Let’s face it, part of the fun of March Madness is the unpredictability of it all. So to honor that, I’ve decided to Live Blog today’s action. Sometimes the best reactions are your first. It’s the first one here since Zach’s Super Bowl one when the Seahawks were playing the Steelers. Not that we want to remind him of that.

So the Live Blog, for Day 2 of the tournament. Let’s see if it’s more interesting than day one.

-Let’s set up where we stand in the pool. David and I got 12 of 16 day one games. Zach got 14 of 16, good for a three way first place tie in our pool. Cause you know, day one decides everything.BTW, I’m rooting for the chalk, except for the Yellow Jackets. Why? I picked all chalk today. Zach is in the same boat I’m in. Those mid majors just weren’t impressive this year.

-First match up on the East Coast, Virginia v. Albany. Many people are in love with the Great Danes because they were a Marcus Williams dominated 10 minutes away from pulling the first ever 16/1 upset last year. Me? I’m sticking with the Cavaliers.

- Last year looks a long time ago in the first 3 minutes. 6-0 UVA. Albany gets its first bucket, a baseline jumper at 16:35. But then UVA comes down a scores 20 seconds later.

-At this point I feel like I need to mention my favorite NCAA commentator, Gus Johnson, or as I like to call him, the voice of upset. His “The slipper still fits” from Gonzaga/Florida from 1999 is forever burned into my brain as one of the greatest calls I’ve ever heard.

Unfortunately, Gus got slapped with terrible games yesterday. For example, Louisville/Stanford. Also, the phenomenal Ohio State/Central Connecticut game. Meanwhile Kevan Harlan was left with the great end to the Duke/VCU game. I can only imagine what Gus would have done with it had that been his call.

“VCU, will bring it up with 9 seconds to go. Maynor brings it into the front court… Maynor FOR THE WIN….. HE GOT IT!!!!”

Then…

“Long inbounds. Gets it to Paulus, he’ll HEAVE IT UP FOR THE WIN…. NO GOOD!!! NO GOOD!!! The Rams WIN IT! The Rams of Virginia Commonwealth pull off the first upset of the Tournament, shocking the Duke Blue Devils!!!” (That last part should be screamed for full effect)

-13:38 to go 1st half, Danes getting smoked 13-2. Make that 16-2. I know basketball is a game of runs, but you can only come so far back. As I say that Albany nearly gets a steal. However, instead it rolls to UVA, who drains a 3. 19-2. Albany managed a quick two to get it to 19-4. 11:59 to go as we get a timeout. Cavaliers rolling. Thomas Jefferson would be proud.

-They cut from the game at 21-4. I get to see the Mean Green of North Texas against Memphis, up 10-5 early on Memphis (the weakest two seed in the tournament). I know the mean green because in NCAA Football ’05, the Greenies tend to always win their conference and play in the opening bowl game.

-Wham bam, Memphis now down 12-9. Make it 14-9. I’m honestly not sure what to expect from the Tigers. 14-11. Why? They basically beat up on Conference USA which was an embarrassment to college basketball this year. 16-11 Mean Green, and the foul. Timeout. Anyway what has Memphis done to make me fear them? Beating a vastly overrated Gonzaga team in overtime? Sorry doesn’t do it for me. That’s why I’ve got them going out in the second round.

-They just gave us news of Virginia- 33-14. Last year feels like two years ago now, doesn’t it? Mean Green 17, Memphis 11.

-Memphis can shoot can’t they? 14-11. Btw, Zach’s favorite color guy, Bill Raftery is doing the color with Verne Lundquist. This would be the senior circuit, because the combined ages of the two is probably greater the combined ages of either team’s starting line up for this game. However, I like Raft; he used to do Nets games and who doesn’t like “A Little Kiss!!” 18-14 Mean Green.

-18-16 Mean Green, timeout. Is anyone else disturbed by Dick Vitale at Hooters? Not to discriminate against older folks, but c’mon. If you saw a 60+ year old man like Vitale sitting in Hooters, what would you think?

--22-20 Mean Green, 9:06 to go. In ten less minutes, this game figures to outscore what Butler and ODU did in the first half of that abomination yesterday. BTW, 40-21 Virginia. UNLV up on G Tech 21-10. That last one is not good for my bracket. And Memphis takes it's first lead, 23-22.

-Another timeout. They just HAD one. Btw, I mentioned Raft used to do Nets games. Well this one is filled with ghosts of New Jersey’s past; of course Memphis head man is John Calipari. For those who don’t know, the Nets wanted Rick Pitino. He refused but recommended his younger, not as well developed clone, Calipari. The Nets went to playoffs one year in Calipari’s reign. Starbury got him canned a half lockout shorted season later.

