March Madness is here

Fun times are here again. The 2011 NCAA tournament kicked off in style today with some tremendous games early. It was amazing to watch these kids hit great shots in the clutch with time running out. For some reason, it feels like these guys do better in the clutch than their NBA counterparts. There are a few buzzer beaters here and there in the NBA, but there are way more in college, especially in March. It should be the better defense in the NBA or something. Also, the number of NBA teams and the player pool is pretty small and players know other players' tendencies and goto moves pretty intimately. In the tournament, schools that have never crossed paths in 20 years meet and anything can happen despite the best efforts by the coaches to prepare their players for the specific opponent. Not sure if it's real or just an illusion, but I thought these college games today featured a lot more big shots than your typical NBA games. I was totally thrilled to watch the fantastic finishes and amazing shots this morning and afternoon.

There were 6 really close games, though UCLA took a blow-out and unnecessarily made it close at the end. Brandon Knight sealed the deal for Kentucky against Princeton with a drive and a shot, though it's a credit to Princeton that Kentucky needed that to win. The better game-winner today belongs to Temple's Juan Fernandez against Penn State. He was stopped cold by the defender, but somehow found a way to use his pivot foot to jump away, create some space and hit that shot with the defender all over him. It was not quite "Kemba Walker against Pittsburgh" good, but a great shot nonetheless. Butler won on a buzzer-beater, but that one should be rough on Old Dominion because Matt Howard won it on a rebound and a put-back after the defense played good D and forced a bad shot. 13-Th seed Morehead State sent Rick Pitino and Louisville packing behind Demonte Harper's game winning 3. I think some of these kids should coach LeBron James and Dwayne Wade. In the same bracket, 12-Th seed Richmond got Vandy for the usual 12 over 5 upset. Thats becoming so common, I am surprised if 5-Th seed win these days. How did Utah State and Clemson lose?

Sydney Johnson, Princeton's head coach and Kalin Lucas, Michigan State's senior guard, both teared up at the post-game presser showing us why we love this event. The single-elimination, sudden-death format is thrilling, but it should also be heart-breaking to the players and coaches. Their entire season and in some cases, their college basketball careers come down to one shot and a few plays here and there. It's real tough. These guys still stay cool and focussed enough to take and make those game winners. Just the potential of ending some senior teammate's careers with a miss should put immense pressure on these kids. It's all part of the allure of the tournament. Speaking of the allure, Kemba Walker and Jimmer Fredette had big days and did nothing to hurt their star status. Jimmer's range is just incredible with some of his shots. The kid is going to need some help soon, but I will be watching him as long as he is playing. The "watching" was really fun today with the coverage across 4 channels. It's a brilliant idea and you never miss anything. Especially with the way they stagger the start time of these games, you get to enjoy the last 5 minutes of every game on a different channel and the action was continuos all day. This is exactly why I love the first weekend of the tourney more than the rest. Of course, the "first round" on Tuesday and Wednesday didn't do much for me except confuse me a little with the bracket. Anyways, can't wait for more of this tomorrow!