The first day of the 2008 NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament is in the books, and it was quite the usual swamp of uninteresting games and a genuine lack of surprises. Not to say it was absolutely devoid of value, but it reminded me about the perils of getting excited during the first two days.
The one true intrigue of the day was the #2 Duke Blue Devils against the 15th-seeded Belmont Bruins. The supposedly undersized, undermanned, and under-appreciated team from Nashville lost to Duke on what was probably their only significant mental lapse of the game, in the final 12 seconds of regulation. The Dukies just barely advanced, and now have two potential problems: one, they obviously had to exert themselves far more than they expected to win their first game, and second, they were exposed as a team that has a hard time handling a quick, penetrating point guard (of which there are quite a few in this tournament). There's a decent chance the lights will get shot out Saturday in their game against WVU, where six starters on the court shoot 37% or better from behind the arc.
Of course, it's only fair that I mention the true lowlight of the night. You might think I'm talking about the 4-vs.-13 game between Washington State and Winthrop, where the teams were tied at 29 in the locker room, and Wazzu then went on to win 71-40. I'm not, though, because that was only the second worst game of the night.
The true horror show was the game between top-seeded UCLA and Mississippi Valley State. UCLA absolutely mopped the floor with them, as the Delta Devils' entire starting lineup scored 22 points, compared to the 20 points freshman Kevin Love scored by himself in a 70-29 game for which all the various websites aren't even bothering to put up the play-by-play. It was an all around bad game, including the lowest point total ever in the first round and the lowest point total since 1946. Thanks for coming, MVSU, send Jerry Rice our love.
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