NCAA Tournament Blog - It's Not Easy Being Green

Before I recap today's actions here are the WCWP Pool Standings through Day One:

1. Matt Soldano - 14 pts

    Jason Comack - 14 

    Anthony DeFranco - 14 

    Mike Tramontozzi - 14 

2. Janine - 13 pts

3. Nick "Stone" Malone - 12 pts

4. Jordan Lauterbach - 11 pts

    Jesse Lauterbach - 11 

    Dan Cox - 11

5. Dave Soldano - 10 pts

    Bob Soldano - 10 

    

Wow, what a first night of college hoops.  The day was full of drama-filled action with a few Cinderella's up late but were unable to hold on.  Akron, American, Cal State Northridge were all beating their opponents (Gonzaga, Villanova, Memphis) in the 2nd half but in the end could not hold on.  One of the teams however, that did not challenge their opponent was Binghamton.  Yes, I did pick them, mostly cause I have family affiliation up there but they really let me down.  

The Bearcats started off in a physical manner...literally.  They had 7 fouls in roughly four and a half minutes which helped Duke get off to a quick start.  However, Bing cut it close as they trimmed the deficit to 37-31 but then ended up going into halftime down 11.  In the 2nd half it was all Duke as they led much of it in the 20's.  D.J. Rivera led all scorers with 20 points.  One of the biggest differences?  Free throw disparity: Binghamton: 1-5 Duke: 21-25.  (And Duke doesn't get all the calls....)

Moving on we had the game of the night where 6th seeded UCLA defeated everyone's sweetheart in 11th seeded VCU.  This game featured two of the best point guards in the game with Darren Collison and Eric Maynor.  Collison scored just 10 points but played great perimeter D (as seen on Maynor's last second misfire to try and win the game) and Maynor scored 21 points 6 rebounds and 7 assists in his final collegiate game.  This sets up a great matchup between Nova and UCLA in the second round.

Western Kentucky survived a major late scare from Illinois (but of course since there in the Big 10 they couldn't pull it out).  With the win, we have our very first 12-5 upset in the Tourney. WKU committed turnover after turnover which caused the Illini to climb out of a 68-51.  The final score? 76-72.  

Finally, Oklahoma cruised past 15th seeded Morgan State 82-54.  Blake Griffin dominated with 28 points and 13 rebounds while point guard Willie Warren chipped in with 16.  The Sooners shot 60% from the field while Morgan St. was held to just 28%.  

Make sure you check back on Friday for continuing coverage of the NCAA Tournament.  Mike T, and I will be blogging throughout the day with our impressions of the rest of the first round. Enjoy!