He got a raw deal in Jersey, but I’m guessing Calipari isn’t suffering too badly with his unquestioned dominance over Conference USA. Especially when that leads to #2 seeds. (Or a #1, like last year)

-Halftime in Columbus. Virginia up 45-25. Last year seems like five years ago now. Way to represent the America East guys. Tyler Coppenrath is turning over in his grave. (His basketball relevant one anyway). 24-23 Mean Green. It looks as though Memphis will eventually pull away. But no surprise, this looks like it’s going to be the most competitive 2/15 game.

-Remember when the NCAA tournament was filled with Madness? The Chalk is cleaning up right now. Even Tech is getting waxed 29-15 in the 7/10 game. When 10 seeds can’t even pull “upsets” you know things are going dull. Mean Green by one with 5:12 to go.

-Americans can be such hypocrites. Anyone who thinks soccer is the only sport with obnoxious diving hasn't seen a basketball game. Watson of Mean Green looked to get separation 35 feet from the basket. Memphis player falls down- offensive foul. Lundquist response: "Was there any Greg Louganis in there?" This also shows how old the announcing duo are. How many guys on the court even know who Louganis was? 30-28 Memphis.

-Danger: Mean Green: Memphis' defense has picked up and their offense has benefited. 37-28. The crowd is energized. 1:00 to go, first half.

-Mean Green goes into the half down by nine. Virginia up by 22. At least G Tech, has cut it to seven at the half.

-Zach calls me up. We reflect on Duke’s loss last night. His best line; “Duke is a bunch of unauthentic white guys. Seriously if you took the Duke off the jersey and put like ‘Creighton’ on it I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.” Btw, 37-29 Memphis. Tech has stormed back to tie. Zach delighted by Raft’s “A Little Kiss.”

-Zach strikes gold and gets the Yellow Jackets game. I'm stuck with Mean Green/Memphis. 41-33.The sad news for Zach, it’s Billy Packard doing color. His response: “It might be time for the mute button.”

-Here come the Mean Green! Down by five!

-Zach insights: “This white guy on UNLV has taken three shots from the same spot and missed all of them.” Then thirty seconds later: “He did it AGAIN! And missed AGAIN! This is unbelievable! And he had a guy on him this time.”

-Good news for me. They just switched to Tech/UNLV. Runnin' Rebels by six. Memphis up by 13.

-Foul away from the ball. Zach's least favorite white guy to the line. He drained both. Zach: "He looks looks like he should be playing pick up basketball. Oh that explains it; he's the coaches son" Tech down by 1, 57-56. "HE SHOTS ANOTHER FROM THAT SPOT AND MISSES!! HAHA! He's 0-6."

-Tech at he line with a chance to take the lead. Hits the first. The guy is so skinny, Zach says he "should be running a marathon." My response, at the same time, "He must be African." Tech takes the lead.

-Timeout, apparently, Tech's last. What the hell? Btw, Zach is heading out to play ball. But I'll keep him updated via the phone.

-Two Minute Warning- Tie Game.

--Disaster for Tech. UNLV goes chuck happy and Tech can’t grab a board as UNLV misses ugly. Finally the ball is about to go out and a UNLV player throws it off a Techie. Then on the inbounds, Tech doesn’t defend underneath. Dunk, and the foul. Paaaaaathetic.

-Missed the free throw. Tech with it, minute to go. FIVE SECOND CALL! Say it with me now… PAAAAAAAAATHETIC! Timeout UNLV, 43.9 to go. Rebels by a deuce.

--Tech again can’t grab a board. It will likely cost them as UNLV gets three chances before they’re fouled. PAAAAAAATTTTTHEEEEETIC. They makes the first and second. Tech down by four. UNLV calls timeout.

--Terrible defense by UNLV. Press leaves the basket WIDE OPEN. Tech makes it and fouls. Free throw one is good. Second one is nothing but net. Tech needs a quick hoop. Tech drives, air ball out of bounds to UNLV. With two possessions this one is over. Kevin Kruger, the aforementioned bane of Zach’s white existence is going to the line. I’m guess he’s Len Kruger’s son.

-Any hope Tech had is gone as the inbounds pass is stolen. The last two minutes of this game should make someone a lot of money as a coaching video as how NOT to play the game. Jim Nantz has informed me (and everyone else who wasn't paying attention to him and Packard during the game) that it's UNLV's first win since 1991.

-Memphis is a lock at this point up by 20. The top seeds all come out winners again. As it stands now, Zach has fallen into a four way tie for first. I've dropped to two way tie for eleventh. David is locked in a multi way tie for fifth. My sister is in that fifth place group. It's like being down 7-3 in the first quarter of a football game. You want to know the score, but it's not exactly like you expect it to stay that way.

