Day One recap

So, one side effect of all the games being broadcast separately is that I can watch at least a little bit of every one. In that spirit, here are at least a few words on every game:

West Virginia 84, Clemson 76.

Very surprising that an offensively-challenged Mountaineer team could put up this many points on a good defensive team in Clemson, and you have to wonder if the Tigers wore down after playing Tuesday and being given the early slot today ... I thought West Virginia's run to end the first half was key; not only did it tie the game, it kind of deflated Clemson, which had worked very hard and played very well for that lead ... Dalton Pepper salted the game away (see what I did there?) for WVU with consecutive steals and layups after Clemson had cut it to five late (apparently he got a third straight steal after I switched over to ODU-Butler) ... The officials bailed out Joe Mazzulla with that foul call with WVU up three on the possession before Pepper's first big steal. Mazzulla had been out of control all game, picked up his dribble in the trap, then threw himself on the floor hoping to buy a foul ... I thought Clemson went to its full court pressure a bit too early; it didn't work and only served to further tire them out.

Butler 60, Old Dominion 58.

Last year's runners-up advance on a Matt Howard layup at the buzzer after a big scramble. Hard to fault the ODU kids for not keeping a body on Howard instead of going after the loose ball ... I didn't watch too much of this game, but it seemed like every time I flipped over to it, the Monarchs were missing another layup ... I thought Brad Stevens made a mistake by rolling the dice with both of his foul-prone big men, Matt Howard and Andrew Smith, carrying three fouls early in the second half. Smith soon picked up his fourth, and has to wonder if his absence plus the fact that Howard needed to be a little careful contributed to some of ODU's good looks (which, fortunately for Butler, they missed). One thing I really respect about Stevens and Butler is how they just play their game and have faith in their system, but not reacting to the situation by staggering those guys through the middle part of the second half really could have come back to bite them ... Jay Bilas tweet near the end of this game: "ODU and Butler should be playing majors. The Committee couldn't pit them against Tennessee and Michigan? Better for the game, and easy." He's right. That particular decision also would have kept Old Dominion out of Washington, DC. I always think it's strange how we make a big deal about where, geographically, the top teams play, but pay so little attention to where the other teams go. Why should Ohio State, the tournament's top overall seed, have to play a potential second-round game against ODU in the Monarchs' backyard?

Morehead State 62, Louisville 61

Cutting right to the chase here: I loved the decision for Morehead State to go for the three, and the win, on its final possession. Always my preference when you are the underdog. Preston Knowles being out with an ankle injury made it a closer decision, but I love the idea, and you can't argue with the ultimate result. However, I hate the particular play call. When you hold the ball like that, you're signaling to the other team that you're going to take a three-pointer; it makes no sense to run the clock down just to go for the tie. Fortunately for Morehead State, the Louisville kids didn't seem to recognize it, and Demonte Harper drained the big three ... Clean block by Kenneth Faried to seal the game on Louisville's desperation possession ... Knowles' injury was the turning point of the game, it seems, but I thought at the time he made it that Terrance Hill's three at the end of the first half to knot it at 33 was huge. Morehead State had been leading most of the way before a late Louisville run. I don't really believe in "momentum heading into the locker room," but there's a big difference going in down three and going in tied, especially when you're the underdog ... Greg Anthony tweeted during the game that Faried is a pro, which I think is uncontroversial at this point. He compared him to the Utah Jazz's Paul Millsap, who led the country in rebounding all three years he played at Louisiana Tech. Faried just passed Tim Duncan as Division I's all-time leading rebounder, so that's where the comparison originates. Faried grabbed 17 rebounds against Louisville, but he also shot 4-for-17 from the floor, and I'm guessing those two stats are what Draft Express' Jonathan Givony had in mind when he mentioned that this game showcased Faried's strengths and weaknesses. For what it's worth, I was high on Millsap coming out of college, even though he seemed to have an unpolished offensive game, and he's turned out very well. Lots of similarities here with Faried.

