SIXTEEN GAMES: FRIDAY FUN FIRST ROUND FACTS

12PM GAMES

American vs. Tennessee (East)
This is American's first NCAA Tournament appearance—yeah, yeah, yeah. All well and good. Their frosh baller Nick Hendra? His dad is Tony Hendra, of This is Spinal Tap . As for the Vols, we all know Chris Lofton can ball, but did you know Miss America 2000 Heather French and Rosemary Clooney are from his hometown of Maysville, Kentucky? [Ed's note: Absolutely criminal that kid isn't playing for UK right now. Tubby, what were you thinking?]

Davidson vs. Gonzaga (Midwest)
Forget all this mid-major battling stuff. The Royal Shakespeare Company performed The Merchant of Venice in residency at Davidson in 2002, marking only the second time they took up residency at a US college. They came back in 2005 and 2007. Think culture doesn't apply in Spokane? The first Friday of every month is The Spokane Art Walk! ('Zaga students get discounts!)

St. Mary's vs. Miami (South)
Because March Madness is the best time of year to plug your own excellence, here's a cool video we did about St. Mary's. And while we're sure the ladies at Miami are as fetching, we don't have video evidence of it. But we do have this: Billy Packer calling Dwayne Collins "terrific" after he threw down a facial dunk . Them's high praise!

Western Kentucky vs. Drake (West)
In an article by Mag contributor Tommy Craggs on Slate yesterday , he called the Western Kentucky Hilltopper mascot the "most soulless mascot in all sports, and a backwoods cousin to Grimace." Ouch. No argument here, though. Drake? Yea, we did a video about 'em too.

THE 2PM GAMES

South Alabama vs. Butler (East)
Think 'Bama is just a football state? Check this: obviously the University of South Alabama ("USA" is their abbreviation, so if you don't pick them, the terrorists win) has in-state players (3 of them), but consider that Indiana's D.J. White, Georgetown's Jonathan Wallace and Cornell's Louis Dale (Ivy League Player of the Year) are also products of the Yellowhammer state. As for Butler, yeah, we did a video on them too. And uh, our own Fran Fraschilla once called A.J. Graves (Butler) "a real life Jimmy Chitwood." Cool!

Georgetown vs. UMBC (Midwest)
If you're a Hoya backer, you gotta have this shirt for the bar today. If you're a UMBC fan (we love the local flavor here), you should make the same shirt for Uwen Eshietedoho, who could have the best name in the entire Dance.

San Diego vs. Connecticut (West)
The second hit on Google for "Torero's" is some Mexican restaurant in Raleigh-Durham, NC (the actual USD website is #3). Weird. That perceived irrelevance might allow them to sneak up on Connecticut, which might be a smidge too concerned with their Scrabble skills than their 4 seed.

THE RANDOM 5PM GAME

Austin Peay vs. Texas (South)
The Austin Peay fight song begins: All Hail our Alma Mater, All Hail to Austin Peay/Forever faithful to thy standards will we ever be/We love thy campus beauty, serene in dignity. These kids are pretty arrogant, eh? Meanwhile, our man D.J. Augustin averaged 60 seconds of rest in Big 12 games this year. Sheesh, Rick Barnes. Sheesh.

THE 7:15PM GAMES

Mount St. Mary's vs. UNC (East)
Think you need divine inspiration to beat the Heels? Check. The National Shrine Grotto of Lourdes is on campus; it's the oldest known replica of the revered French shrine, and draws thousands of visitors a year. Meanwhile, UNC is very good. But you gotta hope they don't lose another title game, resulting in something like this .

St. Joseph's vs. Oklahoma (East)
Pat Calathes, St. Joe's best player, started high school at 5-10. He finished high school at 6-10, which is his listed height now. A 12-inch growth spurt in four years?! Unreal. Meanwhile, a cursory Google News search for "Oklahoma Men's Basketball" right now yields a 5 to 1 ratio of articles discussing how Jeff Capel might leave for South Carolina to articles discussing Oklahoma in the Dance. That's not a good sign.

Siena vs. Vanderbilt (Midwest)
The wife of Siena's coach can get a little feisty . Meanwhile, Shan Foster can ball, but he's also a musician (dropping a gospel track after the season). Get this, though: he lists Stevie Wonder as his all-time favorite artist, but the only Wonder song he can play is Ribbon in the Sky. Whaddup with that?

Oregon vs. Mississippi State (South)
Want to know what's a crime? Shoplifting. Honestly, another crime? If you type "Jarvis Varnado" into YouTube, you get nothing. Nada. He's 6-9, and averages almost 5 blocked shots ... Per game. Mississippi State could be a sleeper.

THE 9:30PM GAMES

Arkansas vs. Indiana (East)
One of our favorite names in the Dance? Sonny Weems of Arkansas, who leads the Hogs in PPG. He's not as big as the last dude to lead Arkansas to Monday night—Corliss "Big Nasty" Williamson—but he may be as nasty. Important thing to realize about Indiana: Eric Gordon is essentially playing for a Top 5 Draft pick. If they advance, and he can single-handedly beat UNC the way D-Wade did to Kentucky in 2003, that's likely going to help his stock. And he knows it.

Boise State vs. Louisville (East)
Here's why we love smaller schools: their coaches list their e-mail addresses right on the home page. Want to wish Greg Graham luck before he battles Pitino? Hit up ggraham@boisestate.edu. Alas, we don't have Pitino's e-mail, but we'll tell you this: Terrence Williams has 130 pairs of shoes. That's hot.

Villanova vs. Clemson (Midwest)
Is it us, or does high-energy forward James Mays look exactly like MadTV's Orlando Jones ? We're not sure at all how Villanova even got here, but we do know this: Scottie Reynolds was affected by Kelvin Sampson before it was hip to be affected by Kelvin Sampson; he initially committed to Oklahoma, but got to dump out when Sampson took the IU job.

UT-Arlington vs. Memphis (South)
Lou Diamond Phillips went to University of Texas at Arlington. Nasty. Meanwhile, Chance McGrady, the younger brother of T-Mac, plays for Memphis ... and may be dating Vida Guerra . That hyperlink may get you through what should be a 30-point rout.

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