Round of 64: Day Two

We’re back with Billy Packer and Jim Nantz for our firt tipoff, Davidson v. Gonzaga. I’ve got Gonzaga advancing and they score first on a floater. Our research team tells me than 60% of the time the higher seed scores first, they win everytime.

SJ will be joining us a little later as it’s 9 a.m. his time.

12:25 ET — Sort of miss having Josh Heytvelt in the starting lineup as we can’t make a cliched and overused joke about shrooms. Well, maybe thats for the better. The Zags start things out smokin’ to take the 10-4 lead and then forget how to play defense and give up a layup.

12:31 — Off in the corner American is leading Tennessee by four with 33 minutes to go in the game . . . it was worth mentioning.

12:36 — Top-five thing college basketball should teach players not named Greg Oden but doesn’t: how to effectively block shots. How many times to we see bigger and more athletic guys on higher seeds swat a floater back outside only for someone to pick it up for a high-percentage 3-ball? This is how upsets happen. Somewhere, Bill Russel is crying.

12:38 — Stephen Curry aka Mini-Monta Ellis, has made it pretty clear that this is his game. 15-15 with 12:33 left.

12:40 — Its a Heytvelt sighting! This strange beast is rarely seen on the hardwood savanah, will he adopt the lion’s roar or scamper like a meerkat?

12:43 — Just hicupped some vitamin water up my nose during the commercial break when I read the Cowboys are attempting to trade for Pacman Jones before he has even been reinstated. I’m picking sides early on this one, do it Jerry Jones, do it.

12:45 — Took me about 10 seconds to realize we were watching Western Kentucky, and by the time I realized it, we were on St. Mary’s (my pick) and Miami to watch one guy shoot a free throw before we jumped to Tennessee and back to Zaga. I love having ADD…oh wait.

12:47 — Zaga’s little run puts them up 25-17. Curry is going to have to come up with at least 25-28 points for Davidsson to have a chance.

12:53 — Packer tells us Davidsson is starting to panic. After just blowing an easy 2-on-1 break and finding themselves down 28-17, its understandable. They don’t look capable of an upset. Gonzaga’s zone looks on D are working too well.

12:58 — A 7-0 run later and its closed to 28-24 Zaga. Don’t fret if you’re in Spokane, Wash. Those points came off a Curry 3 (you’ll accept those), a hustle putback on a missed layup and off a bad pass from Zaga. There’s another steal by Dson but Zaga gets it back. Its hard to win when you can’t score out of your offensive sets.

1:07 — Pendergraf fouls Richardson on an off-balance 3-ball and Packer chimes in to say it was probably an unnecessary foul . . . no really.

1:15 — 41-36 Zaga at the half. If they can plug the gap in the turnover dam then there’s no reason Zaga can’t pull away, unless Curry has something to say about it. Normally I’d say Zaga is depending too much on Gray’s 3s, but they’ve all been reasonable shots. Our upset watch will be focused on Western Kentucky, which has a five point lead on Drake. Bracket-wise, you always root for upsets that don’t involve one of your sweet-sixteen teams because its going to hurt the rest of your pool much more than you. Bill Simmons will be happy to see Drake has a complete whitewash going on. Meanwhile, O’Leary misses a putback dunk for St. Mary’s at the buzzer but they still make me look good with a five point lead on Miami at the half.

1:27 — Tennessee v. American is back on so we’ll stick with them for awhile. Whoever the announcer was in that 30 seconds said “sometimes you just have to play the game.” Again, really?

1:30 — Oh Applebees, always teasing me with your tantalizing appetizers. Citrus Teriyaki Wings?! What will they think of next.

1:32 — Every so often CBS has been cutting to black while maintaining audio for 3-8 seconds. This has all the makings off a disaster situation during a last-second shot.

1:37 — Just trading 3’s now. Gray stays hot, as does Curry. There’s still 16 minutes left but this feels like a game that’s only going to give Davidsson one shot at a big run before Zaga extendes their lead too much. It’s 54-43.

Aaaaand that’s SJ’s music, here he comes down the ramp.

SJ 1:43 — Why Davidson won’t win this game?? No defense. I Swear every two seconds someone from Gonzaga is blowing by a defender and kicking it out for an open 3. If Drake and Davidson both let me down I think I’ll be sick.

SJ 1:46 — I would make fun of CBS for cutting to the American/Tennessee game but there’s 11 minutes left, its now tied and…holy crap is that a rowdy section from American??? Belmont part 2??

