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Marquette G Travis Diener:
Sophomore 6-footer had 17 at halftime and finished with a career-high 29 points.
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The Lead Item
Two Words For You:
DAY. ONE.
As Stanford out-runs never-say-die San Diego in the
"bridge" game between the two afternoon sets and the
two night sets, it's a good time to take stock of the
day:
No real upsets (unless you count 9 'Zaga over 8
Cincy, which you shouldn't), but a ton of close games.
Holy Cross was denied a monumental upset (third year
running) over Marquette, and a skinny Cal frosh
stroked a game-winner in the face of long and lean NC
State.
Speaking of skinny, Marquette's Travis Diener
was the early MVP, carrying the Golden Eagles when
superstar Dwyane Wade couldn't find the basket.
Meanwhile, Bob Huggins was tossed before he
could watch yet another one of his Cincy teams bow out
of the tournament early (and his team radio analyst
went with him).
Upstart double-digit seeds BYU (of the
bracket-snafu BYUs) and Southern Illinois (of the '02
Sweet 16 SIUs) kept it close, but fell to traditional
powerhouses from the Big East (UConn) and the Big 12
(Missouri).
And the No. 1 seeds (Arizona and Oklahoma) ran
over road-weary Vermont and South Carolina State.
Saturday's second round is no place for the weak.
Meanwhile, check out the Daily Quickie at its
regular 9 a.m. time slot tomorrow, and be on the
lookout for the second half of the first-round Tourney
Quickie, around noon ET.
5:08 ET
While the 16-seeds are limping to a finish against the
No. 1 powerhouses, 11-seed Southern Illinois missed a
game-winner at the buzzer and lost by a point to
Mizzou, which has "bandwagon" written all over it.
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"AND, JUST THINK, I COULD BE WORKING" EDITION |
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| CONVERSATION TOPICS THAT ARE IN PLAY: |
1 Marquette's Dwyane Wade's NBA Lottery stock dropping
2 Yes, 8/9 games really matter!
3 UConn: Enough talk about the BYU snafu |
| CONVERSATION TOPICS THAT ARE SO OVER: |
1 Gonzaga: No mystique again this year (wrong!)
2 S. Carolina St, Vermont: Hope you enjoyed your stay!
3 Afternoon upsets. Let's hope the evening has more |
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5:01 ET
Despite two 1 vs. 16 blow-outs, the first afternoon is
ending on a wild note, with upstart (and '02 Sweet
16'er) Southern Illinois giving Missouri all it can
handle.
4:47 ET
The NCAA can breathe easy: The BYU bracket-busting
snafu is a non-issue now that the Cougars have been
eliminated by UConn. On top of that, the tournament is
officially oh-for-one on the traditional 12/5 upset.
Two more chances tonight, though.
4:19 ET
The two No. 1 seeds playing have pulled away from
their previously pesky No. 16 opponents, but BYU has
clawed its way back into a game with UConn. And it's a
12-5 game, so you know where it's going ...
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4:01 ET
The most creative player of the tournament so far is
Vermont's David Hehn, a soph from Canada (of all
places), who seems to do something fancy every time he
touches the ball. Who knew Sarnia, Ontario was such a
streetball hotbed?
3:58 ET
And what about those No. 1 seeds? Neither Oklahoma nor
Arizona is shooting particularly well, something they
can afford to do against teams they can physically
overpower -- but a condition they better lose in future
rounds.
Tourney Quickie: Click here for the entire day's running commentary.
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Work productivity:
Estimated $1.8 billion down the tubes during the Big Dance.
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| West regional: Who wins, best player, more |
VOTE at SportsNation
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Today on ESPN.com
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| P2: The Wacky Bracket |
| Bracket Breakdown |
| Scoreboard |
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Coming tomorrow: the Tourney Quickie returns, noon
ET ...
Manhattan/Syracuse starts the day at 12:15 ET ...
Could be brutal for my bracket; I've got 'Cuse losing
to Kentucky in title game ...
Other early-afternooners: Auburn/St. Joes
(interesting), IUPUI/Ky (yikes) ...
Late-afternooners: Penn/Okla St, E-Tenn St/Wake,
Purdue/LSU, Utah/Oregon ...
Who did the Quickie pick? Click here to see my bracket ...
Consider calling in sick. C'mon, it's Friday ...
The Tourney Quickie returns for Friday afternoon,
too ...
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