Chris Denker 
16 Mar 2012 
0 comments We’re live blogging from the NCAA Tournament with random thoughts, observations, and reactions to all things related to the Big Dance. It’s March Madness day two baby!
- How about all the comebacks? Early leads, big leads, lost leads and exciting finishes.
- Cincy wins and I must say, it appears to me that Coach Mick Cronin handled the early season incident (err fight) with Xavier much better than their cross-town rival.
Brian Conklin - North Eugene HS, OR
- Xavier went on to lose several games and never really reached their early season form as it’s my opinion there is a cloud hanging over them. They seem like a group of individuals rather than a cohesive unit. Tu Holloway takes some of the worst shots I’ve seen in a while, in fact, he’s much like Russell Westbrook (NBA, Oklahoma City) in terms of his 1-on-5 mentality.
- Maybe the MWC wasn’t so good after all. Colorado State scored 41 points and lost, UNLV looked horrible for 35 minutes and lost, and San Diego State lost to NC State. Only New Mexico was able to win.
- Per my comments yesterday about why the Pac-12 is down…RECRUITING. Two more guys are playing today that could help a Pac-12 roster, 6’11 Clint Chapman (Texas via Canby, OR) and Brian Conklin (St. Louis via Eugene, OR).
- Grant Gibbs, the 3pt. shooter from Creighton, started his career at Gonzaga.
- Speaking of Gonzaga, they absolutely drubbed West Virginia didn’t they? Elias Harris sat most of the first half and still WVa couldn’t take advantage of the Zags interior defense.
- Gonzaga’s two freshman guards Kevin Pangos and Gary Bell Jr. are possibly the best “young” backcourt in America…is there another duo of starters who are freshman and double digit performers?
- Doug McDermott of Creightonis really good; Great hands, skilled forward with good size, smart, versatile, and he can score in a number of ways. If you haven’t seen him yet you need to tune in and see a guy who has joined Larry Bird and Oscar Robertson as the top 3 scorers of all-time in the MVC through their sophomore seasons…good company.
Doug McDermott
- I really like St. Bonaventure. I know they only got in due to their A-10 tourney title but they play well together (which is why they beat “solo” Xavier) and they have a good big guy in Andrew Nicholson. Florida State may come back from this early deficit but I’m on record as saying, this is a good small college team that nobody knows about.
- By the way…I’m not knocking the Bonnies by saying “small college,” their enrollment is under 2,000! There are high schools bigger than that but they are strong academically and can play basketball. Even the women’s team is solid!
- The Bonnies Mark Schmidt is a good coach too. He’s been around, working & playing for guys like Dr. Tom Davis, Gary Williams, and Skip Prosser.
- Florida and Virginia is a match-up of two coaches who played in the NCAA Tourney and two very different styles.
Baywatch Cast
- You’ve probably heard “Germans love David Hasselhoff,” you know the Baywatch guy. Well, Leonard Hamilton loves Lithuanian shooters and Deividas Dulkys is his latest.
- Another little school, Belmont, has a tough match-up with Georgetown today but many are picking Belmont to upset the Hoyas. I’m not.
- McDermott just made a huge play, he got an offensive rebound on a missed FT with 30 seconds left and up two points. Alabama was forced to foul him and he made one FT to put the Blue Jays up 3.
- Did I mention how much I love this March Madness Live app? You can watch games, listen to games, and follow the “game cast” with live stats on all of your mobile devices while sitting at home or in an arena at an NCAA game!
- Wow, Colorado missed a ton of FT’s last night and now Creighton is missing FT’s late against ‘Bama. Update: they did hang on to win, no thanks to their FT shooting.
- I’ve been so consumed with Baywatch and Creighton that I somehow missed Florida running out to a 20 point lead on Virginia…what happened?
- North Carolina’s John Henson is not going to play today, they shouldn’t need him against Vermont.
- Tar Heels handling Vermont easily, not a great crowd in Greensboro though which is surprising and disappointing. C’mon Tar Heel fans!
Kyle O'Quinnsanity
- Norfolk State is giving Mizzou all they can handle, this would easily be the upset of the tournament (obvious understatement).