Coup 1:47 — Nothing would help my bracket more than Tennessee losing and pissing off everyone who chose to ignore the angel on their left shoulder and put them in the Sweet 16.

Coup 1:49 — Why does that Sheraton commercial show UNC and Duke fans standing outside getting soaked in the rain. If you’re a hotel, isn’t your message that you can keep people warm and out of the rain?

SJ 1:48 — No surprise, Tennessee flips the switch on D and gets a shot-clock violation. Predictable?? I think so.

Coup 1:51 — Thank you Michael Jordan, for those goosebumps.

SJ 1:52 — That Sheraton commercial is just plain creepy, I swear everytime I see the Syracuse fan rub the ranch off that guy’s beard I shiver.

SJ 1:53 — By the way another three and Tennessee is getting ready to put the nail in American’s coffin

Coup 1:54 — Completely agreed. Wow, one thing you cannot afford to do during an upset bid is turn the ball over by stepping out of bound on the inbounds. American dodges the bullet when Tenn misses a 3.

SJ 1:54 — Anyone else see Miami took that lead back from St Mary’s before the first media timeout? Unreal. I’d like to thank March Madness on Demand for going BLACK on me. Not a good morning so far.

SJ 1:55 — AHHHHHH! CHARGE!! DAVIDSON’S COMING BACK!! LET’S GOOOOOOOOO. IT’S CURRY TIME.

Coup 1:56 — Looks like Curry does have the Mojo to make this a game.

SJ 1:56 — I didn’t know Jasper from Kentucky had a twin brother who goes to Gonzaga. Or maybe he switched teams. This is illegal, someone call the NCAA.

Coup 1:57 — What. A. Pass. Mr. Gray.

SJ 1:57 — Jasper…I mean Daye with a jumper and the lead is back up to 7. I really wish Davidson could play D.

Coup 1:58 — Sadly, they can’t. St. Mary’s down 7 and Drake is down 8. Not a bad way to kick things off.

Coup 2:00 — Can’t decide if BK’s talking bed commercial is funny. “I can be filled with cheese.” Yeah, not funny.

SJ 2:00 — This is a horrible way to kick it off. I’m about to lose three games! And a Sweet 16 team. Drake and BYU are *this* close from making me hate white people. Someone tell Simmons that whiteouts just don’t work.

Coup 2:01 — I love it when other people lose Sweet 16 teams and I don’t. Then again, I picked Kansas St. over Wisconsin so whatever lead I have in my pool could evaporate.

SJ 2:02 — I’m really angre that American won’t die by the way. This means CBS is going to want to cut away at a horrible time

Coup 2:03 — Wow. Stephen Curry looking like his pops. Tie ballgame folks.

SJ 2:03 — NONE OF THAT MATTERS IT’S CURRY TIME!!! Davidson’s bench is meeting the team at half court…Gonzaga’s barely got up. MOMENTUM SWUNG.

SJ 2:04 — I can’t be the only one who is absolutely sick of Jared from Subway.

Coup 2:04 — Huge score for Zaga out of the timeout, but Davidson responds. Heytvelt fouled on a dunk (missed) and will shoot freebies. D-son loses Andrew Lovedale with his 4th foul. Considering they were already having some trouble inside, that’s not a good sign. H-velt goes 1-2. Davidson take its first lead of the day, they get the steal but TURN IT
OVER.

SJ 2:05 — Miami and Western Kentucky are both pulling away right now. Davidson is my only shot at redemption…I seriously can’t stress how frustrating it is to depend on them actually playing defense. I feel bad for people who actuall have money on this game

SJ 2:07 — By the way Richards from Davidson looks like someone I would get in a fight with during a pick-up game. Just throwing that out there.

Coup 2:07 — Richards misses a fast break layup off a steal. I’ll point out the obvious and say that’s not going to help anybody.

SJ 2:07 — Richards just blew a huge layup. I want to punch him.

SJ 2:09 — Is anyone else disappointed in Davidson’s crowd? I thought for sure it would be bigger and louder I mean they are in NC after all. Sheesh.

Coup 2:09 — Mark Few, this is when you make your paycheck. Get your team back in this thing. Steven Gray does it for him, hitting another 3. 70 all. Gray has been Ginobili-in-2005’s-first-three-Finals-games clutch.

SJ 2:12 — I knew they’d cut to this stupid Tennessee/American game. I mean lets give it up, American gave them a scare, Tennessee responded and lets leave it at that.

SJ 2:17 — PAULUS-GOSSLING TIME!!!! I think I spelled it right. I like how Packer basically said he sucked without actually saying it.