Hopefully it doesn't.

-Can someone explain to me why CBS is showing the last minute of Memphis kicking the crap out of the Mean Green when Notre Dame/Winthrop is playing?

Second Set of Games

--Next set of games. Notre Dame/Winthrop. I wanted to take Winthrop just because I feel I should take a Big East to lose, but eventually decided to stick with the Irish. They are pretty talented. Zach also too the Irish. David took Winthrop. A young woman in our pool picked the Irish to win it all. Could we have our first pool elimination here?

Btw, my second favorite NCAA voice, Ian Eagle is doing this game- In fact it’s Ian Eagle AND Jim Spanarkle; a combination which currently does their fair share of New Jersey Nets games. If the Memphis game was the Nets ghost of Seasons past, this game is the ghost of Seasons Present.

-Tennessee/Long Beach State: I hate high rated SEC teams but I know nothing of Long Beach, except Lucious Harris went there. (YES! Another Nets reference. Wait does “YES” count as one more too?) All of us picked Tennessee to win. 11 of 14 did in the pool. Notre Dame up by 7.

-To tie up loose ends, Albany ended up losing by 27, 84-57. Last year now never happened. I’m guessing the America East will be back to a 16 seed next year.

-David points out there’s a 6’8 black guy on Wintrop named Todd McCulloch. As it turns out, it’s Taj McCulloch. Somehow I never thought I’d see a player named McCulloch, let alone two. Notre Dame by 2.

--David, who is now joining us via phone, points out I wrote “unauthentic” white guys, instead of “unathletic” David suggests I had a Freudian slip.

- Payback time- David says "how bad do you feel for an 'On Star' operative? You'd have to flunk out as a 9-1-1 operative to end up as an On Star person."

-Winthrop goes on a run to take a 4 point lead into the half. Tenn. up on 13. Apparently, David informs me that it's now 10 points and Lucious Harris nephew plays for Long Beach State. David: "this is UGLY! It's like a Y game!"

-David on Raft: “The great thing about Raftery is that he’s genuinely excited to be there. He’s like the Croc Hunter of basketball!”

-Texas A&M Corpus Christie is up 10-0 over Wisconsin. Wow. Well it’s early. Meanwhile David marvels at Nevada’s free layups.

--Got to love Big Ten basketball. Four minutes in, NO baskets for Wisconsin. No points either. They had the ball hit the rim, unfortunately IT WAS ON A PASS! Another time out. Wisconsin will still probably win, but this has been a disgraceful opening. To think, I once thought this team could be a championship contender.

--Winthrop on a run. They’re now up 39-28. Corpus Christie up by 13. What the heck? Winthrop scores again! 42-28. Finally a bucked and foul for Russell Carter. But no love for Carter at the line. 42-30. AND now it’s 44-30! 46-30!!! Ian Eagle gets to scream “The Eagles are flying high!!!”

-Apparently, it's a 29-6 run. Notre Dame gets a lay up. However, I'd guess the Irish will fight their way back though. Winthrop is just on fire, as they go up by 18.

-David's worried a little. His National Title pick is Wisconsin. They're down 19-4 11 minutes in. Of course, Mary Kate, the young lady who picked Notre Dame to win it all, is looking rather done right now. As David says, "Whoops."

--They take us to Wisconsin/ Corpus Christie. David informs they said in the Nevada/Creighton that there hasn’t been a 7th seed sweep since 1993. Meanwhile this disgrace continues at the United Center. 25-7. David is in panic mode now. After a walk wasn’t called, Wisconsin gets it to 25-9.

-David points out, if the game is in Chicago, then this is in Wisconsin (Big Ten) territory. Creighton meanwhile on an 8-0 run. They're in the lead.

--Stop the presses! Wisconsin hits Double Digits! A pair of free throws gets them to 25-11. Another bucket gets hem to 12. Here comes the run!

--They take us back to Notre Dame/Winthrop. The Eagles lead is down to 10. Since Notre Dame can nail threes, the Irish can get back. 7:45 to go.

-Speaking of disgraceful, how about Winthrop’s free throw shooting? 3/10 so far. Notre Dame is starting to heat up; they’re down by four. In other games, Corpus Christie is up 27-19, so the game has turned there. 17 point lead for the Volunteers. Not pretty. Creighton by one. After another one of two trip to the line, the Irish get a layup. Now it’s a three point game. Winthrop is in trouble. Only foul trouble can kill the Irish now.

