teams play a similar style which made for an awesome game. No defense required, a lot of running, a lot of gunning and some big shot making including that game-winner by Pondexter.

So the Big East has lost 2 6s and a 3 and almost a 2. This could be the worst performance for any conference in history. Good thing we got 8, we'll need them.

Lehigh took an early 12-4 lead on Kansas before the Jayhawks went on a 21-2 run and I thought ended the game. But Lehigh came back with 9 straight points. And they actually hung in pretty well through most of the game.

Texas against Wake Forest was the hardest game for me to predict. I had Wake Forest but I switched it to Texas when I considered that both teams struggled down the stretch but at least Texas lost to good teams.

Bruce Pearl's son plays for him at Tennessee. I always think that must be hard at this level (see: Hawkins, Cody) but especially if you father is Bruce Pearl.

UNLV has Steve "Snapper" Jones's son. Remember when Snapper and Walton used to bicker incessantly with Bill Walton when the NBA was on NBC. I think they drove Tom Hammond to an early grave.

San Diego State has a player named B.J. Gay? Really, Mr. and Mrs. Gay, really? I've been working on a theory about how most last names have at least one name that obviously doesn't work. If your last name is Gay, BJ is probably that name. He might want to go the Marvin Gaye route and an E on the end. I know it doesn't do much but it's a start.

Note: I know his name is actually DJ but that's not as funny.

And speaking of names, doesn't Skyler McBee sound like a character on the "Andy Griffith Show?"

I really want Wayne Chism to wear his headband like a normal person.

Insane finish to Texas-Wake Forest. Throughout the game whenever one team had the advantage, they immediately lost it. Early in OT, Texas made a couple steals, hit a couple 3s and took an 8-point lead. But two missed free throws by a 90% shooter (J'Covan Brown) cost Texas.

That was the third overtime game of the day, more than all of last year's tournament.

What an incredible day of games! Not just upsets, but close games, exciting games and well-played games.

My bracket is completely fucked but man was this fun!