NCAA Tournament: Early Thursday Thoughts

This new scenario of four games on four channels is a real challenge. It's easier to blame CBS for fucking it up than it is to manage it all on your own.

I just can't take Bob Huggins seriously after last year's DaSean Butler incident.

And I can't take Rick Pitino seriously either. Morehead was giving him trouble. Not the first time he got more head and later wished he hadn't. Seems like Morehead caught him with his pants down. Again, not the firt time.

I'm really enjoying watching Kenneth Faried of Morehead. The guy is a rebounding monster.

First great finish of the tournament. Butler's Matt Howard gets a tip-in basket, and the backboard turns red less than a tenth of a second after it leaves his fingertips. Jim Nantz must have been kicking himself because he wasn't around for a perfect "Butler did it moment" but don't worry, Tim Brando had you covered.

I wanted to use the Morehead blew it joke, but it was actually Louisville that blew it. Up 4 with 50 seconds to go, you gotta make your free throws, Faried did, even though he's a 59% shooter. Then they fouled and Justice missed the front end of a one and one. Morehead played for a final shot, and for no reason at all DeMonte Harper shot a 3 -- and made it! First "onions!" from Raf so far.

And that block by Faried on Louisville's desperate have was not a foul.

First major upset of the tournament. Makes me a little worried about my Belmont pick tonight. I can't remember if there ever were 2 4s losing in the first round. I know it happened once with 3s.

Another amazing finish -- third great one of the afternoon. Deep onions by Taylor Battle, then an incredible twisting shot by Juan Fernandez.

There is no Juan Fernandez, it's just a stolen identity to give Pepe Sanchez four more years of eligibilty.

And now Princeton has a guy named Hummer?

Kentucky over Princeton makes the fourth last-second finish of the day. And what's great about these games, the teams are making shots and going back and forth, for the most part its not ineptitude making these games close.

Not much to say about Pittsburgh vs. UNC-Ashville. Your typical 1 vs 16 matchup. It actually started close but Pitt is too big and too good.

This is what I kind of like about the play-in game. At least those kids got a chance to win an NCAA Tournament game. I also like the UNC-Ash coach calling timeout with 33 seconds left, down by 23, to get his 5 backups into an NCAA Tournament game.

Richmond and Vanderbilt a great way to end the early session. This was a pretty exciting game with both teams making shots. Not a lot of turnovers in this one, just some crazy shot-making. The ending was really slowed down by all those timeouts though. They need to do something about it. I think there were about 5 in the last two minutes. Takes all the drama out of it.

Every year I pick a 12 over a 5, and this year I finally got it. Hopefully the other 5s (Arizona and Kansas State) hold serve. I have both winning two games.

Check back here later for another similar post on the late games.