Bracket = f*cked

WOW! What a goddamn first day! We had FIVE double-digit seeds get a first round victory and a couple others come pretty damn close. Outside of Kansas State, every game was wildly entertaining. I will admit that I didn't see this many upsets coming...obviously. I picked G'town to go down in rd two, but if you picked that one then you were employing the "girlfriend" method of picking or you are a "girlfriend."
Here's a recap of the night's action. (See yesterday's posts for the earlier games).

#1 Kentucky 100 - #16 East Tennessee State 71
Kentucky had no problems in this one. I won't waste much time on it. They look good.

#1Kansas 90 - #16 Lehigh 74
The soon-to-be champs kicked some ass, and look to be well on their way to the title. Obviously, that is a gross over-statement, but you gotta go one at a time. And they handled biz.

#8 UNLV 66 - #9 Northern Iowa 69
Well...for all my pandering and shit talking during the year, this team looks pretty decent. I don't think they have a shot in round 2, but they beat UNLV in an entertaining mathcup. The big guy with the DUI is pretty nice. So is the Middle Eastern guy...Farokhmanesh.

#3 Georgetown 83 - #14 Ohio 97
Well, well, well. I think you can add coach Thompson III to that list of choke-artist coaches now. Just like his old man he falls short more often than not in the tourney. He's a cocky SOB and that rubs off on his guys who are routinely unprepared to play in this tournament. Ohio looked beastly. We'll see if they can keep that momentum going.

#11 San Diego State 59 - #6 Tennessee 62
This game was awesome. I was pulling for SDSU the whole time. I always liked Steve Fischer, and their little guard was a nice player. In the end UT was too much. I had SDSU and G'Town in this section of the bracket. Ouch!

#6 Washington 80 - #11 Marquette 78
The Huskies looked better than I expected coming from the terrible PAC-10. They played well late in the year, and may be peaking at the right time. They have great athleticism and seem to make big shots (At least in this game). I actually had Marquette as my sleeper to the Elite 8. That was dumb, and I regretted it once the brackets locked. Damn. This game was back and forth though, and maybe my favorite game of the day.

#5 Butler 77 - #12 UTEP 59
I really hate Butler. They're the new Gonzaga with all the curly-haried white guys and somewhat athletic black guys not good enough to play in the PAC-10 (until this yr) and they are just not entertaining to me. I really wanted UTEP, and they were a popular pick here, but just didn't have enough.

#3 New Mexico - #14 Montana
The Grizzlies almost pulled out another upset last night. This game looked to be wrapped up for UNM about half way through the 2nd and then after the Wake Forest buzzer beater they went to this game and it was a one-point affair! I don't think my heart could have handled it! Luckily, The Lobos got a couple stops and some big buckets down the stretch. They do not look impressive thus far for a #3.

#8 Texas - #9 Wake Forest
Texas wrapped up the season in fitting fashion - disappointment. An unbelievably talented, yet mismanaged and uninspired roster found themselves in an 8/9 game against the Deacons after being the #1 team in the country at one point, and a popular pick to unseat KU in the Big12. Yet, they fizzled under Rick Barnes amidst some injury issues and poor play. This game was, as well, awesome and went to OT. For most of OT the victory looked like a forgone conclusion for Texas and then everything went to shit. It started with a bad offensive foul (the play not the call) and then some missed free-throws and Damion James fouling out. Ari Stewart hit a late three to make it a one-point game. Gary Johnson of TEX then missed both free-throws and and that's when Ishmael Smith took it coast to coast, put a nasty shake and bake on TExas guard (Bradley?) and nailed the pull-up J with about 1 second left. Texas launched an unsuccessful prayer and Wake Forest walked away victorious!

WHAT A DAY OF ACTION! I've can't remember a opening Thursday being so entertaining. Here's to an awesome Friday, and a little better luck for my bracket. So far only one Elite 8 team out for me.
I think that clearly, without a few of the annual power teams; UCLA, UCONN, UNC, PAC-10 (any), Memphis etc., we're seeing a lot of other teams with the opportunity to get some of these top seeds. And judging from day one, some of them are not taking full advantage.