Day one observations

Late-night games look to all be decided except for the final scores so let's get to it the quick recap

How great is to have four games going at once? Big screen, picture-n-picture, computer, and laptop! Amazing being able to watch all four games. Thank you CBS/Turner and of course NCAA.

Clemson came out on fire and looked to prove my theory right about a team already played in a tournament atmosphere will be more prepared than a team with in this case a superficial bye. But Huggins got the Mountaineers going it seemed toward the end of the first half. West Virginia tied and then steamrolled it through for the rest of the game.

Left that game midway through the first half - there was this other game with some school called Butler playing. I wouldn't know how that turned out.

I saw where some people were picking Morehead State over Louisville in my pool. At first I just thought OK, they just hate Louisville. Then the game began and I scoreboard watched for awhile and the Eagles were up nine. Then Louisville came back and the lead went back-and-forth and then just when you thought the Cardinals and Pitino would escape, the Eagles landed a 3 for the win.

After seeing Penn State last week in Indianapolis during the Big 1(1)0, I really thought with the No. 10 seed against Temple, the Nittany Lions could pull it off and also make some damage for brackets that had San Diego State going to the Final Four. It was the game I thought it would be and Penn State hung tough but in the end a clutch such by the Owls gave them the victory and there was no way with 0:00.4 the Nittany Lions would get a prayer to go through.

And how about Kentucky holding on for dear live against Princeton? The Wildcats can't do that against the Mountaineers Saturday and think they have a chance to the Sweet 16; Cats dodge a bullet there with Knight's runner at the end. Princeton looked prime for the upset, but couldn't hold on to their edge. This isn't your father's Princeton team either. They actually like to get out and run some and have some bigs in the frontline that could give teams some problems to play against.

Of course what' an NCAA tournament without 12 over 5 game. That's what we got with Richmond over Vanderbilt. The Spiders got 25 points from Kevin Anderson. Hard to believe it's been 13 years since Richmond's first round upset of South Carolina. Rest assured whenever I see Richmond in the field, I pick them for the first round.

Had Belmont too and well Wisconsin finally decided to play some offense tonight and squashed any idea we had of two mid majors and possible Cinderellas battling for the right to go to the Sweet 16 on Saturday.

As much as I enjoy the fact last year Butler got to the national championship game before Gonzaga and when you look at the resumes over the last five years Butler is ahead of the 'Zags, it was still impressive to see Mark Few and his team pound St. John's as they did. Obviously DJ Kennedy out with his torn ligament in his knee was bigger than first thought for the Red Storm. Then again though the Johnnies weren't playing at Madison Square Garden either. Gonzaga impressed me tonight. I think they are going to make life difficult for the Jimmer and BYU on Saturday.

Michigan State and UCLA - the roller coaster game of the day. UCLA jumps out big and Michigan State looks to be done; then the Spartans comeback; then UCLA builds the lead back up; and in the final four minutes of the game Michigan State's flurry looks like it will catch the Bruins. Unfortunately the rally didn't begin at the under 8:00 timeout or they would have. UCLA survives for a date with No. 2 Florida.

Utah State, which on paper looked to be better than a 12 seed against Kansas State. The Wildcats, who lost to Butler in the regional final last year, came out and looked every bit like that team from a year ago. Kansas State had struggled through the year but looked to be getting things on the right track especially in this one. The Aggies big men got in foul trouble early and the Wildcats took full advantage and held on for the seven point win.

Not going to go into great detail about the other games. They all pretty much went the way I thought they would except the Cincinnati-Missouri game. It began with Missouri jumping out quickly, but Mick Cronin's team (which I saw more as a 8-9 seed than I did a six) went on a run and forced the Tigers to play catch up the rest of the game and they never did.

The afternoon games led to all the excitement of this March Madness beginning. In all three buzzer beaters, two upsets and a couple of shocking outcomes that I didn't even see coming from a blowout standpoint.

Tomorrow's game should be just as interesting especially with games from seeds 3 through 14.