Return of NCAA Live-Blogging

One of the few perks of working in academia is that I can take the occasional day off for no reason at all. I handed in my grades yesterday, and spring beak starts Monday, so I can feel free to take the afternoon off to sit on my ass and watch some basketball. And bring back First Round Live-Blogging. I’m sure this will drive all kinds of traffic…

3:17: BC wins the second overtime 14-2, and thus the game. The crowd started taunting them with the “over-rated” chant in the last few seconds, which has got to piss them off. Meanwhile, Tennessee has an early lead in the most anticipated 2-15 game in history, and Florida and South Alabama are just starting out. I think it’s about time to take her majesty for a walk, though. Back in a bit, probably with a new post.

3:13: BC has come to life in the second overtime, presumably because Al Skinner threatened to bite the heads off his players. The wheels are sort of coming off for Pacific, though they’re still scrapping. The monster dunk by Williams of BC was a real morale-breaker, though, and cornrowed knucklehead Jared Dudley just hit a ridiculous fall-away while being fouled. It’ll take a miracle for Pacific to pull it out now– down ten with under a minute.

3:09: I hate the flying-out-of-bounds time-out. That’s just about the worst rule in basketball– you should need to have clear possession, and both feet on the ground to call a TO. As it is, teams can save posession, and force me to watch another smarmy Mike Krzyzewski commercial.

3:05: Craig Smith hits two huge free throws to tie the game, and Pacific just barely fails to get a shot off as time expires– double OT. The dog can’t stand the excitement, and has curled up on her pillow, snoring faintly.

2:56: Another one! In an exact copy of the previous play, Mike Webb pulls up on the break, and nails a three. Pacific is up 71-65 in overtime, and Al Skinner is an angry, angry man.

2:53: Both teams are really tight to start the overtime. Finally, somebody hits a shot, and now the officials are looking to see if it was a two or a three, using the CBS replay from high up, which was apparently shot with somebody’s cell phone. What the hell? (It’s a three, by the way.)

2:45: Why give it to Craig Smith at mid-court? He’s a horse, but not a ball-handler. The two teams trade ugly and stupid turnovers, and it looks like we’re headed for OT.

2:43: Damn! Pacific’s Christian Maraker just hit a three-pointer to tie the game with under ten seconds to play. Clutch shot– will the Eagles be able to do anything, or are we looking at overtime?

2:37: Wichita State’s victory over Seton Hall has gone final. Wisconsin-Milwaukee is up eight with 0:30 to play. Mid-majors: 2, Big conferences:0.BC up four, but fouls a three-point shooter.

2:34: They just re-opened Cox Arena in San Diego, and are letting fans back in. No word on what was in the mysterious package. BC up two with 3:30 to play. Craig Smith is a horse.

2:26: Boston College center John Oates fouls out with five points. Given that he’s an enormous bald-headed dude, he probably doesn’t get that many Darryl Hall jokes, but still, you gotta feel sorry for him… Pacific has cut the lead back to two, with about four minutes to play.

2:18: A minimalist news squib about the suspicious package, which apparently drew the attention of bomb-sniffing dogs. Here’s hoping it’s actually a misplaced box of steaks.

2:13: CBS just showed the empty arena in San Diego, where the fourth set of games is supposed to start soon. Apparently, the authorities cleared the arena in order to investigate a suspicious package of some sort. I hate the modern world.

2:09: We’re getting a better variety of commercials this year than last year. I haven’t actually wanted to chuck anything at the tv yet, which is an improvement. The back-to-back Mike Krzyzewski and Dick Vitale (shilling for Chevrolet and DiGiorno, respectively) combo was a little rough, though. I wonder if there’s some sort of economic indicator to be gotten from this? Wiscosin-Milwaukee has pushed it out to a solid double-digit lead.

2:00: I dozed off for a bit at halftime (they switched back to Seton Hall, and that game will put just about anybody to sleep). We’re back now, though, and nothing has really changed. BC has pushed it back out to an 8-point game, Wisconsin-Milwukee is up 11, and Wichita State is up 17.

1:31: And we go to the half with BC and Pacific tied. It’s been a pretty good game, in terms of the basketball being played.

1:17: Pacific comes back to tie the game. The Salt Lake City crowd was, well, audible. Which is an improvement. Seton Hall trails by 16 at the half, and UW-Milwaukee is headed for the half with a two-point lead.

1:04:CBS finally accepts that the Seton Hall game is a dog, and switches to one of the others. Inexplicably, they went to BC-Pacific rather than UW-Milwaukee-Oklahoma, which is the one game where a lower seed leads. Pacific is hanging in there, though, which is more than can be said for the Hall (now down 20).

12:56: A beautiful backdoor cut and lay-up from the Shockers. They’re playing some really nice ball. Despite the babble from the studio team, the other two games appear to be much more competitive (5 and 7 point margins, vs. 15.).

12:51: Seton Hall is really getting pushed around. Score one for the Missouri Valley conference over the Big East, at least in the early going. I’m going to start moving some of the earlier items behind the cut, so this post doesn’t eat the whole front page of the blog. And go squash some comment spam.

12:43: Good God. A guy from Wichita State just hit a forty-footer that barely moved the net. These guys are on fire. Up twelve at the under 12 tv time-out. Wisconsin-Milwaukee is up five, and BC is up 4-0 on Pacific.

12:35: Signs of life from the Hall, incuding a sweet block out of bounds. In the other game, Oklahoma has tied Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

12:29: Seton Hall is called for palming the ball! Amazing– do they still have that rule? Wichita St. is off to a ridiculously hot start.

12:24: So it begins, with Seton Hall vs. Wichita St. 4-4 at the first timeout. I’m not confident enough in our DSL to try to do the multiple game streaming thing, so I’ll be sticking to whatever is on tv here in Schenectady.