-Russell Carter makes a Vince Carter move with a finger roll while avoiding the contact. (No comparison from Ian. Mildly surprised) Winthrop gets a huge answer on the other end with a bucket and the foul. Rob Kurz just fouled out for the Irish. He was their top rebounder today. CBS just showed the last second loss to Tennessee last year. Redemption? Four point game as they make the free throw.

-After Winthrop blows a wide open dunk, Notre Dame strokes another three. It’s back to one point and now the Irish have a chance for the lead. GOT THE HOOK SHOT TO DROP AND THE FOUL! IRISH BY ONE!!! But they miss the free throw. Winthrop gets a lay up, back up.

-Huge three by Winthrop. They’re back up by four. Notre Dame drives and gets the foul call with 1:11 to go. Finally, some drama! Btw, Notre Dame is 3/11 from the line. Make it 3/12. Now 4/13. The guy at the line Jackson, is apparently the youngest of fourteen siblings. Ian says “I checked, none of them is named Tito.” Boo, Ian. Questionable call goes Winthrop’s way. But with the way they’re shooting, that isn’t a bad thing for the Irish. One of two, four point game.

-Notre Dame is not getting calls, and look like they're done. They're down by six and Winthrop at the line. Now down by 7 with 28.6 to go.

-We have our first casualty of the Cheap Seats Pool: Mary Kate has lost her Champion (Notre Dame) and runner up (Stanford). Ian's call of the final seconds: "Don't call them Cinderella." I guess not; they could have won last year.

-With Tennessee up 101- 78, they take us to Wisconsin/Corpus Christie.(Creighton’s up by three on Nevada but there’s just two minutes less in that game than this) The 15 seed Islanders are up 33-26. Wisconsin just picked up a technical foul. Bad move. CC hits both free throws. In a game like this you can’t just give points away. And now CC hits the bucket. Four point possession wipes out four minutes of Wisconsin offense.

-And Wisconsin finally has woken up. They’re within four as CC looks like they’re in trouble. Even though I’ve been joking about the Badgers losing this game, I won’t call it an upset possibility unless they’re down by more than 10 with ten minutes left or down by more than four with five minutes to go. Especially with the run they’re on. The crowd seems to be entirely for Wisconsin, which is no surprise since they’re in Big Ten country.

-Wisconsin’s only offense, Alando Tucker sits down with three fouls. Worse, CC is 11/11 from the line and they’re already in the one and one with 10:30 to go. However, they’re down by three and have now tied up the game with back to back Kammron Taylor threes. I can’t see CC winning this game now. Look CC even missed a free throw!

--Taylor hits a deuce and Wisconsin has their first lead of the game. One gets the sense that by the five minute mark, it’s going to be Badgers by 10. Foul on Wisconsin. One of two at the line. The Badgers still up. Taylor DRAINS ANOTHER THREE. He’s the anti Kruger!

--If you like offense, you should have seen the Tenn/Long Beach game. 121 points for the Volunteers. Incredibly Long Beach put up 86! You know what’s ironic? The SEC in football is known for great defense and horrible offense. In basketball, the reverse seems to be true. Meanwhile CC misses a pair of free throws. Also, with 2:17 to go, Nevada and Creighton are tied. They have to take us there right?

-They do take us to Creighton/Nevada. 1:32 to go. Tied, Nevada with it. After poor defensive rebounding, Nevada ends up with it but throw it away. Now Creighton can win it. But they miss the shot, miss the put back and Nevada gets the board. Calls time out, but it took the refs two second to actually call it. A last desperation attempt goes awry and we have overtime. First of the tournament.

--3:06 to go, timeout Nevada. They were up by four, but a killer foul by Nick Fazekas on a hand check has him foul out. Creighton hits both and it’s two points.

--Zach points out Creighton just got away with an illegal screen. But they're now down by three, with 31.1 to go. If Nevada can hit their FT they win. But they're in the one and one, so nothing is guaranteed.

-After it takes Creighton fifteen seconds to score, Nevada hits both free throws. Creighton misses the three and Nevada escapes. To be fair, two years ago, Creighton almost beat West Virginia in the 7/10 game and then the Mountaineers upset Wake in the second round. So take heart Nevada upset pickers (me).

-And that wraps up the first games I can see. Oregon is playing as we speak against Miami of Ohio, but that won’t be broadcast here. So Wisconsin gets a scare, Winthrop makes 11 seeds two for four. Interestingly, the two biggest upsets came in those games and the two biggest blow outs came in there as well. Meanwhile Tennessee advances, setting up a shootout with the Cavaliers Sunday.

Also, I’m still in 11th while David and Zach are tied for first. But to be fair, Mary Kate is also in first and that’s not going to last. So in short, we’ve still got lots of basketball to go. Back later for a live blog of the night cap.