- Despite Andrew Nicholson’s 20 points and 7 rebounds, the Bonnie’s struggled to score in the second half and Florida State came away with the win.
- Okay, way too many charges are being called!
- My favorite players of the tourney so far…Royce White – 6’8 270 Point Forward Iowa State, Doug McDermott – 6’8 F Creighton, Andrew Nicholson – 6’9 PF St. Bonaventure. Give me some decent guards and I could win a lot of games with those three guys!
- How clutch and poised has Norfolk State been in this game? Mizzou looks like they are afraid to lose rather than playing to win the game.
- Remember Rick Majerus‘ Utah win over Arizona and the “Triangle & 2″ defense he employed? I wonder if we’ll see a St. Louis win over former Arizona player/coach Josh Pastner’s Memphis unit?
- Norfolk State is the #1 Trending Topic on the web right now…#UPSETALERT
- Amazing win for Norfolk State, Congratulations!
- Kyle O’Quinn is a great kid, I love his attitude and he wears my favorite number (10) and my son is named Quinn and he just turned 10 and…
- How about the “bracket tie” on TNT/CBS announcer Craig Sager?
- St. Louis is now carrying the torch for the state of Missouri.
John Adams - Lehigh
- John Adams (Archbishop Mitty HS, San Jose), who I once coached, is playing well for Lehigh against Duke!
- Do Buckeye fans cheer for Ohio U. against Michigan?
- I say again, what is with all the empty seats in Greensboro, NC? That is ridiculous with Duke and NC playing there, wow.
- Coaches aren’t teaching players to read the defense anymore, make basketball plays not just run plays. Guys don’t curl screens anymore…why?
- Kyle O’Quinn post-game comments: “We even messed up MY bracket.”
- Memphis vs. St. Louis is a half-court defensive battle.
- Purdue really controlled tempo during the first half against St. Mary’s and take a solid 7 point lead into the locker room. The Gaels aren’t playing like they did against Gonzaga in the WCC Tourney final.
- Weird, they are replacing the net at Duke/Lehigh game and holding things up.
- Gus Johnson would have gone ballistic if he was calling the Norfolk State upset of Missouri, how good would that have been?
- Why have teams become so poor on Out-of-Bounds play execution? Just as I type this, Rick Majerus runs a screen-the-screener set and scores to take the lead over Memphis.
- Why can’t teams defend OB plays anymore?
- Isn’t Ohio from the same conference as Butler? Hmm…
- So I know Ryan Kelly is a key guy for Duke but seriously? How about some guards step up? Who is their leader?
- Lehigh SG C.J. McCollom is a nice player and he is giving the Duke guards fits.
- Speaking of Lehigh, have we EVER had two 15′s beat 2′s during one tourney? (I post this with 12:00 remaining and Lehigh up 5)
This is Amazing!
- St. Louis is going to finish off Memphis, Rick Majerus is at it again.
- That’s my man, John Adams with the slam! Lehigh is amazingly beating Duke under 2:00 to go.
- Gus Johnson would be going nuts if he were calling the Lehigh/Duke game right now.
- Ohio beats Michigan (13 over 4)…what is going on right now?!? UPSET CITY!
- LEHIGH WINS!
- How has St. Mary’s come back from 14 down?
- Nevermind, St. Mary’s found a way to lose. Failure to inbound the ball, 2 fouls, an airball, and couldn’t manage a shot for their best player in either of their last two trips.
- The evening games, although competitive, are somewhat boring compared to the exciting and fast paced games earlier today. Of course the slow pace used by Notre Dame, South Florida, and Temple doesn’t help this cause.
- Xavier has fought back in this game and it appears they’ll go down to the wire with the Irish.
- Kansas is quietly going to advance, beating Detroit after it appears everyone has gone home…especially in Greensboro where there are more empty seats than full.
- Congrats to our upset winners of the day: Norfolk State, Ohio, and Lehigh and don’t forget “Germans love David Hasselhoff while Leonard Hamilton loves Lithuanian basketball players.”
- Buenas Noches!
Keep checking back throughout the day as we continue posting live during the NCAA Basketball Tournament.
