Okay, we're halfway through the first day of March Madness. Lots of interesting action today, though no actual upsets. Still, several things worth discussing:
Washington State Es Bueno Outside Louisville's blowout, the best performance of the day came from the Cougars, who put on a clinic in the second half to bury a decent Oral Roberts team. They played good defense, scored efficiently, and utilized all their advantages. No question about it: they're better than I thought. The team we saw today has every right to think it can play with, and even beat, Georgetown. (By the way: anyone who tells you any region besides the East is the toughest one is smoking something good, and I want some.)
Night And Day In Lexington The Aggies used a smothering defensive effort to put away a pesky Penn squad, turning a 39-37 Penn lead into a 16 point win in no time. Despite the comfortable final margin of victory, there are three things that have to concern Aggie fans. First, Texas A&M wasn't having a great day on offense; to squash Penn, they amped up the defense, but expended a lot of energy doing so. Second, they turned the ball over too frequently - a weakness Louisville will be more than happy to exploit on Saturday. And third, the Cardinals absolutely blew out Stanford, which meant they were able to rest their key players and avoid expending a ton of energy. If Rick Pitino's smart (and he is), he's going to try to make this game a 40 Minutes of Hell barnburner. Will the Aggies have enough in the tank?
Upset Schmupset All the higher seeds have held serve so far today. This guarantees nothing, but expect some chaos soon. Things never go according to form.
Georgetown Can't Look Past Boston College The Hoyas are a better team than BC, but if they turn the ball over like they were in the first half today, Boston College is plenty capable of pulling an upset. For Texas Tech, they struggled terribly on defense, making life far too easy for Boston College on the offensive end.
More Madness Tonight! We're going to take a short break to chow some grub and reload, but we'll be back for more action tonight. Don't you just -love- this weekend? Anyway, Card Chronicle is your SBN Tourney Hub for the evening action. We'll be here at BON, as well.
--PB--