3:21 PM- Disaster averted for the Xmen, as they have a great second half to put away pesky Georgia.  My Perfect Bracket dream dies hard as Michigan State embarrasses Temple.    The 3:00 games look great so far,  except of course for the one I have on TV, Kent State and UNLV.  Kent State is about 45 minutes away from me, so as much as I have a rooting interest, it's there.  In Mascotology, A have to give the Golden Flashes an edge over the Runnin' Rebels, as the Flashes lack an apostrophe (or physical mass) to weigh them down in a race.  I don't care how fast the Rebels run, they're slower than the speed of light.

Pitt ORU looks like a game, which is good and bad.  It would officially destroy my bracket, and knock out my fave team, if ORU wins, but I love the dogs.  Marquette Kansas should be a fun game... and Baylor Purdue has  no real story behind it whatsoever, altho the idea of Purdue doing well upsets me, as they aren't a good team. 

Well, Hopefully Pitt will start to play basketball.  Did I mention that Jared Fogle sucks?  Really, I'm sick of the ten years of Jared Commercial.  Maybe if I could afford to spend twenty dollars a day to eat subway all the time, I'd be 180 lbs too... but we don't all have a spokesperson deal.  Douche.  Reminds me of the Jared Has Aides episode of South Park... speaking of which, South Park Studios has every episode available online... southparkstudios.com 

This will continue through the afternoon games... I'll miss out on the one 4:45 game (although I have to do that Mascotology, because it's the toughest in the tournament), and scrabble club will take me away until the last batch of games... look for your updates till then here.

UPDATE 3:35- Pitt has Woken up, and put the clamps down defensively on ORU... Gotta love 18-0 runs.  If Oral Roberts doesn't break 20 in the first half, God will call him home.   Meanwhile, no one informed Kent State that they have a game today, and some random cats are on the court in dark unis acting like cones to run layup drills around.  Halftime has mercifully arrived.  Meanwhile, as soon as I trash Purdue, they go on a run, and Baylor looks like they're in real trouble.  Kentucky-Marquette is at the half, and looks like the game to watch.

UPDATE 3:44 The Marquette- Kentucky game is being announced by a guy named Carter Blackburn.  Should he find a yachting regatta to provide commentary for? I mean, he'd be less WASPy if he had a restrictive covenant in the deed to his house.  Mascotology: Wildcats vs. Warriors... Gotta go Wildcats-  that Tiger in San Diego really f'ed that kid up... and the Ultimate Warrior hasn't been a factor in the WWE since it was the WWF.  Easy call.

UPDATE 4:00 PM: They need to switch from the Kent State game.  It's embarrassing, really.  It's setting the MAC back a generation.   UNLV has looked surprisingly good, and  Kansas may be in for a more difficult round 2 game than expected.  Marquette may be starting to put the heel down on Kentucky's neck.  Mascotology: Panthers vs. Golden Eagles.  I think this one would be close, except that after gilding the Eagle, it loses mobility, although the gold coating does give the Panther a tummyache.

UPDATE: 4:10 PM:  UNLV continues to sweep the leg... at this point, a trip to Kent, Ohio is actually looking good to the team, which, if you've ever been to Kent, is something. A kent State Player just got kneed in the head while dunking, so I'm intrigued again.  Pitt deserves some more love here.  They are playing with such toughness and intensity that I think it takes a special team to beat them... there's a whole lot of more talented teams, but they lack the toughness to deal with a team like Pitt.  Mascotology: Bears vs. Boilermakers:  I don't like the odds of a skilled tradesman, not trained in the ways of bearhunting, taking on our ursine friends.  I think that the Boilermaker would be mauled and slashed into pieces...  tough day to be a human so far...

UPDATE 4:20 PM: Wow, these games certainly lack a certain excitement right now...  Even Marquette appears to be coasting.  How long until they're trying to run Billy Gillespie out of Lexington?  Mascotology (4:45 edition): Big Red vs. Cardinal.  If Cardinal were the bird, it would be the victor, easily... unfortunately, Cardinal refers to the color, a shade of red.  Against the Big Red, which is clearly a bigger shade of red.  In a battle like this, size is a critical factor when matching up two otherwise equivalent competitors.  Advantage Big Red (I shoulda done these before I filled out my bracket).

UPDATE 4:30-  They refuse to switch away from Kent State (woohoo finally did!).  I just watched a 5 minute delay as the referee's tried to figure out if they could retroactively award free throws they forgot to award.  In a 20 point game. And Kentucky will not die, as they hit a clutch 3 to pull within 5.

UPDATE 4:35- They just switched us back!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH*.   UNLV is wiping the floor with Kent, we get the point... we saw them deliver the coup de grace, do we need to see the burial in an unmarked grave?  And once the Marquette game is done, I may just call it a session, as the other games are frightful.  Baylor is playing like an NIT team, which a good argument could be made that they should have been (yet I picked them for the sweet 16... moron).

UPDATE 4:40- And people are saying Dominique James can play at the next level?  He couldn't defend me, I don't think.  Every time I look, his jockstrap is in the second row.  As a Big East honk, I've always felt he was more hype than game.  Kinda like Tom Crean, while we're at it...

UPDATE 4:43- They's sent us back yet again... although this time, there's no good option.  Marquette held on.  Kent just missed an easy uncontested dunk.  Hope they enjoy the gift package on the flight back.  Otherwise, I think I'm done for now.... I'll be back after Scrabble tonight.  Don't be surprised if Cornell gives Stanford a day, although at the end of the day, the greater intellect of Stanford will carry the day (no backdoor into the School of Agriculture at Stanford).