Temple 66, Penn State 64

I didn't really have a chance to watch any of this game, unexpectedly, because of the Morehead State shocker. I did catch the end, however, and it's great to see kids making big shots like the ones Talor Battle and Juan Fernandez made. I would have liked to have seen Fernandez create a better look than the one he got, but he did a nice job not panicking, and used his size well on that game-winning leaner.

Kentucky 59, Princeton 57

Give credit to Brandon Knight for a very tough layup that won this one for Kentucky. I love the confidence that coach John Calipari had in Knight, and the confidence Knight had in himself, to take that shot after missing his first seven. In that situation, you give the ball to your best playmaker, no matter how cold he's been ... I thought Josh Harrellson was the player of the game for Kentucky. A lot was made of the advantage that the Wildcats had over the Tigers in terms of athletic ability, but in the end it was their height advantage that did the trick ... Relatedly, it's worth pointing out that Princeton made a ton of plays one-on-one. Everyone always assumes that Princeton succeeds with gimmicky backcuts and three-point shooting, and while they did some of that -- and the Princeton offense, the proper noun, is a thing of beauty --they really went toe-to-toe with the Wildcats. Those kids wearing the black uniforms are just good basketball players. Period.

Pittsburgh 74, UNC-Asheville 51

Only watched a few minutes of this one at the end when all the other venues were dormant. Pitt took care of business in the second half, apparently, after leading by only five at the break.

San Diego State 68, Northern Colorado 50

Barely caught any of this one, either. However, the fact that the Aztecs missed 11 straight shots at one point is why I can't advance them past Duke and into the Final Four. It happened in the regular season against BYU, too. The Blue Devils are prone to their own offensive slumps, but they're also a better team than SDSU and I just don't think the Aztecs are good enough consistently on O to prevail.

Richmond 69, Vanderbilt 66

Richmond was a popular upset pick, and while I didn't like Vandy very much, I picked them in part due to the "fade the public" strategy that burned me last year with Cornell. The other part of that decision was that I've consistently been underwhelmed by Richmond, and Kevin Anderson in particular. Heresy, you say, given Anderson's performance today? I'm not so sure. Yes, he had 25 points. Yes, he hit the game-icing shot, a very tough pull-up fade away that, admittedly, I love to take when I play. But he took 26 shots on the night overall, a very big number for a college player, especially so given how the Spiders slow the pace down. Anderson dribbles the air out of the ball, and it drives me crazy. He'll probably be able to get away with in the second round vs. Morehead State, too.

Florida 79, UC-Santa Barbara 51

The only snippets of this one I caught were at the beginning, when the other games hadn't started yet, and midway through the second half, when the other three games were at halftime. Looks like the Gators outclassed the Gauchos from start to finish ... I still like Michigan State to take out Florida on Saturday, but I do like Chandler Parsons. I'm making him an honorary Calathes ... Early upset pick for 2012 tournament: Long Beach State, who UCSB upset in the Big West final. Put it in a a drawer: The Beach will win a first-round game next year.

Connecticut 81, Bucknell 52

This game was over very early and with Wofford hanging close to BYU for most of the game, I didn't really watch any of it, other than the opening seconds. It looks like the jinx that often comes with conference tournament success didn't catch up with the Huskies, even as it hit Louisville, UConn's foe in the Big East title game. I would have liked to see a better performance from the Patriot League representative, and I'm sad that American University couldn't have been there after an outstanding regular season, but it looks like Connecticut is just hitting on all cylinders still.

