NCAA Tournament Diary

The first two days of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is unequalled in all of sports. The following is a running diary of my reactions to this year's offering.

Day 1
Thursday, March 17

11:20
I pick up Nave who has the good fortune to have his wife home to watch their under-the-weather youngster. We head to Lucky's where the entire basement is set up exclusively for watching the tournament. We meet a handful of other guys who had arrived in time for the beginnings of the first games. Wisconsin-Milwaukee is already up on 'Bama. Good sign. Kentucky is up; no surprise there. Pacific is ahead of Pitt. Excellent. And OU is leading Niagara. I couldn't ask for a better start: all four of my teams are in the driver's seat. We notice Kevin Keitzman and his Sports Radio 810 cronies at the head table. Keitzman is doing a live broadcast of his show "Between the Lines" from the basement at 2:00. Nave mentions that he thinks there will be $2 promo burgers once the show starts. We ask the waitress if there are any drink specials. She says there are $2 draws. Nave asks if they have any Boulevard Irish Ale. She responds in the affirmative. Then brings us bottles.

12:30
Nave mentions that he's starving and will forgo the rumored bargain burgers. Swanson shows up, brimming with enthusiasm. I mention the cheap burger rumor and he says he doesn't think he can hold out that long. Nave and Swanson order $7.50 "Frisco" and "Range" burgers, respectively. I decide to hold out for low-cost grub.

1:45
The first wave of games come to a close. Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Pacific, Oklahoma, and Kentucky all advance. I'm 4-0 and feeling good. The initial giddiness of has worn off a little as the second slate of games has begun. There's not much excitement watching the scoreboards and seeing single-digit scores for every team. So we watch as Cincinnati jumps ahead of Iowa. And B.C. opens up a lead on Penn. And Washington begins to pummel Montana. But we don't seem to be able to get the feed to the only game where one team doesn't have a double-digit lead, Utah vs. UTEP. I ask the waitress if there are any food specials now, and she tells me that you can get a burger or nachos for 81 cents. My patience pays off. I sign up for the burger. Granted, this isn't of the ilk of the "Range" burger. But it's also six bucks less. My good fortune continues.

2:30
We settle up our portion of the ill-calculated tab and hit the road. I drop off Nave and head to the grocery store, where I pick up some pop, chips and other snacks in anticipation of the night games. I get home to see that the Utah/UTEP game is still close. The score is actually tied with under two minutes to play. The other games start to wrap up, keeping my perfection in tact. Boston College, Cincinnati and Washington: winners, all. And, for some reason, I find myself rooting for UTEP, even though I picked Utah to win the game and then go on to beat Oklahoma in the next round. Not to mention, the very sound of the word "UTEP" stirs the bile in my stomach as I recall what they did to Kansas in the 1992 tournament. But, that's the fun part of this event, watching an underdog take its best shot. In the end, Utah and Andrew Bogut are too much for the Miners. And I've picked the first eight games correctly, thus birthing the inspiration for this column.

6:35
CBS cuts to the Winthrop/Gonzaga game. Gonzaga is down by three midway through the first half. They identify the teams in this manner: Gonzaga - white jerseys / Winthrop - garnet jerseys. What? Are the "Queer Eye" guys in charge of this aspect of the telecast? They sure looked red to me. Nevada and Texas are changing leads with each basket. Arizona is down by a couple to Utah State. And Chattanooga is on top by a few over Wake. Not time to panic yet, but concern over my perfect record is beginning to brew.

6:55
Halftime and Nevada is up one on Texas. A good, intense game. Cut to Cleveland where Wake battles back to get within three at half. On a side note, the Cleveland State mascot painted at center court is one of the more unusual sights of the tournament. Cleveland State is the Vikings, but their mascot is a personified basketball dressed up in Viking garb. It looks kind of like Marvin the Martian from the Bugs Bunny cartoons. The end of the first half has Utah State up three on Arizona from Boise. Which brings up another side note: Boise State always seems to host games on the first round of the tournament and they always get plenty of love in the highlight reels for their football field's blue turf. If you want a degree in marketing, enroll at Boise State. The Garnet Galoots of Winthrop have taken a two point lead to the locker room against the Zags. Confidence...waning...

7:56
Jason Klotz is destroying Nick Fazekas. It helps that the officials have turned a blind eye to his array of push-off moves. Klotz has scored 16 points in the second half and the Longhorns have stampeded past the Wolfpack for a four point lead with three and a half remaining. Wake seems to have taken control, finally. Arizona is finding a comfort zone now. But Gonzaga still has just a slim two point lead over Winthrop with eight left. Irritation is setting in.

8:11
YES!!! Here come the WOLFPACK! Nevada squeaks one out over Texas to run my record to 9-0. If I can survive the Gonzaga/Winthrop gauntlet, it looks like I may be able to ratchet my mark up to 12-0, easily my best effort to start off a tournament EVER.

8:30
Gonzaga avoids getting Gonzaga'd. And I'm two hours and four games away from first-day superiority. After a more typical slate of close games, my heart rate has returned to normal.

8:55
Foster comes over, armed with his bracket and a brash prediction for a KU/Georgia Tech rematch in the national championship game this year. The Creighton/WVA game is a roller coaster ride. Creighton jumps out to a 10-0 lead, and WVA comes back to tie. Then, WVA goes on a run and leads by 9. Creighton blazes their way back to within two at the break. UAB seems to be handling LSU. The Illini are tripping over FDU. And the UCLA/Texas Tech game is enjoyable viewing. I'm starting to actually entertain the possibility of a perfect day.

10:25
UCLA will not go away. The disciplined, Bobby Knight approach of the Raiders appears to have control over the young, unrefined style of the Bruins. But UCLA keeps scrapping. UAB is laying the wood to a pathetic excuse for a #6 seed in LSU. The SEC was no better than mediocre this year, yet they populate the bracket with nearly a half-dozen teams who got in on reputation rather than merit. Fairleigh Dickinson's clock is racing towards midnight as Illinois asserts themselves.

10:55
Creighton blows it. Tie game and Creighton calls timeout to set up a play. The guard slips and panic starts to set in. Dude launches a 3-pointer, but WVA gets a hand on it. Then, faster than you can say "choke," WVA makes two quick passes up the court to a guy who was cherrypicking and get a quick dunk with 2.4 seconds left. Creighton calls timeout, inbounds the ball to half-court and calls timeout again. They get a decent look at a 3, but the shot goes long. And my perfect day goes with it. Freaking Creighton. Texas Tech closes out their victory over UCLA. Three and a half minutes left in the UAB/LSU game and the first day of action.

11:01
UAB looks cocky. They've pissed away a 25-point lead and now they're up 14. The point guard executes a beautiful no-look behind-the-head pass and the guy misses the dunk. Everyone for UAB stands around while the rebound goes to LSU, who promptly nails a shot to close to 12. One minute thirty seconds left and UAB misses free throws. And LSU promptly drills a 3 to pull within nine. UAB hits a couple of free throws and then fouls LSU on a 3-pointer. This is not the way to build momentum going into the second round. Their body language speaks volumes. UAB finally closes the game out after LSU jacks up some idiotic 3's. I finish the day 15/16. Not perfect, but not too shabby. And there's a whole new day starting up at 11:15 tomorrow morning.