SJ 2:18 — Why Davidson isn’t flashing Curry into the middle of that zone (it’s so wide open) is ridiculous.

Coup 2:19 — ATT’s commercials get a 3 out of 5. Decent idea, but the delivery leaves something to be desired.

Coup 2:20 — Um, Sonic, if your Happy Hour was from 2-4 p.m., shouldn’t it be Happy Hours? And who has happy hour at 2 p.m.?

Coup 2:22 — Unless St. Mary’s comes back and Zaga doesn’t choke, I’m looking at a possible 1-of-4 morning for my bracket. Considering I have no money on it, I don’t know why I care, but I do.

SJ 2:24 — Seriously…why aren’t they flashing Curry in the middle instead of Lovedale.

Coup 2:25 — I’m-better-than-Jannero Pargo with the layup to tie it up. OH CURRY ARE YOU KIDDING ME FOR THREE?! 77-74 Davidson.

SJ 2:25 — Play of the game is Lovedale’s offensive rebound. CURRY TIME with another three-ball.

Coup 2:27 — How big is Lovedale. First the offensive rebound then he pulls down the HEE-UGE defensive board and tells everyone else to go play golf. He could put them up 5. He does.

SJ 2:27 — Someone tell me why Daye (aka Jasper’s brother) is the one taking the shots. Someone please explain that to me? Both of them have messed their teams up on back to back days.

Coup 2:29 — Holy crap that’s an Adam Morrison sighting. Looks like he’s about to cry and he’s not even playing. At first I thought he was the kid who gave up his life to live in the wilderness from Into the Wild. Actually, it still could be.

SJ 2:28 — Adam Morrison looks about as scary as ever. I need miracles from Drake and St Mary’s. I still believe.

Coup 2:30 — Davidson playing good defense when they needed it. They are like Shaq shooting free throws, sucks all game until they are “important.” Well, 2000-2002 Shaq at least.

SJ 2:31 — It had to be done…he’s really have a bad DAYE. Chuckle damnit.

Coup 2:31 — Really?

Coup 2:31 — Curry going to the line to add to his 37 point total. Consider this game, set, match. First one falls like butter off a hot iron. Second one just as good. 7 point game. 9.7 seconds left. Zaga needs more than a miracle. All Davidson has to do is hit free throws. I’m pretty sure Curry will do that. Hiccupped on the first free throw. Second one is good. Let’s zero in on Ammo’s tear ducts.

Coup 2:37 — Drake is down five with three minutes left. There’s still a chance.

SJ 2:38 — Did he just call him Kyle Korver??? Come on Drake.

SJ 2:39 — Oh the brothers are in for Drake and now and they’re messing up too. Taking deep three balls…unnecessary fouls. What’s going on!

Coup 2:41 — Leonard Houston says MOMENTUM IS MINE with a dunk. Then he misses a 3, but gets it to Young on a fast break for a possible and1, NO. But Young to the free-throw line. First one good, second one good. Four point game.

Coup 2:42 — Young from about 478 feet for 3. One point game. What is Western K doing?

SJ 2:42 — Is Western Kentucky REALLY giving this game away??

SJ 2:44 — By the way Western Kentucky looks shakier than Britney Spears right now.

Coup 2:45 — And we’re tied. Was there any doubt that Cox 3 was falling?

Coup 2:47 — Terrible offensive foul call on Slaughter for this point in the game. His arm was out, but that’s not a 26-seconds-left call.

Coup 2:48 — Going into overtime, Western Kentucky is in TROUBLE.

Coup 2:51 — We’re just told Drake is very “remindful” of Belmont. Someone’s been drinking Roger Clemens brand coffee.

SJ 2:53 — Brazelton looks like he’s the only one who wants to play for WK right now. It’s like they’ve already lost. Its sad. There really is no Cinderella.

SJ 2:55 — CBS cuts away from this Drake game and I’m getting a white girl to write a letter I don’t care.

Coup 2:56 — Young hits another 3 and we get this, “So good to be young.” We’ve already had “Only the good die Young.” All we need now is a Youngblood reference.

SJ 2:58 — What a shocker BRAZLETON with the three. Has Korver made a three??? I swear I’ve seen him miss like ten in a row….WHY THE HECK DID WESTERN KENTUCKY FOUL???

SJ 2:59 — It’s a tie game…they just needed a stop….WHAT?!??! They might not let that brotha go back to Western Kentucky. Dang.

Coup 3:04 — What a sequence. Drake gets about five tip-in opportunities and finally get fouled. Cox, first one good for the tie. Cox for the lead . . . GOOD! Drake 99-98 with 5.7 seconds left.

