Day One Dud

The first day of the tournament has come and gone with a wimper. It was a very good day for anyone in the chalk business. The only exciting part of the day was the annoying Blue Devils' near lose to Belmont. It was not a difficult decision when it came to choosing between pulling for Duke to lose or pulling for my bracket (I inexplicably have Duke in the Elite Eight), not pulling for Duke to lose is not allowed in my house. It is not clear why Belmont decided to stop playing defense while Gerald Henderson drove right down the middle of the court to hit the game winning lay-up. I guess sometimes evil does triumph over good. As for my three "upset" picks, I was 1 for 3 (a rare good day if you are hitting lead-off for the L.A. Dodgers). Michael Beasley won the day with 23 and 11 to O.J. Mayo's 20 and 5 assists. This was probably the last we will see of Mayo at the college level, despite recent reports to the contrary. West Virginia continues to be the most annoying team not named Duke. I thought their stock might fall in this category without Mike Gansey's oversized t-shirts and Kevin Pittsnogle, but I was wrong. Bayless was nowhere to be found in his game, thus why they lost. It is inexplicable why this team is not better. I would like to take this opportunity to remind the Baylor Bears that it is common courtesy to call if you are not going to show up for work. I have a strict policy when it comes to no-call/no-shows, basically I won't pick you.

As for today's games, CBS has done a good job of putting most of the day's most intriguing matchups on at the same time (Davidson-Gonzaga, Miami-St. Mary's, Drake-Western Kentucky all tip-off in the first session). Regarding "upsets," this is what I have today:

--Davidson over Gonzaga-If Curry scores more than 25 points, Davidson will win. Davidson played as impressive an out-of conference schedule as any team in the country. Their six losses include losing to UNC by four, Duke by six, UCLA by eight, and N.C. State by one. This is a dangerous team.
--St. Mary's over Miami-These team's could just as easily have their seeding reversed. Neither team is really that impressive, thus there is no real analysis behind this pick.
--Villanova over Clemson-There is always a 12 that beats a 5 and Clemson seems ripe for the picking here. While Clemson played well in the ACC tournament, this team is not a legitimate #5 seed. Look for Scottie Reynolds to shoot this team into the second round.

UNC needs to win big to answer UCLA's challenge.