BYU 74, Wofford 66

Nice win for the Cougars in a game in which they battled foul trouble and Jimmer Fredette didn't shoot all that well. Wofford is a good team that made the tournament last year and has some experience playing against players with unlimited range, having faced off against Andrew Goudelock and College of Charleston three times in Southern Conference play. Despite his 32 points, I thought Wofford did a nice job making life difficult for Fredette, who himself didn't make things any easier by forcing the action a great deal of the time ... If I were a BYU fan, the thing that would concern me about this game is that Wofford's Noah Dahlman shot 15 free throws (though two were technical free throws). Dahlman is a good player, but he's only 6'6". What are the Cougarrs going to do with Gonzaga's Robert Sacre? And the way the Zags shot the ball against St. John's, the zone that BYU relied on isn't going to be that effective, either.

Wisconsin 72, Belmont 58

I guess we all panicked a little bit after the Buckeyes' 36-33 loss to Penn State in the Big Ten tournament. Major-conference teams that don't turn it over and make their free throws aren't good upset candidates, now matter how futile their offense can look at times ... The teams picked up the offensive pace after the first ten minutes or so, but before then, with the score inching upwards at a snail's pace, the following three messages showed up in my Twitter feed, one after the other:

• Jay Bilas: "Is the shot clock turned off in the Wisconsin-Belmont game? Or are they getting a run in, playing by ones?
• Lost Lettermen: "If the NCAA had a sense of humor, they [would] give Wisco-Belmont a basketball with laces for the second half."
• Greg Anthony: "Wisconsin basketball might not be able to outscore Wisconsin football and they run the same offense."

UCLA 78, Michigan State 76

That the Spartans made a valiant run at the end is no surprise, and is a testament to Tom Izzo's ability as a coach and motivator. What did surprise me -- and it probably shouldn't have, given the way their season has gone -- is how little passion MSU played with on the way to a 24-point deficit ... As brilliant as Izzo's endgame was, and as well as the Spartans executed it, the Bruins were complicit, missing an incredible number of free throws down the stretch. This may be the rare instance where the win actually hurts the team's confidence. All anyone is going to want tto talk to UCLA about for the next day is how they almost choked a 24-point lead away. It's up to Ben Howland to make sure his team focuses on the first 32 minutes while retaining the lessons of the final eight. (And speaking of a different final eight, the Spartans are my first Elite Eight team out of the tourney; I've lost three-fourths of my Sweet 16 in Pittsburgh's region.)

Cincinnati 78, Missouri 63

Give the Bearcats credit: After a rocky start and with the exception of a stretch in the middle of the second half, they did a nice job of weathering Missouri's frantic pace. The Tigers are a maddening team, because they go through stretches where they look unbeatable, creating steals, making jumpers, scoring in bunches. But they went cold for a long stretch at the end of the first half and to start the second half, and the result was a hole that was too deep to dig out of ... I also underestimated the effect Cincy's rebounding edge would have on this game ... UC's win set up a second-round game with UConn, a rematch of the February 27 game in the Queen City that the visiting Huskies won by eight.

Gonzaga 86, St. John's 71

Tough loss for Steve Lavin and the Red Storm. Both teams came out on fire -- the big difference here was that while SJU cooled off, Gonzaga didn't. It's hard to say how much the Johnnies missed D.J. Kennedy, who ripped up his knee in the Big East tournament, but the Bulldogs had a such a big advantage inside that the presence of the 6'5" Kennedy probably wouldn't have made a difference in the outcome of the game.

Kansas State 73, Utah State 68

This game was called extremely tightly in the first half, from what I saw, and as a result, I though Utah State -- the less-talented offensive team -- struggled to find a rhythm. The Aggies put forth a valiant effort, but I thought the Wildcats, Jacob Pullen in particular, closed very well offensively. Defensively, they committed a couple of really stupid fouls that you know had Frank Martin seething, but this was a good performance.

Recaps from the last few games of the night are scarcer not because I lost steam, but because they were all kind of dull and then all got slightly interesting at around the same time, so I was bouncing from game-to-game a lot and not getting much feel. I'm not sure how much I like being able to switch like this; I might enjoy the games more if I stuck with one -- as long as it was decent -- from buzzer-to-buzzer. Might try that tomorrow; we'll see.