Coup 3:08 — Wow. Just. Wow.

SJ 3:08 — No…friggin….way….

Coup 3:08 — Rogers over THREE defenders. You are going to see that replayed over, and over, and over and over.

SJ 3:09 — Oh March Madness you tease me so…

Coup 3:28 — Why are we still watching Georgetown – UMBC. It may be tied at 12, but trust me, I’ve been sideline for UMBC games this year, they are not winning this game unless G-Town puts it on a silver platter with diamonds on the edges. But we’re talking about a 15-seed against a 2-seed, so that should be obvious.

Coup 3:37 — You wouldn’t know it watching CBS, but there’s a close one brewing between South Alabama and Butler. Speak of the devil, CBS switches over. I must be careful with these powers.

Coup 3:46 — Hasheem Thabeet looks like the perfect guy for the Sonics to trade down and draft. If they don’t take DeAndre Jordan, you know this is happening. Robert Swift isn’t lasting much longer.

Coup 3:48 — After all the intensity of the morning games, these contests feel like a mild-daze. Even the announcers are talking a little slower.

Coup 3:54 — So much for that Butler nail biter; they are up on South Alabama by 17 at the half.

Coup 3:57 — Not a huge fan of UConn, but they are missing some easy inside buckets and have looked lethargic on defense. San Diego better hope they can keep them asleep long enough so by the time Calhoun wakes his team up, they look at the scoreboard and find themselves down 12.

Coup 4:04 — AJ Price goes down with an apparent knee injury after literally having it go out from under him in mid-air. I saw this happen to Damon Stoudamire last season, and it turned out to be a torn MCL. Let’s hope that’s not the case for Price.

Coup 4:18 — SD doesn’t look like a team playing to over its head right now and without Price, UConn is in for a real game. I’ve been distracted by the Blazers’ podcast about Oden’s rehab. I’m so hyped about this.

SJ 4:20 — There should be a rule that two 2 vs. 15 games should never ever ever be on at
the same time. Ever. Write CBS.

Coup 4:30 — UConn is in big trouble down five at the half, looking pretty awful at times and with AJ Price on crutches. That’d be my first Sweet 16 team out, but I bet not many people had them going much further than that ie. beating UCLA.

SJ 4:31 — This slate of games just is not doing it for me. A horribly overmatched South Alabama team (for some reason a popular sleeper because they were in Birmingham like the fans could actually play or something), two 2 vs. 15 matchups and a horribly dull San Diego/UConn where I can’t even be interested that San Diego is winning. And I’ve only watched the last two minutes.

Coup 5:17 — Somehow UConn has closed this game to within one. I say somehow because I’ve literally been watching half-asleep with my eyes half closed and couldn’t say other than it’s been a long and arduous process — which is exactly what I said SD needed to do, keep UConn asleep. They might be waking up, and so am I.

Coup 5:34 — Despite the comepletely underwhelming crowd, this UConn game is getting entertaining, almost by default because it’s close. But man is it not as intense as you would think it would be, thank god I didn’t put UConn higher than the 16.

Coup 5:38 — “This ain’t Carmen San Diego.” Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Coup 5:51 — Overtime in Tampa. San Diego is here on heart and hustle. UConn is here on sheer size and talent. As such, my heart says SD, my gut says UConn. My gut usually wins. Wow Pomere gets a big block on one end then drains a 18 footer to extend the lead to 4.

Coup 5:55 — Thabeet seems to have decent hands, but why on earth wont he dunk the damn ball? It’s not like he doesn’t have explosiveness.

Coup 5:57 — Nice move inside by Avery. The announcers have pointed this out, but Johnson for SD is limping as he runs. Give the man his due. One point game.

Coup 5:59 — UConn takes the lead on a screen alley-oop layup. I hate to sound pretentious, but SD deserves the win much more. Rob Jones agrees with me, drawing a falling away and1 against Thabeet for a possible two point lead with 24.9 left. FT missed, one point lead SD.

Coup 6:05 — SD has the ball, down one, with 5.2 remaining. We’ve already seen one buzzer beater today, would another be too much to ask?

Coup 6:06 — It wasn’t too much to ask after all. Jackson with the beautiful falling away jumper from the right wing to give SD the one point lead with 1.2 seconds left. The basketball gods are smiling on Tampa, Florida.

Coup 6:09 — SAN DIEGO WINS. SAN DIEGO WINS. And their 30 fans go crazy. Mr. Jackson, welcome to your 15 minutes, make them last.